Sub Lieutenant Henry DANN RNVR
HMS Glorious, Royal Navy

Date of birth: 10th July 1915
Date of death: 8th June 1940

Killed in action aged 24
Commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial Panel 44 Column 1
He was born at Boxley, Kent on the 10th of July 1915, the son of Henry Dann OKS, land agent and surveyor, and Frances Mary (nee Walker) of Sunny Bank, Tyndale Park, Herne Bay, later of 3, Spital Street, Dartford in Kent.

He was educated at St George's School, Herne Bay, and at the King's School Canterbury from September 1928 to April 1933, where he was a dayboy. He was elected as a Senior Greaves scholar in 1930. He became a School Monitor, Company Quartermaster Sergeant in the Officer Training Corps and was awarded his colours for Rugby, Hockey, PT and Boxing.

On leaving school, before settling down to the routine of office life, he went on a long ocean voyage aboard a tramp steamer and on his return he worked as a land agent and surveyor. He lodged at 78, Coleraine Road, Greenwich.

In 1937 he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and was commissioned as a Sub Lieutenant in the London Division on the 9th of May 1939. On the outbreak of war he was appointed to HMS Exeter but did not join her until a month after her action against the German armoured cruiser Graf Spee, which he described "was in a way bad luck". He was later appointed to the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious.

On the afternoon of Saturday the 8th of June 1940, the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious, under the command of Captain Guy D'Oyly-Hughes DSO DSC RN, and her escorts, the destroyers, HMS Acasta and HMS Ardent were intercepted by the German battlecruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst in the North Sea. The two groups of ships spotted each other at 4pm and action stations were sounded on HMS Glorious with the crew rushing to get her aircraft ready for action. The first shots were fired at 4.32pm by Scharnhorst and HMS Glorious was hit by her third salvo at 4.38pm, which penetrated the flight deck and exploded in the upper hanger. This started a large fire and disrupted the attempts of the crew to ready their aircraft. Shell splinters also damaged the casing of the boiler which caused a loss of pressure. Then a second hit was received which killed most of the crew on the bridge. The escorting destroyers laid smoke to screen HMS Glorious from the enemy. This was effective and the two German ships ceased firing from 5pm to about 5.20pm At 5.25pm the escort destroyer HMS Ardent, having made hits on the Scharnhorst herself, was struck and sunk. At this time HMS Glorious was hit again in the centre engine room which caused a loss of power and she began to list to starboard and sank at 6.10pm. HMS Acasta attacked Scharnhorst with guns and torpedoes, causing severe damage to the ship and a number of casualties among the crew but at 6.20pm, she too was sunk. In the three British ships engaged there were 1,500 British sailors lost with a small number of survivors being picked up by a Norwegian vessel and some by the Royal Navy.

His father received the following telegram dated the 10th of June 1940: -

"From Admiralty. Deeply regret to inform you that your son Sub Lieutenant Henry Dann RNVR is believed to have been on board HMS Glorious must be regarded as missing though possibly a prisoner of war."

An OKS wrote of him:-

"Vitality and an adventurous spirit are the qualities of Henry Dann which those who knew him at school will best remember. He threw himself with energy into everything he undertook, whether it was on the football field, the sports ground or the cricket pitch. Like many of those who are destined to show qualities of leadership to a high degree, he had his disagreements with authority, but during his last few terms at school, where he had many achievements to his credit on the playing field, he was also a strong Monitor, and a notable head of the Dayboys House. Towards the end of his school career the desire came to him to see something of the world and in his own words "to rough it a bit" before settling down to the routine of office life. And so, foregoing his last summer term at school, he set out on a long ocean voyage on a tramp steamer."

His uncles, Private Frank Dann (OKS) 15th Battalion Australian Imperial Force was killed in action on the 9th of August 1916 and Lieutenant Wilfred Dann (OKS) 12th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment, died of wounds on the 30th of October 1917.
Day Boy

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