[103] A third piece was found in Glasgow, where Hood was built. [34] However, the US continued with their established design direction, the slower, but well-protected, South Dakota-class battleship and the fast and lightly armoured Lexington-class battlecruiser, both of which were later cancelled in accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. The single guns were removed in mid-1939 and a further three twin Mark XIX mounts were added in early 1940. Albert Edward Pryke "Ted" Briggs was the last survivor of the battle cruiser HMS Hood, sunk by the German warship Bismarck in the North Atlantic during the Second World War. HMS Hood v Bismarck The fame Bismarck received for sinking HMS Hood and then being hunted in turn have turned her into a legend. One was on each side of the amidships control tower and the third was on the centreline abaft the aft control position. The Admiral-class battlecruisers were designed in response to the German Mackensen-class battlecruisers, which were reported to be more heavily armed and armoured than the latest British battlecruisers of the Renown and the Courageous classes. The amidships section, the biggest part of the wreck to survive the explosions, lies inverted south of the eastern debris field in a large impact crater. [36] To add to the confusion, Royal Navy documents of the period often describe any battleship with a maximum speed over 24 knots (44km/h; 28mph) as a battlecruiser, regardless of the amount of protective armour. They both had on board 5 million in gold bullion. Just eight days after the French surrender, the British Admiralty issued an ultimatum that the French fleet at Oran intern its ships in a British or neutral port to ensure they would not fall into Axis hands. Despite the appearance of newer and more modern ships, Hood remained the largest warship in the world for 20 years after her commissioning, and her prestige was reflected in her nickname, "The Mighty Hood". When the Spanish Civil War broke out the following year, Hood was officially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet until she had to return to Britain in 1939 for an overhaul. Hood. The destroyer HMS Ilex attempted to tow the ill fated destroyer, but failed and the vessel had to be abandoned, Janus was tasked to sink her. After a brief overhaul of her propulsion system, she sailed as the flagship of Force H, and participated in the destruction of the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir. Furthermore, a section of the bow immediately forward of 'A' turret is missing, which has led historian and former Dartmouth lecturer Eric J. Grove and expedition leader David Mearns to believe that "either just before or just after leaving the surface, the bow suffered massive internal damage from an internal explosion",[85] possibly a partial detonation of the forward 15-inch magazines. [9] She carried enough fuel oil to give her an estimated range of 7,500 nautical miles (13,900km; 8,600mi) at 14 knots (26km/h; 16mph). The names can be accessed by clicking on the links at right (alphabetical by surname or a listing of all names). In overall charge of HMS Jervis Bay was the Royal . [46], While in Australia in April 1924, the squadron escorted the battlecruiser HMASAustralia out to sea, where she was scuttled in compliance with the Washington Naval Treaty. Information about men who served in Hood, NAAFI Men Three torpedo-control towers were fitted, each with a 15-foot (4.6m) rangefinder. Ord. HMS Hood: Crew, History, Status. HMS Janus (F53), named after the Roman god, was a Javelin or J-class destroyer of the Royal Navy, she was ordered from the Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Limited at Wallsend-on-Tyne as part of the 1936 Build Programme and laid down on 29 September 1937, launched on 10 November 1938 and commissioned on 5 August 1939. Organisation of the search was complicated by the presence on board of a documentary team and their film equipment, along with a television journalist who made live news reports via satellite during the search. [49], While en route to Gibraltar for a Mediterranean cruise, Hood was rammed in the port side quarterdeck by the battlecruiser Renown on 23 January 1935. The complement of "The Mighty Hood", as she was affectionately known, was 1,421. Crew lists from ships hit by U-boats HMS Lapwing (U 62) British Sloop Photo from Imperial War Museum (IWM), FL-9971 This is a listing of people associated with this ship. Retained after World War I, it moved between postings in . [27], Live-firing trials with the new 15-inch APC (armour-piercing, capped) shell against a mock-up of Hood showed that this shell could penetrate the ship's vitals via the 7-inch middle belt and the 2-inch slope of the main deck as a result 3-inch plating on the main deck over the slopes was added alongside the magazine spaces at a very late stage of construction and the four aftermost 5.5-inch guns and their ammunition hoists were removed in partial compensation.. A proposal was made to increase the armour over the forward magazines to 5inches and 6inches over the rear magazines in July 1919 in response to these trials. Hood Association Facebook Page [2] . The Nelson-Class Battleship Pennant number 29, HMS Rodney was one of only two Nelson -class battleships built for the Royal Navy in the 1920s. The