The Mighty Hood The Life and Death of the Royal Navy's Proudest Ship

The life and death of the Royal Navy’s proudest ship HMS Hood was commissioned in 1920 and was described as the greatest and most graceful ship of her time. She was the last of the ‘Leviathans’ – those mighty ships, whose movement upon the high seas had assured the supremacy of Britain’s Royal Navy and determined policy since the last quarter of the 19th Century. During the twenties and thirties she had been the flag ship of a number of admirals and could be found ‘flying-the-flag’ for Britain in the far-flung regions of the world – from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, from South America and the West Indies to Africa and the Indian subcontinent. In early 1939 HMS Hood was refitted and rearmed prior to her joining the Home Fleet. As one of the British ships engaged in the hunt for the German battleship Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen, northwest of Iceland in May 1941, she was accompanied by HMS Suffolk and HMS Norfolk. During the ensuing battle HMS Hood received several hits from the Bismarck, the last a direct hit in the ammunition magazine. The ‘mighty’ Hood blew up and soon disappeared from view. A total of ninety-four officers and 1,321 ratings were lost within those brief moments, with only three survivors recovered from the sea. A generation of British seamen had been trained in her. To millions of people she had represented British power and imperial might. With her passed not only a ship, but a whole era of naval history.