The Ship Model Forum

On April 1, 1931 HMS Glorious and the French liner Florida collided in patchy fog off the coast of Spain. Fliers in the planes that were airborne could watch the masts of the two ships speeding towards each other. Do any of you know the results of the courts martial or civil hearings? I am sure much of this is in Winton's book, but I haven't been able to get hold of a copy.
Thanks,
-John Emery
Cedar Hill, Texas

In short, according to Winton's account. "The officers involved traveled to London in July for the enquiry into the Florida collision. Hearing the case in The Admiralty Division from 12-18 July, Mr. Justice Bateson commended the way naval and RAF officers gave evidence. [French's evidence alone took more than five hours] He apportioned blame : two thirds to Florida, one third to Glorious. The decision and award were upheld in the court of appeal in December. The career of none of the officers concerned was harmed by the collision".
Glorious' Captain at the time was Charles Kennedy-Purivs who was 46 years old when he took command and had nine years seniority as a Captain. He had earlier specialized in torpedoes coming out top of his specialist 'T' course.
The collision was complicated by the Glorious having aircraft airborn at the time she enterd the fog and had attempted a turn to exit the fog to resume landing on. The turn was cancelled due to Cruisers screening her being in danger had she carried out the turn. So Glorious was trapped inbetween light cruisers and when she cancelled the turn is when Florida appeared crossing ahead. SOme blame has to be handed out in case of collision, but it was really just form in this case I guess.

Bob B.

Look for a copy of Winton's book one of the used book search sites. It is an excellent book in every way. Winton is a great author. $30.00 will get you a copy on Abe books.

Bob B.

OH! That's bad!

I posted this on Linerslist
Shortly after 9:00 a.m., on April 1, 1931, the slightly more than one year old British aircraft carrier, HMS Glorious, left Gibraltar with her attendant vessels to conduct operations with her air wing. The twin funneled, three year old French liner Florida of Societe Generale de Transport Maritime a Vapeur was returning to Genoa from Buenos Aires. Passengers on the Florida delighted in watching the maneuvering warships. At times, the intermittent fog would shroud one or the other vessels.

The Glorious had seventeen Fairey Flycatcher aircraft in the air with her escorts deployed on station around her when she entered one fogbank at about thirty knots. The Uruguayan consul in Malaga, Don Victor Barros, was a passenger on the Florida. “I was watching the British Fleet at maneuvers as we steamed along through patches of drifting fog. It was possible to see some of the ships quite plainly, and the Glorious was evidently calling her aircraft in. Four planes were about to alight, and the Glorious drew away from the remainder of the fleet, tearing along at about thirty miles an hour to allow them to land on her deck.” On the Glorious’ bridge was her captain, forty six year old Charles Kennedy-Purvis, who already had nine years seniority as a captain. Early press reports list her captain as D.F. Moir.

The initial attempts by the Glorious to obtain optimum conditions for landing her aircraft started to come apart. Had she completed her turns to facilitate the landing, she would have endangered her escorting cruisers. She maintained course and they steamed right into the fog. Kennedy-Purvis had every reason to be confident in the skills of captains of his escorts, and their ability to maintain station. The joker in the deck was the Florida.

In the fog, her aircraft had to defer landing until conditions cleared, so they circled above. The Daily Mail wrote, “Looking below, the pilots saw that their parent ship had steamed at high speed into the low bank of fog, above the top of which they could see moving the black tip of her mast. Almost immediately the pilots noticed the mast of another ship break through the white carpet covering the sea.

“Their quick eyes, used to following the movements of ships beneath them, foresaw the danger. Leaning out of their cockpit, they followed the course of those little black sticks of masts. There was no doubt that a collision was imminent. Instantly, their fingers flew to the keys of their radio sets, but it was too late. It was like shouting across a greasy Broadway to prevent two automobiles from colliding.” One pilot claimed that he heard the collision.