official Admiralty communiqu on the loss, broadcast on the day of the sinking, reported that: "during the action, HMS Hood received an unlucky hit in a magazine and blew up. The Hood was a truly mighty warship and if you yourself served in any of the Royal Navy's battleships (Hood was a battlecruiser) you will know what 40-odd thousand tons of grey coloured steel looks like, but if you didn't, you can still see that spectacle in the U.S.A., where several of her battleships of around this tonnage are parked as museums. ENGINEER Served from 1941 - 1943 Served in HMS Rodney. They served as tragic reminders as to why the war was being fought and why it had to be won. This was 66 feet (20.1m) longer and 14 feet (4.3m) wider than the older ships. [7] The ship's complement varied widely over her career; in 1919, she was authorised 1,433 men as a squadron flagship; in 1934, she had 81 officers and 1,244 ratings aboard. [32], She was launched on 22 August 1918 by the widow of Rear Admiral Sir Horace Hood, a great-great-grandson of Admiral Samuel Hood, after whom the ship was named. CCY (TCI) Served from 1942 - 1971 Served in HMS Duke Of York. Captain Harold Reinold relieved Captain im Thurn on 30 April 1925 and was relieved in turn by Captain Wilfred French on 21 May 1927. The Special Service Squadron are on a tour around the world. [15], The Admirals were fitted with six fixed 21-inch (533mm) torpedo tubes, three on each broadside. [95], In 2002, the site was officially designated a war grave by the British government. [54], Hood was due to be modernised in 1941 to bring her up to a standard similar to that of other modernised First World War-era capital ships. The stern of the Hood was located, with the rudder still in place, and it was found that this was set to port at the time of the explosion. [5] This characteristic earned her the nickname of "the largest submarine in the Navy". Hood was the first of four Admiral-class ships planned to be built during World War I. Updated 01-Jan-2020. By this time, advances in naval gunnery had reduced Hood's usefulness. Conceptualized during World War I as the follow on to the Queen Elizabeth class super-dreadnoughts, which were some of the most powerful battleships in the world at the time, the Admiral-class . If you have information about a man who served in the ship please contact William Sutherland by e-mail at crewsubs@hmshood.org.uk In the first instance if would help if you include in your e-mail the following information relating to the crew man: When he is able, William will reply to your e-mail so that we can draw it together into a page for the man concerned. [99][98][100], The recovered bell was originally carried on the pre-dreadnought battleship Hood. We also have a detailed page on the British Sloop HMS Lapwing (U 62). Before being installed on the battlecruiser, the bell was inscribed around its base with the words: "This bell was preserved from HMS Hood battleship 18911914 by the late Rear Admiral, The Honourable Sir Horace Hood KCB, DSO, MVO killed at Jutland on 31st May 1916. [53] Captain Pridham was relieved by Captain Harold Walker on 20 May 1938 and he, in turn, was relieved when the ship returned to Portsmouth in January 1939 for an overhaul that lasted until 12 August. Patrick Drennan. [12], The Ascension Island guns saw action only once, on 9 December 1941, when they fired on the German submarineU-124,[105] as it approached Georgetown on the surface to shell the cable station or sink any ships at anchor. Temporary repairs were made at Gibraltar before the ship sailed to Portsmouth for permanent repairs between February and May 1935. The main waterline belt was 12 inches (305mm) thick between 'A' and 'Y' barbettes and thinned to 5 to 6 inches (127 to 152mm) towards the ship's ends, but did not reach either the bow or the stern. As before, with the exception of the attempted retrieval of the ship's bell, a strict look-but-don't-touch policy was adhered to. At the second board, eyewitnesses reported unusual types of discharge from the 15-inch guns of, This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 14:06. The fact that the bow section separated just forward of 'A' turret is suggestive that a secondary explosion might have occurred in this area. Click here to access the list of dates men joined the ship. The first, held soon after the ship's loss, concluded that Hood's aft magazine had exploded after one of Bismarck's shells penetrated the ship's armour. AB Served from 1946 - 1955 Served in HMS Duke Of York. Unfortunately, there is no surviving official single listing of ALL men who served in her. [16], The ship's main battery was controlled by two fire-control directors. It is estimated that as many as 15,000 men may have served in her from 1920-1941. The main deck was 3 inches (76mm) thick over the magazines and 1 inch (25mm) elsewhere, except for the 2-inch-thick slope that met the bottom of the main belt. PO. Her 5-inch upper-armour strake would have been removed and her deck armour reinforced. During the brief battle, Prince of Wales scored three hits on Bismarck. He then joined HMS Letchworth and was promoted to Wireman (LC) on 26/10/43. [103] A metal container holding administrative papers was discovered washed ashore on the Norwegian island of Senja in April 1942, almost a year after the Battle of