HMS Gloucester: The Untold Story - Tapa dura

On 22 May 1941 the cruiser HMS Gloucester was sunk by aircraft of the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Crete. Of her crew of 807 men, only 83 survived to come home at the end of the War in 1945. The fact that Allied destroyers were in the area and were not sent to the rescue was due to poor naval communications and indecision by local fleet commanders. This book looks at the ship's history and operational successes from her launching in 1937 to her final demise, including many first-hand accounts.

Ken Otter's father, Fred Otter was Chief Yeoman aboard HMS Gloucester and was killed when she sank in 1941. Ken was then only seven months old. After service in the Royal Navy he joined the Metropolitan Police and retired in 1990 as a Chief Inspector. Since then he has been researching the history of the terrible wartime incident that denied him a father.