Barros continued his account from the Florida. “After my first glimpse, however, the fog hid the Glorious until, suddenly, she loomed right over us, crashing into us near the bow. From where I was standing in the doorway of a deck-cabin, I was hurled headlong overboard into the sea, and drowning must have been the fate of many, for I was in the water in a dazed condition for twenty minutes before a cutter from the Glorious rescued me. Not until I was aboard the warship did I realize the extent of the disaster.”

In a matter of seconds, the 18,000 ton Glorious went from thirty knots to a complete stop, deep in the port side of the Florida, immediately forward of her bridge. Chaos prevailed on the Florida. Falling deck cargo, largely crates of bananas, killed some; others were butchered by flying steel from the ships’ sides, making their bodies unrecognizable. Eight passengers were missing, believed to have fallen through holes in the Florida’s side, or jumped into the sea in panic. The death toll was 33; thirty one passengers and one crewman on the Florida and one crewman on the Glorious. Ironically, the crewman on the Florida was her radio operator, Francisco Montes, who had earlier bought a zinc-lined coffin so his body could be transported back for burial in Marseilles some day; that day was earlier than he expected. The line complied with his wishes.


On board Glorious, one crewman, Seaman Ernest John Bicker, was killed, and later buried with honors at Gibraltar on April 3. Rather than pull out of the Florida’s side, Kennedy-Purvis kept the Glorious imbedded in the Florida’s side, and the two crews improvised gangways between the two ships which allowed more than 500 passengers from the Florida to cross to the Glorious. Once the Florida had her pumps going and mats over some of the holes in her side, the Glorious slowly backed out, and took the Florida in tow, despite having lost much of her bow.

Unable to land her planes, the Glorious ordered them to fly to the Malaga aerodrome. Four were unable to reach the shore, thirty miles away, and ditched at sea, their crews rescued by escorting destroyers. Eventually, the towing duties were delegated to some of her escorts.

The Florida’s passengers were trans-shipped to the Gouverneur General Laferierre, which had been diverted from her normal, Oran-Marseilles voyage. The Florida herself was made seaworthy and returned to Marseilles for repairs. During World War Two, she was sunk at Bone by Axis aircraft; raised in 1944, she was reconditioned and emerged with one funnel after her refit in 1948. In 1955, she went to Siosa Lines as the Ascania, and was scrapped in Italy in 1968.

The Glorious received temporary repairs at Gibraltar before sailing to Malta for permanent repairs, which were completed by September 21, 1931. In 1940, she was sunk under odd circumstances by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Her captain is widely believed to have been, not of sound mind at the time of her sinking. He was speeding back to the UK to court martial her air officer, J B Heath, who had been one of the fliers circling over the Glorious the day of the collision. The Royal Navy's findings will be classified until 2040.

From July 12 through July 18, Mr Justice Bateman of the Admiralty Division investigated the collision. He divided the blame between the two ships, two thirds of the blame to the Florida, and one third to Glorious. This decision was upheld on appeal in December.

Kenedy-Purvis went on to a distinguished career. From 1935 to 1938, as a rear admiral, he commanded the First Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean Fleet; from 1938 to 1940, he was the President of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich; as a vice admiral, he was Commander in Chief of the American and West Indies Station from 1940 to 1942, in which capacity he oversaw the transfer of many British bases to the US; he was promoted to admiral on February 16, 1942, and served as Deputy First Sea Lord from July 29, 1942 through the end of the war, leaving the post in 1946.

Before her conversion to an aircraft carrier, the Glorious was a “large light cruiser.” Shortly before the end of World War One, the first aircraft carrier, the converted Cunard blue riband holder Campania, dragged her anchor in a storm and did a bump and grind down the Grand Fleet’s battle line, scraping along the sides of the Glorious, before sinking in the Firth. I include this because I found it interesting, not necessarily relevant.

Many thanks to the guys at Steelnavy and ModelWarships for helping me fill in some holes in this story.

-John Emery
Cedar Hill, Texas