the Denmark Strait. All the 5.5-inch guns were removed during another refit in 1940. When the threat of an invasion diminished, the ship resumed her previous roles in convoy escort and patrolling against German commerce raiders. [61], When Bismarck sailed for the Atlantic in May 1941, Hood, flying the flag of Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland, together with the newly commissioned battleship Prince of Wales, was sent out in pursuit along with several other groups of British capital ships to intercept the German ships before they could break into the Atlantic and attack Allied convoys. Only three men from her 1,418-man crew survived. Select the period (starting by the reporting year): precomm - 1971 | 1972 - 1973 | 1974 - 1976 | 1977 - 1979 | 1980 - 1981 | 1982 - 1983 | 1984 - 1986 | 1987 - 1988 | 1989 | 1990 - 1991 | 1992 | 1993 - 1994 | 1995 - 1997 | 1998 - now [12], The ship's original anti-aircraft armament consisted of four QF 4-inch Mk V guns on single mounts. HMS Hood (pennant number 51) was a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy (RN). over 3 years). According to Goodall's theory, the ship's torpedoes could have been detonated either by the fire raging on the boat deck or, more probably, by a direct hit from. A Queen Elizabeth -class battleship, Warspite was completed in 1915 and fought at Jutland the following year. Hood Rolls of Honour Updated 01-Jan-2020 These memorials are dedicated to those who died whilst building and serving aboard Hood. As completed, Hood had an overall length of 860feet 7inches (262.3m), a maximum beam of 104feet 2inches (31.8m), and a draught of 32 feet (9.8m) at deep load. [4], The additional armour added during construction increased her draught by about 4 feet (1.2m) at deep load, which reduced her freeboard and made her very wet. During the same action, The ship was destroyed by the explosion of her own torpedoes. With the backing of the HMS Hood Association, Mearns planned to return the bell to Portsmouth where it would form part of the first official and permanent memorial to the sacrifice of her last crew at the newly refitted National Museum of the Royal Navy. Memorials to all those who died while building or serving in Hood, Crew List [67] The three were rescued about two hours after the sinking by the destroyer Electra, which spotted substantial debris but no bodies. However, these records are only available for men who joined the Royal Navy before 1931. Although these give the date on which any man joined the ship, they do not give the date on which he left. Previously K 64910 (further details absent), Re-entered as Stoker 1st Class (Pensioner) now KX88498, Re-entered for 3 years non continuous service, Transferred to Supply Assistant MX50989 (service record not available), Victory I (Reverts from N.Z.N. Each turret was also fitted with a 30-foot (9.1m) rangefinder. "[101] There is a second inscription on the side of the bell that reads "In accordance with the wishes of Lady Hood it was presented in memory of her husband to HMS Hood battle cruiser the ship she launched 22nd August 1918." [37], The scale of Hood's protection, though adequate for the Jutland era, was at best marginal against the new generation of 16-inch (406mm) gunned capital ships that emerged soon after her completion in 1920, typified by the American Colorado-class and the Japanese Nagato-class battleships. [72] This investigation was "much more thorough than was the first, taking evidence from a total of 176 eyewitnesses to the disaster",[73] and examined both Goodall's theory and others (see below). Hood visited the Mediterranean in 1921 and 1922 to show the flag and to train with the Mediterranean fleet, before sailing on a cruise to Brazil and the West Indies in company with the battlecruiser squadron. On 13 September she was sent to Rosyth along with the battleships Nelson and Rodney and other ships, to be in a better position to intercept a German invasion fleet. . 444 Flight of the Royal Air Force (RAF). In May 1941, Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales were ordered to intercept the German battleshipBismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, which were en route to the Atlantic, where they were to attack convoys. The Battle of the Denmark Strait was effectively part of the larger Battle of the Atlantic, the conflict fought as Germany tried to isolate Britain from its colonies and allies in hopes of forcing a negotiated peace. In addition to the two inscriptions, the bell still wears vivid royal blue paint work on its crown as well as its interior. Unfortunately, there is no surviving official single listing of ALL men who served in her. David Hunt. The explosion was initiated by 4-inch ammunition stored outside the magazines. HMS Hood, HMS Repulse, HMS Furious, HMS Somali, HMS Eskimo, HMS Mashona, HMS Punjabi and . The 4-inch fire-control director lies in the western debris field. . That said, it is the work of more than 20 years, and is unlikely to be surpassed elsewhere else. A catapult would have been fitted across the deck and the remaining torpedo tubes removed. Despite the official explanation, some historians continued to believe that the torpedoes caused the ship's loss, while others proposed an accidental explosion inside one of the ship's gun turrets that reached down