8 April 1940: The destroyer HMS Glowworm was sunk by the German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper after first attacking two destroyers participating in the Nazi invasion of Norway.

The Glowworm's skipper fired two spreads of torpedoes at the Hipper, all of which missed, then emerged from its smokescreen and rammed the cruiser near its bow (see accompanying illustration). When Glowworm's skipper, Lt. Cdr. Gerard Roope, pulled away from the Hipper, its boilers exploded and sent the destroyer to the bottom with 109 crewmen.

Among the survivors in the water were Roope and Lt. Robert Ramsay. Roope, however, drowned before he could be brought aboard the Hipper. Captain Hellmuth Heye, skipper of the Hipper, wrote a letter to the British command via the Red Cross extolling Roope's bravery. The king subsequently approved the posthumous award of the Victoria Cross to Roope, making him the first British serviceman to qualify for the decoration in WWII. Lieutenant Ramsay received the Distinguished Service Order.

For details, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Glowworm_(H92)