HMS Hood (51)

HMS Hood was the last battlecruiser built by the British Royal Navy. Belonging to the Admiral class ordered in mid-1916, its design, thoroughly revised after the Battle of Jutland and improved during construction, still had serious limitations, which is why it was the only one built of a class that was to be composed of four units. She was named after the 18th century admiral Samuel Hood. The other three units, canceled in October 1918, would have been named Anson, Howe and Rodney. The first two names were assigned to the last King George V-class battleships (1939), while the third served for the second unit of the Nelson class.

The Hood made numerous representation voyages and participated in various exercises and maneuvers between 1920, the year it entered service, and 1939. Among others, it carried out training exercises in the Mediterranean Sea and circumnavigated the world with the Special Service Squadron between 1923 and 1924. He joined the Mediterranean Fleet after the start of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War the Hood was officially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet, and remained there until her return to the United Kingdom in 1939 for an overhaul. By then the usefulness of the old battlecruiser had deteriorated due to the advance of naval artillery, which is why a major reconstruction was planned for 1941 that would correct many of its problems, but the start of World War II forced its incorporation. to service without having been updated

When the United Kingdom declared war on Germany in September 1939, the Hood was operating near Iceland. She spent the following months between this island and the Norwegian Sea hunting for German ships that were raiding trade and blocking supply routes. Following a brief overhaul of her engines, she acted as the flagship of Force H and participated in the destruction of the French fleet during the Battle of Mers el-Kebir. Relieved as flagship of this force, Hood was sent to Scapa Flow, in the north of the United Kingdom, and operated in the area as a convoy escort and defense against a possible German invasion fleet. In May 1941 the Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales were ordered to intercept the German battleship Bismarck, which had sailed from Germany to attack Allied convoys in the Atlantic. On May 24, 1941, the Hood located and engaged in combat with the powerful and modern German ship, but it was hit by several enemy projectiles at the beginning of the Battle of the Denmark Strait and exploded brutally. Her loss had a profound effect on the British, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered his Navy to "sink the Bismarck," which they did three days later.

The British Royal Navy carried out two investigations to clarify the causes of the sudden disappearance of the cruiser. The first, completed very quickly after the sinking, concluded that the Hood's aft ammunition store had exploded due to a projectile from the Bismarck that pierced the thin armor of the ship. deck of the ship. A second investigation was carried out after complaints that the first commission had not considered alternative explanations, such as the explosion of the ship's torpedoes. Although much more complete than the first investigation, the second reached the same conclusion. Despite the official explanation, some historians continued to believe that torpedoes had caused the ship's explosion, while others proposed an accidental detonation within one of the ship's gun turrets. Other historians have focused on the cause of the warehouse explosion. The discovery of the wreck of the battlecruiser in 2001 confirmed the conclusion of both investigations, although the exact reason for the explosion of the warehouses will always be a mystery since that area of the ship was completely destroyed after the deflagration.

General characteristics

Launched in 1918, completed in 1920 and very superficially modernized over time, it was an elegant ship with slender lines, with a length of 263 m, a beam of 32 m and a displacement of 49,000 tons. It was armed with 8 381 mm guns in 4 double mounts, two 52.5 cm torpedo tubes on both sides, with a secondary armament of 12 140 mm guns, in single shielded positions and 8 double 102 mm pieces in open mantlets. In 1940, the 140mm guns were removed and replaced with 8 guns in twin 102mm mounts. She was classified as a 'Battlecruiser'. and in her time it was the largest warship in the world.

It carried 1,400 men and its main weakness, very widespread in the naval constructions of the time, especially the so-called battle cruisers in which armor was sacrificed in pursuit of speed, was its poor horizontal armor, with a 37 mm main deck (76 mm above ammunition stores) and a 52 mm protective deck.

Just compare it with the horizontal protection of the Prince of Wales series battleships, which was 150 mm (170 mm on the stores) and 50 mm, respectively. The vertical protection was, on the contrary, much more complete, with a 305 mm strip in the deadwork, which narrowed to 152 mm at the ends of the vessel and 76 mm in its lowest part. This shell was inclined 12°, with the recess at the bottom. Above this strip, the redoubt, between the battery deck and the main deck, had 178 mm armor. Underwater protection consisted of a double hull integrated with internal longitudinal bulkheads, designed to absorb underwater explosions. Finally, the barbettes of the main artillery had a thickness of 305 mm, and the frontal armor of the towers was 381 mm (the rear was 125 mm); The conning tower was 280 mm thick.

The propulsion apparatus consisted of 4 groups of steam turbines with reduction gears, one group per shaft, fed by 24 boilers, distributed in four rooms, all forward of the engine rooms, with two chimneys: together, The power was 144,000 HP with four propellers, and the speed in tests was greater than 32 knots.