into the magazine. To save construction time, this was accomplished by thickening the existing armour, rather than redesigning the entire ship. Rapid expansion of the resulting combustion gases from the conflagration then caused structural failure, passing out through the sides of the ship as well as forward and upwards via the engine room vents, expelling the aft main battery turrets and causing the stern to be detached from the rest of the hull at the aft armoured bulkhead. The remaining 90% for 1861, 1862, and years ending in '5', are held by the National Maritime Museum. By early 1940, Hood's machinery was in dire shape and limited her best speed to 26.5 knots (49.1km/h; 30.5mph); she was refitted between 4 April and 12 June. [32][33], Around 1918, American commanders, including Vice Admiral William Sims, commander of US naval forces in Europe, and Admiral Henry T. Mayo, commander of the Atlantic Fleet, became extremely impressed by Hood, which they described as a "fast battleship", and they advocated that the US Navy develop a fast battleship of its own. It was introduced in Update "Danger Zone" . Dunkerque's sister ship, Strasbourg, managed to escape from the harbour. [55] The ship's near-constant active service, resulting from her status as the Royal Navy's most battle-worthy fast capital ship, meant that her material condition gradually deteriorated, and by the mid-1930s, she was in need of a lengthy overhaul. For this reason . The search team also planned to stream video from the remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) directly to Channel 4's website. It endorsed this opinion, stating that: (c) (The) probable cause of the loss of HMS Hood was direct penetration of the protection by one or more 15-inch shells at a range of 16,500 yards [15,100m], resulting in the explosion of one or more of the aft magazines.[71]. Hood was hit by a 250kg (550lb) bomb from a Junkers Ju 88 bomber that damaged her port torpedo bulge and her condensers. [88], After footage of Bismarck was collected, Mearns and the search team began scanning a 600-square-nautical-mile (2,100km2) search box for Hood; completely covering the area was estimated to take six days. At 2002, a message from cruiser HMS Suffolk reported the enemy as one battleship and one cruiser, course 240 degrees, in a position that translated to some 560 kilometers distant and almost directly north of the battlecruiser force. -H.M.S. The exact cause of the loss of Hood remains a subject of debate. Captain Arthur Pridham assumed command on 1 February 1936 and Hood returned to Portsmouth for a brief refit between 26 June and 10 October 1936. . After conservation work, Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, unveiled the bell at the museum on 24 May 2016 the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Hood Roll of Honour Database. Hood Crew Information- H.M.S. But, even in the case of those for whom records are available, relatives often hold far more information about individuals than can be gleaned from the necessarily impersonal nature of their official records. HMS Hood (hull number 51) was a battleship of the Royal Navy (RN). HMS Hood was a battlecruiser not a battleship, a flawed concept from the Edwardian age that sacrificed armour for speed in the mistaken belief the latter would protect her when under fire from 'heavy' opponents. what was the premier league called before; Tags . Only Hood was completed, because the ships were very expensive and required labour and material that could be put to better use building merchant ships needed to replace those lost to the German U-boat campaign. Answer (1 of 4): Three. This included the standard-use 1,920lb Common Pointed Capped (CPC) shell and the equal . Victor Noel White HMS Copra . It is held by a private collector and stamped HMS HOOD v HMS RENOWN 23 1 35. H.M.S. [72], Both boards of enquiry exonerated Vice-Admiral Holland from any blame regarding the loss of Hood. Issue 22 4 knots. Beam: 104 ft. 2 in. The process of identifying Hood men is, therefore, a time-consuming one which involves trawling all records looking for "Hood" as an entry in amongst the list of ships in each record. She sported two funnels amidships about her superstructure with the bridge stationed ahead. Later that year, her crew participated in the Invergordon Mutiny over pay cuts for the sailors. May 24th marks the loss of the battlecruiser HMS Hood and 1415 of her crew. [51] On 23 April 1937, the ship escorted three British merchantmen into Bilbao harbour despite the presence of the Nationalist cruiser Almirante Cervera that attempted to blockade the port. 1,415 members of its crew perished. The discovery of the ship's wreck in 2001 confirmed the conclusion of both boards, although the exact reason the magazines detonated is likely to remain unknown since that portion of the ship was obliterated in the explosion. [47] The battlecruiser squadron visited Lisbon in January 1925 to participate in the Vasco da Gama celebrations before continuing on to the Mediterranean for exercises. Late in her career, Hood was outclassed by the armour and protective arrangement of Second World War-era fast battleships, but few of the RN's available "big gun" vessels could match Bismarck's speed. . Updated 10-Apr-2022. HMS Hood (pennant number 51) was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy. Before 27th November 1923 (Empire Cruise), After 28th September 1924 (Empire Cruise). Terms & Conditions! 