HMS Hood

[r00fie1]

Sunk in the Denmark Straight by the Bismark in 1941.
Watched a superb programme where an RCV goes down to the wreck to ascertain what caused her to explode and sink so quickly. Fascinating. It appears a torpedo hit the armoury which caused a huge explosion and a fireball to rip through the ship.
On the bottom of the ocean are the boots and personal effects of the crew.
​

 

[r00fie1]

The Bell lifted up by the robotic arm:

 

[uncle_rico]

I watched a documentary about this on PBS a few weeks ago. Fascinating and harrowing at the same time.

 

[Lemmy_kilmister]

In all my time in the RN, I never had the chance to meet Ted Briggs. I was in the same branch as him and he spoke and lectured often about his career and the Hood.
Would have been an honour to have met him.

 

[SmogontheMarsh]

My uncle's brother died on HMS Hood.

 

[Muttley]

I always thought the Hood took a hit from Bismarck's big guns that penetrated to the armoury. Where did you watch the programme @r00fie1 ?

 

[Billywoofslovechild]

My Mum’s cousin died on the Hood. Aged 18

 

[Acklam_Lad]

I always thought the Hood took a hit from Bismarck's big guns that penetrated to the armoury. Where did you watch the programme @r00fie1 ?

Yeah that was my understanding too… one salvo from Bismarck hit the magazine and that was it.

The armour was thinner than it should have been to keep her speed up and weight down to a Battle Cruiser.

No idea where a Torpedo would have come from? A U-boat wouldn’t have been able to chase her

 

[xxlshirts_fit_all]

My grandad said he knew ted briggs quite well… I think they served on a ship after the hood… he only got a few weeks survivors leave…

 

[r00fie1]

I always thought the Hood took a hit from Bismarck's big guns that penetrated to the armoury. Where did you watch the programme @r00fie1 ?

 

[Beverleyred]

In all my time in the RN, I never had the chance to meet Ted Briggs. I was in the same branch as him and he spoke and lectured often about his career and the Hood.
Would have been an honour to have met him.

Basher Briggs - the legend.

 

[Muttley]

Fascinating. It appears a torpedo hit the armoury which caused a huge explosion and a fireball to rip through the ship.

Thanks just watched that programme through. You have misheard though. The explosion was caused by a "lucky" hit from Bismarck. An 18in shell penetrated through the deck and ignited the magazine holding the cordite charges for the secondary guns which quite literally blew the ship apart. It seems that Hood was turning to bring all her guns to bear on Bismarck when the shell struck. Had she not turned or turned a few seconds earlier the shell would likely have missed altogether.

I checked and Bismarck did not carry torpedoes (which I suspect would have been ineffective at the ranges at which the ships were engaged) though Prinz Eugen the cruiser accompanying Bismarck did carry some. Hood did carry torpedoes and the magazine for them might have been the cause of the explosion but they concluded that it was not.

 

[Anton_Berg]

HMS Rodney torpedoed the Bismark in the later action.. I think this was a first for any two opposing battleships.

 

[WoodallServices]

Basically The Hood was a cr@ppy WW1 battlecruiser up against a brand spanking new state of the art battleship. The Bismark had far superior gun sights as the video shows the salvos from HMS Hood peppering either side of the Bismark and the Bismark’s salvos being spot on. Admiral Holland feared being hit from long range and therefore a steep angle of descent for the shell so he had ordered Hood to steam full ahead to to try desperately to close the gap. The Hood got the first salvos away but at 12 miles you couldn’t tell the Prinz Eugen and the Bismark apart so fired at the wrong ship.

 

[Druss_The_Legend]

My Grandads(on my Mum's side of the family) uncle died in the navy during WW2 but I don't know what ship he was on or even his name which is sad.
My great Grandad on my Dad's side was a POW during WW2 and I managed to find some of his military record and what camp he was kept in,which was emotional but interesting at the same time especially reading details about the camp and the conditions, he passed away when I was about 9yo. When I was a kid I obviously didn't think about these things but as an adult and doing research into it, it was an emotional journey discovering what sacrifices this bloke made and what horrors he must of seen and experienced.

 

[Expat Smoggie]

At least it was over quickly but it’s still hard to fathom that only three lived or tell the story

 

[Jonny_Rondos_Disco_pants]

Basically The Hood was a cr@ppy WW1 battlecruiser up against a brand spanking new state of the art battleship. The Bismark had far superior gun sights as the video shows the salvos from HMS Hood peppering either side of the Bismark and the Bismark’s salvos being spot on. Admiral Holland feared being hit from long range and therefore a steep angle of descent for the shell so he had ordered Hood to steam full ahead to to try desperately to close the gap. The Hood got the first salvos away but at 12 miles you couldn’t tell the Prinz Eugen and the Bismark apart so fired at the wrong ship.

By state of the art do you mean the anti aircraft guns were so advanced they couldn’t target the Swordfish fighters that were too slow moving?

 

[Soutra]

By state of the art do you mean the anti aircraft guns were so advanced they couldn’t target the Swordfish fighters that were too slow moving?

That's pretty much the case. The Swordfish were torpedo bombers and flying so slowly that Bismarck's range finder couldn't lock on to them, and so low that the AA guns couldn't be depressed enough.

Even so, only two torpedoes hit, one did no damage, and the other was a lucky hit on the rudder that caused Bismarck to be unsteerable.

By such luck are battles won and lost.

 

[Noroomforpudding]

HMS Hood is a war grave.
I am not comfortable with anyone poking around.

 

[WoodallServices]

By state of the art do you mean the anti aircraft guns were so advanced they couldn’t target the Swordfish fighters that were too slow moving?

Exactly, they were too state of the art that the “String Bags” didn’t fly fast enough for them to be effective.