Service History

It participated in many representation voyages in the English colonies between 1920 and 1939. During this period it only underwent one major modification, in 1931, when a catapult and a crew of four seaplanes were installed at the stern end. On the other hand, her engines and her boilers were never modified, nor did she undergo a complete tour in the shipyard, so in 1939 she was in quite poor condition and barely reached 30 knots. The imminent outbreak of hostilities made the Admiralty decide to cancel the planned modifications, which contemplated replacing all secondary artillery with 8 double 133 mm turrets (like the Prince of Wales type battleships that were being built) and replacing the boilers. by others of a more modern type, as had been done, with great success, on the HMS Renown.

World War II

During the beginning of the Second World War, he was stationed in the Home Fleet, in British metropolitan waters. After some brief works in which the secondary artillery was landed, he was assigned, in June 1940, to Force H, based in Gibraltar. On July 3 he participated in the so-called battle of Mers el-Kebir, sinking along with other British units several French ships anchored there under the command of Vichy officers, among them the battleships Provence, Bretagne and Strasbourg. In September of that same year he returned to the Home Fleet, participating in the unsuccessful hunt for Scharnhorst and Gneisenau within the framework of Operation Berlin by Admiral Günther Lütjens, in March 1941. On May 12, 1941, Vice Admiral Lancelot Ernest Holland assumes command of the battlecruiser squadron. Captain Ralph Kerr had been the commanding officer of HMS Hood since February of that year.

Battle of the Denmark Strait

While on May 24, 1941 in Scapa Flow, he received the order to march to intercept the Bismarck, since its cannons could be compared to those of the enemy. The Hood set sail alongside the new battleship HMS Prince of Wales and a detachment of destroyers. The British group sailed at full speed towards the exit of the Strait. Holland highlighted the destroyers to the northwest to prevent the German group from turning around at the exit of the Strait, which would be the first tactical error. At 5:15 the hydrophones picked up engine noise and at 5:30 visual contact occurred. At the exit of the Denmark Strait, he intercepted the German formation composed of the battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen led by Admiral Günther Lütjens.

Under the command of Vice-Admiral Lancelot Ernest Holland, the Hood and the Prince of Wales opened fire with their forward turrets at a distance of 22 km, engaging from long range the combat, this would be the second tactical error, because it resulted in the immediate contained response of the Germans. (German optical rangefinders were more modern, accurate and efficient than the obsolete optical matching equipment used by the English.) This second failure was a fatal tactical error on the part of the English, precisely because it prematurely attracted the German response that Lütjens was holding back and caused the fatal vertical drop shots. The third mistake was aiming at the lead ship of the German group, which was the Prinz Eugen, being confused with the Bismarck due to similarity of silhouettes, losing vital minutes in rectifying the target.. Holland quickly tried to close the distance at maximum speed to avoid the deadly vertical drop shots. The advance was made by firing the front towers; They advanced at the highest possible speed due to the known weakness of the "Hood"'s armor.

At 5:58, a low shot from the unexploded Bismark hit the observation platform located at the top of the main mast causing casualties. At around 5:59 a.m., a shot from the cruiser Prinz Eugen hit the deck ammunition stores, causing visible fires on the boat deck. At 6:00, 7 minutes after the combat began and when he was already turning to be able to place the stern towers to make a complete artillery salvo and oppose his lateral armor, the Bismarck's sixth salvo hit him somewhere next to the mast. stern, penetrating deeply to the barbette of the third artillery tower, and exploded the cordite deposits in the rear towers. A bright white flare higher than the mast and without audible noise emerged for a few moments, and then the great ship buckled and exploded violently, expelling the red-hot rear towers and hundreds of debris, breaking in two in the middle of a dense smoke.. The stern sank quickly and the front sank more slowly, which could have facilitated the firing of the bow towers as a final farewell before sinking and some sailors surviving. These last shots took place as a result of the spontaneous explosion of the propellant charges. Ultimately only three sailors were saved, Albert Ted Briggs, William Dundas and Robert (Lofty) Tilburn, all of whom were on the bridge mast compass bridge.

Sir Horace Hood's HMS Invincible met the same end, 25 years earlier. The end of it brought joy to the crew of the Bismarck and Admiral Lütjens. Captain Adalbert Schneider (top gunnery director) was awarded the Iron Cross.

His remains

In July 2001, its remains were found by means of sonar, widely scattered on the ocean floor at different levels, the bow and stern section are very recognizable, almost intact, the bow and stern of the ship are close between Yeah; the middle section is distant from the stern at about 1000 m and is completely overturned in a valley at greater depth; The armored combat tower is in perfect condition, far from the field of rubble to which the rest of the once symbol of British pride is reduced. The remains were discovered about 3 km deep, and it caused a serious sensation among the British people to discover that one of their ships was resting reduced to a field of metallic remains, while the German battleship Bismarck that caused that destruction, after having been bombed and torpedoed mercilessly, it was practically in one piece and perfectly recognizable.

On August 7, 2015, an expedition led by Paul G. Allen recovered the ship's bell. She was restored and handed over to the British Royal Navy to commemorate the loss of 1,415 lives at sea.