RN:
The hull of the monitor
HMS GLATTON, in dry dock, showing the bulge, and paravane chains at the bow, 1914-18
HMS
Glatton and her
sister ship Gorgon were originally built as
coastal defence ships for the
Royal Norwegian Navy, as
Bjørgvin and
Nidaros respectively. She was requisitioned from
Norway at the beginning of
World War I, but was not completed until 1918 although she had been launched over three years earlier. On 16 September 1918, before she had even gone into action, she suffered a large fire in one of her 6-inch magazines, and had to be
scuttled to prevent an explosion of her main magazines that would have devastated
Dover.
At 6:15 on the evening of 16 September, in Dover,
Glatton's midships 6-inch
magazine had a low-order explosion that ignited the
cordite stored there. Flames shot through the roof of 'Q' turret, starboard midside, and started to spread aft. The ship's captain,
Commander N. W. Diggle had been walking along the cliffs with
Vice-Admiral Keyes when they heard the explosion and both men quickly returned to the harbour.
Diggle boarded the burning vessel and found that the only surviving officer on board was a junior surgeon. The captain took control of the situation and ordered the opening of the
seacocks in the magazines to prevent further explosions. The forward magazines were flooded successfully, but the crew were unable to flood the rear magazines as the flames blocked access to the magazine flooding controls. The presence of the
ammunition ship Gransha only 150 yards (140 m) away risked a massive explosion that would devastate Dover if
Glatton's rear magazine exploded and set off
Gransha's ammunition.
Keyes boarded the recently arrived
destroyer Cossack once apprised of the danger. He ordered
Cossack to torpedo
Glatton in an attempt to flood the magazine before it detonated.
Cossack's first
18-inch (460 mm) torpedo struck the anti-torpedo bulge amidships, but failed to explode because it had been fired too close to
Glatton. Her second torpedo blew a hole in
Glatton at 7:40, but the torpedo's 200-pound (91 kg) warhead was too small to penetrate through her bulge and
Glatton remained afloat, still burning. Keyes transferred to the destroyer
Myngs and ordered her to fire on
Glatton with her 21-inch (530 mm) torpedoes at 8:15. They were aimed at the hole blown in
Glatton's starboard side by
Cossack's second torpedo and succeeded in causing
Glatton to capsize until her masts and
superstructure rested on the harbour bottom and dousing the fire. Casualties were heavy: 60 men were killed outright and 124 were injured of whom 19 later died of their burns. The Antarctic explorer
Surgeon Lieutenant-Commander Edward L. Atkinson, although rendered unconscious by the first explosion and burned and blinded, was able to rescue several men before escaping, and was awarded the
Albert Medal.
