Information: Geordie at War Project

The Geordie at War Project states:

“Able Seaman Luck was serving on H.M.S. Glorious, an aircraft carrier. She was on her way through the Norwegian Sea with two destroyers, HMS Acasta and HMS Ardent when she was spotted by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at 3.46 pm on 8 June 1940. Both ships closed to engage and opened fire at 4.27 p.m. Glorious was hit six minutes later and a large fire started on the flight deck and upper hangar preventing aircraft from taking off. HMS Ardent has also been hit a number of times and sank at 5.25 p.m. The German ships continued to pound Glorious and she sank at 6.10 p.m. HMS Acasta, although heavily outgunned, continued the fight but eventually sank at 6.20 p.m. The Royal Navy knew nothing of the disaster until it was announced on German Radio next day. There were only 40 survivors from the three ships – 1,519 sailors were lost. There were a number of errors which contributed to the disaster – no sighting report was sent to the Admiralty, no aircraft were ready on the flight deck for action and there was no look out in Glorious’s crow’s nest to give an early warning. Hence there was no rescue operation for the estimated 900 survivors who abandoned the three ships.”

[Listing of casualties and survivors as compiled by Naval Net from official sources.]

Joseph Edward Luck is remembered on our List of Ships’ crews

He is also remembered in Naval Net

H.M.S. Glorious
HMS. Glorious Ardent and Acasta Association
Naval Career of HMS Glorious
The CWGC entry for Able Seaman Luck