On 22 May 1941 the cruiser HMS Gloucester was sunk by aircraft of the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Crete. Of her crew of 807 men, only 83 survived to come home at the end of the War in 1945. The fact that Allied destroyers were in the area and were not sent to the rescue was due to poor naval communications and indecision by local fleet commanders. This book looks at the ship's history and operational successes from her launching in 1937 to her final demise, including many first-hand accounts.