HMS Glow-Worm Badge

In the long history of the Royal Navy, five warships have been named HMS Glow-Worm or HMS Glowworm after the insect also called the firefly or lightning bug.  The most famous of these ships was a destroyer sunk in a 1940 battle with the German cruiser Admiral Hipper, which far outmatched HMS Glow-Worm.  The destroyer's commander, Gerard Broadmeade Roope, decided to fight to the death, fired all his torpedoes at the German cruiser and then rammed the enemy, going down with his ship.  The German ship was not seriously damaged, and captured the surviving British sailors, after which the German captain wrote to the British government, recommending Commander Roope for the Victoria Cross.  HMS Glow-Worm's badge, a bright lantern in a blue diamond, is on display at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.