A Collection of Medals to Second World War Casualties

Three: Leading Seaman N. J. Lewis, Royal Navy, who was killed in action when the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Glorious was sunk in the Norwegian Sea by the German Battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, during Operation Alphabet- the evacuation of Norway, 8 June 1940

1939-45 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal 1939-45, with named Admiralty enclosure, in card box of issue, addressed to ‘Miss E. Lewis, 12 Mount Pleasant, Trecymon, Aberdare, Glam.’, nearly extremely fine (3) £180-220

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to Second World War Casualties.

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Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, March 2014.

Norman John Lewis served during the Second World War as a Leading Seaman in the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Glorious, and was killed in action during Operation Alphabet on 8 June 1940. On 31 May 1940 H.M.S. Glorious sailed from the Clyde to the Norwegian coast to carry out air operations in support of the evacuation of allied forces from Norway in Operation Alphabet. On 8 June she returned to Scapa Flow, escorted by the destroyers H.M.S. Ardent and Acasta. On the way through the Norwegian Sea the funnel smoke from Glorious and her two escorting destroyers was spotted by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at about 3:46 p.m. The German ships were not spotted until shortly after 4:00 and H.M.S. Ardent was dispatched to investigate. H.M.S. Ardent and H.M.S. Acasta laid a protective smokescreen to hide the British ships, and engaged the German ships with their 4.7 inch main armament, which proved to be ineffective. Despite coming under heavy fire from the much larger guns of the Germans, H.M.S. Ardent carried out a torpedo attack. She managed to score a single hit, but was struck repeatedly by enemy shells, and eventually capsized with the loss of 10 officers and 142 ratings.
H.M.S. Acasta was finally sunk after roughly two hours of fighting; the battle flag of the Gneisenau was lowered to half-mast and her crew brought to attention to honour the brave fight of Acasta and her crew.
Meanwhile, the Scharnhorst switched her fire to H.M.S. Glorious at 4:32 p.m. and scored her first hit six minutes later on her third salvo, at an approximate range of 24,000 metres (26,000 yd), when one 11.1 inch shell hit the forward flight deck and burst in the upper hangar, starting a large fire. This hit destroyed two Swordfish being prepared for flight and the hole in the flight deck prevented any other aircraft from taking off. Splinters penetrated a boiler casing and caused a temporary drop in steam pressure. At 4:58 p.m. a second shell hit the homing beacon above the bridge and killed or wounded the captain and most of the personnel stationed there. Glorious was hit again in the centre engine room around 5:20 p.m. and this caused her to lose speed and commence a slow circle to port. She also developed a list to starboard. The German ships closed to within 15,000 metres (16,000 yd) and continued to fire at her until about 5:40 p.m. Glorious finally sank at around 6:10 p.m. with the loss of 1,207 out of her crew of 1,250. The whole engagement lasted just short of three hours and cost the lives of 1,519 officers and ratings.

The disaster and the failure to mount an effective rescue was clearly an embarrassment for the Royal Navy. All ships encountering the enemy should routinely broadcast a sighting report, and so the lack of a sighting report from Glorious was eventually raised in the House of Commons. It later became known that the heavy cruiser H.M.S. Devonshire had passed within 30 to 50 miles of the battle, flying the flag of Vice Admiral John Cunningham, who was carrying out orders to evacuate the Norwegian Royal Family to the U.K. and maintain radio silence. Some surviving eyewitnesses from Glorious and Devonshire later testified that the sighting report had been correctly sent, and received in Devonshire, but that it had been suppressed by Cunningham, who departed at high speed in accordance with his orders.

Lewis was amongst those killed, aged 22. He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial. His medals were sent to his mother Edith Lewis.