![]() ![]() on 8th June 1940, now operating alone, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sighted Glorious, Ardent and Acasta. ![]() Unfortunately, two German battleships, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, were part of a force ordered to attack Allied shipping in Norwegian waters. Austin's research has been very thorough, examining numerous sources available at that time (Admiralty files relating to this incident were only made public in 1993), but he never loses sight of the most important aspect in this work: the human story.īritish warships had been routinely moving, unhindered by enemy warships, to and from Norway the independent sailing of the aircraft carrier Glorious and her two escorts should have been no exception. In 1973, John Austin recorded Carter's experiences in his book, "The Man Who Hit the Scharnhorst: The Ordeal of Leading Seaman Nick Carter", a vivid, moving and thought-provoking account of a deeply tragic and very controversial episode in the history of the Royal Navy, which places very intense personal recollections from a survivor of the battle in the context of a review of the events surrounding the Norwegian campaign. ![]() From Acasta's ship's company of 161 men, there was only one survivor: Nick Carter. En route, German warships attacked and sank all three ships with the loss of more than 1500 lives. Ardent were ordered to escort the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Acasta when she and her sister-ship H.M.S. In June 1940, Leading Seaman Cyril "Nick" Carter was serving in the British destroyer H.M.S. ![]()
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