19 rare photos of HMS Hood - the Royal Navy's final battlecruiser First launched more than 100 years ago, HMS Hood was one of the greatest warships ever built by the Royal Navy. HMS Hood broke in two and sank in a mere matter of minutes. Also listed are the three survivors (coloured blue) - all of whom have now crossed the bar. As a result, the greater part of the infomation that we have brought together in this database has come from the service records of individual men. Some 5,000 long tons (5,100t) of armour were added to the design in late 1916, based on British experiences at the Battle of Jutland, at the cost of deeper draught and slightly decreased speed. -H.M.S. Hood Crew List Updated 06-Jun-2022 It is estimated that as many as 18,000 men, perhaps more, served aboard the "Mighty Hood" during the operational portion of her 21 year career. Hood Association-Battle Cruiser Hood: Crew Information - H.M.S. HMS Hood bore the motto "with favorable winds" and was named after Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, a victorious commander in the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War . This work is still very much in development but we have about one-third of the people who died already listed. Hood's crew gained their first clue that something was developing at 1939, 23 May when full speed was ordered. Photos of many of the men who served in Hood, Navy Lists On May 24, 1941, the fifth salvo of the German battleship Bismarck sank the British battlecruiser HMS Hood. She was attached to the Mediterranean fleet shortly afterwards and stationed at Gibraltar at the outbreak of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War in October. [29], Hood was initially fitted with flying-off platforms mounted on top of 'B' and 'X' turrets, from which Fairey Flycatchers could launch. Harold Thorpe. [31], Although the Royal Navy always designated Hood as a battlecruiser, some modern writers such as Anthony Preston have classified her as a fast battleship, since Hood appeared to have improvements over the fast Queen Elizabeth-class battleships. During the 1932 West Indies cruise, the catapult proved to be difficult to operate in anything but a calm sea, as it was frequently awash in bad weather. HMS Prince of Wales caught a disastrous direct hit to her bridge that forced . Captain Thomas Binney assumed command on 15 August 1932 and the ship resumed her previous practice of a winter cruise in the Mediterranean the next year. They were and are the very heart and soul of the ship. [65] A shell from this salvo appears to have hit the spotting top, as the boat deck was showered with body parts and debris. -H.M.S. HMS Hood was the pride of the British fleet and the Bismarck ended her existence. For instance, the never-built G3 battlecruiser was classified as such, although it would have been more of a fast battleship than Hood. The men who commanded the ship & the squadrons she served in, Crew Stories & Anecdotes You can learn more about these men here. It is further supposed that the small debris fields are the fragments from the aft hull where the magazines and turrets were located, since that section of the hull was totally destroyed in the explosion. Hood Crew Information Updated 10-Apr-2022 Though mighty, the battle cruiser H.M.S. Hood was involved in many showing-the-flag exercises between her commissioning in 1920 and the outbreak of war in 1939, including training exercises in the Mediterranean Sea and a circumnavigation of the globe with the Special Service Squadron in 1923 and 1924. [14] When they detonated, the rockets shot out lengths of cable that were kept aloft by parachutes; the cable was intended to snag aircraft and draw up the small aerial mine that would destroy the aircraft. Victor White trained at HMS Royal Arthur as an Ordinary Telegrapher from 20/07/1943 to 12/08/1943. Sir Horace Hood had been killed while commanding the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron and flying his flag on Invincibleone of the three battlecruisers which blew up at the Battle of Jutland. The battlecruiser's turbines were designed to produce 144,000 shaft horsepower (107,000kW), which would propel the ship at 31 knots (57km/h; 36mph), but during sea trials in 1920, Hood's turbines provided 151,280shp (112,810kW), which allowed her to reach 32.07 knots (59.39km/h; 36.91mph). The guns were restored by the RAF in 1984. The secondary armament was primarily controlled by directors mounted on each side of the bridge. Hood Crew Information- We are particularly grateful to Barry Roberts who has dedicated many hours undertaking this task and has identified several thousand "Hood men" thereby. The relevant series of documents are ADM188 (men joined before 1926), ADM362 (men joining 1926-1928) and ADM363 (service after 1929 for men joining before before that date). [41] After her sea trials, she was commissioned on 15 May 1920, under Captain Wilfred Tompkinson. [44], Shortly after commissioning on 15 May 1920, Hood became the flagship of the Battlecruiser Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet, under the command of Rear Admiral Sir Roger Keyes. Anecdotes and remembrances concerning Hood, Hood's Mascots