THE stirring role played by the cruiser HMS Glasgow in the Second World War was recalled in 1956 when the ship’s silver (left) went on display at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove museum.
The Glasgow - the seventh ship in the navy to bear the name - was one of the first ships to be attacked by the German air force during the war, in 1939. In 1940 she helped escort convoys to Norway, and between Alexandria and Malta; she was seriously damaged by a torpedo in Crete that December, but was repaired and returned to action. In 1943 she took part in a fierce battle with German destroyers in the Bay of Biscay; and on D-Day she led an American squadron towards the French beaches.
As the ship was going into reserve in Portsmouth, its silver was presented to the city after which it was named, for safe keeping. Lieut.Commander J.A. Watt is seen here with Bailie Stuart Hughes, sub-convener of the Corporation’s Museums and Art Galleries committee.
The silver went on show before being stored at Kelvingrove, the aim being that it might in future be presented to some other ship of the Royal Navy bearing the same name.
The silver included a replica of a sailing ship and an oak tree, presented by the ‘Ladies of Glasgow’ in 1911 and 1937, a punch bowl and a gunnery shield presented by the corporation, and a model galleon given in 1951 by the then Lord Provost, Sir Victor Warren.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here