Guy D'Oyly-Hughes
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Guy D'Oyly-Hughes | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 August 1891 Salt Lake City, Utah, US |
| Died | 8 June 1940 (aged 48) Norwegian Sea |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service |  Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1904–1940 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Commands | HMS Glorious (1939–40) 1st Submarine Flotilla (1934–36) HMS Cyclops (1935–36) HMS Douglas (1934–35) HMS Oberon (1925–28) HMS K12 (1924–25) |
| Battles / wars | First World War |
| Awards | Distinguished Service Order & Bar Distinguished Service Cross Mentioned in Despatches |
Captain Guy D'Oyly-Hughes DSO & Bar, DSC (8 August 1891 – 8 June 1940) was an officer in the Royal Navy.
Service career
Early life
Guy D'Oyly-Hughes was born in 1891 on Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, the son of Samuel Hughes, a British physician, and Kezia D'Oyly Hughes. At the age of nine, he was sent to Britain to complete his education, followed by his parents in 1901. They eventually settled in Southampton. D'Oyly-Hughes married Anne Margaret Gladys Crawford, with whom he had two daughters.
First World War
During the First World War, Lieutenant D'Oyly-Hughes was a submariner and second in command of HMS E11, which was highly successful in the Dardanelles Campaign.[1] He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in June 1915 after a patrol in which his captain, Lieutenant Commander Martin Nasmith, was awarded the Victoria Cross. D'Oyly-Hughes was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in August after swimming ashore from E11 with explosives and blowing up part of the Constantinople-Baghdad Railway.[2]
Second World War and death
In June 1939, as a captain, he was given command of the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious. D'Oyly-Hughes had learned to fly and continually rejected the advice of the ship's professional aviators, according to Winton.[2] Returning to Britain from the Norwegian Campaign on 8 June 1940, Glorious and her destroyer escort of HMS Acasta and HMS Ardent were surprised and caught by Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in the Norwegian Sea. All three British ships were sunk with the loss of at least 1,533 lives. D'Oyly-Hughes went down with his ship.
Glorious had been sighted in conditions of maximum visibility, a condition in which an aircraft carrier would normally have one or more aircraft out on a Combat Air Patrol. Glorious had no such patrol, and was unable to reach maximum speed before coming in range of the enemy's 11-inch guns. Winton describes D'Oyly-Hughes' lack of belief in the effectiveness of air patrols and the questions raised by numerous commentators, including eyewitnesses from Glorious and Scharnhorst,[3] about the captain's judgement in this and other matters.
See also
Hansard report on the debate "HMS Glorious" in the House of Commons on 28 January 1999.[4]
References
- ^ Shankland, Peter; Hunter, Anthony (1971). Dardanelles Patrol. London: Mayflower Books. p. 17.
- ^ a b John Winton (1986), Carrier Glorious, Leo Cooper/Secker & Warburg, London [page needed]
- ^ The Tragedy of HMS Glorious, Channel-4 Television, London 1997
- ^ HMS Glorious. House of Commons Debate 28 January 1999 vol 324 cc564-76. Retrieved 5 February 2017
- Use dmy dates from April 2012
- 1891 births
- 1940 deaths
- Royal Navy submariners
- Royal Navy officers of World War I
- Royal Navy officers of World War II
- British military personnel killed in World War II
- People lost at sea
- Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
- Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)
- Military personnel from Salt Lake City
- Captains who went down with the ship