HMS Hood - Anthony Cowland

HMS Hood seeks the Bismarck, Denmark Strait, May 1941

 

HMS Hood was laid down in 1916 and commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1920.  She was named after the 18th Century Admiral Samuel Hood.  In 1939, during her assignment with the Mediterranean Fleet, HMS Hood was ordered to return to Britain, to undergo a major rebuild to update her armourment and bring her in line with other Royal Navy WW1-era capital ships. However, the outbreak of war in 1939 saw the need to return HMS Hood to service without the necessary upgrades.

 

Whilst operating in the North Sea as a convoy escort, HMS Hood, and HMS Prince of Wales were tasked to intercept the German battleship Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen whilst they were en route to attack Atlantic convoys. Early in the morning of the 24th May 1941, during the Battle of Denmark Strait, HMS Hood engaged the German ships but was soon hit, to devastating effect, by shells from her quarry. Only three men survived her sinking.