At 10:10, Lieutenant Commander Gerard Broadmead Roope fired five torpedoes from one mounting at a range of , but all missed because Captain Hellmuth Heye had kept "Hipper"s bow pointed at "Glowworm" throughout the battle to minimize his risk from torpedoes. The destroyer fell back through her smoke screen to buy time to get her second torpedo mount working, but Heye followed "Glowworm" through the smoke to finish her off before she could fire the rest of her torpedoes. The two ships were very close when "Hipper" emerged from the smoke and Roope ordered a hard turn to starboard to ram the cruiser. "Hipper" was slow to answer her helm and "Glowworm" struck the cruiser just the anchor. The collision broke off "Glowworm"s bow and the rest of the ship scraped along "Hipper"s side, gouging open several holes in the latter's hull and destroying her forward starboard torpedo mounting. One German sailor was knocked overboard by the collision. "Hipper" took on some of water before the leaks could be isolated, but was not seriously damaged. "Glowworm" was on fire when she drifted clear and her boilers exploded at 10:24, taking 109 of her crew with her.