Comments by "doveton sturdee" (@dovetonsturdee7033) on "HMS Glorious - Guide 065" video.

  1.  @glennpickard2239  A Polish destroyer, Piorun, ( actually the former HMS Nerissa ) was part of Vian's flotilla, which carried out night torpedo attacks on Bismarck on the night before her sinking. The RN destroyers made their torpedo attacks, but the captain of Piorun chose instead to engage in a gun duel, firing at Bismarck with Piorun's 4.7 inch guns. These were incapable of damaging Bismarck, unlike Piorun's 21 inch torpedoes. Unfortunately, in withdrawing after the gun duel, Piorun lost contact, failed to regain it, and thus was unable to carry out a torpedo attack. Certainly, a brave action, but not the right one in the circumstances.
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  2. In June & July, 1940, undergoing a refit.
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  3. Unfortunately, there are a number of problems with the claim. Firstly, the squadrons assigned to the operation were already there, aboard the other carrier in the area, Ark Royal. At the time, Glorious was being used as a ferry carrier, not an operational one. It makes no sense to bring Glorious back to the UK to load up aircraft for the attack, but even if this was the case, why did she first land on RAF aircraft, and why did she proceed at more or less half speed? If it was intended that she should carry out the raid, and the suggestion that she was more expendable is nonsense (who would accept that one of the few RN carriers should be sacrificed in order to drop a handful of mines in a neutral harbour, for heaven's sake?) couldn't the RAF aircraft have landed on Ark Royal anyway? Certainly, the Hurricanes couldn't have been taken below as Ark had smaller lifts, but they could have remained in deck for the short passage back to the UK.
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  4.  @Paladin1873  Have you read this :- 'Operation Paul – the Fleet Air Arm attack on Luleå in 1940?'( The 22 page document, not the 12 page summary, by the way.) Peter Hore demonstrates that, firstly, the minelaying in the final draft for Operation Paul involved 18 aircraft from Ark Royal and that, secondly, long range tanks would not have been required. The relevant page, describing the final, much reduced, plan, is numbered 98. Unfortunately, Glorious' fuel state at the time of her loss is unknown, but whether or not steaming at reduced speed can be explained, the lack of lookouts or air patrols cannot, and the fact that Pound's executive order for Operation Paul was issued in the early hours of 8 June, before Glorious met her end, surely discredits the suggestion that she would have been involved.
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