Battleship HMS HOOD COBI 4830 - World War II

Did you know:

• At the time of her launch on August 22, 1918, the cruiser Hood was the largest warship in the world.
• England was duly proud of the cruiser, and in the pre-war period the ship mainly fulfilled a representative role of the British Empire.
• The outbreak of World War II found Hood in a considerably worn condition, requiring repairs in dry dock, but due to the development of the situation not all essential repairs were carried out.
• Even during construction, the building plans were changed and the hull was reinforced with 5,000 tons of armor, but unfortunately the deck was never modified.
• The cruiser Hood took part together with HMS Prince of Wales in the hunt for the German battleship Bismarck.
• Fleet commander Vice Admiral Lancaster Holland, probably under the weight of responsibility to fulfill Winston Churchill’s personal order to destroy Bismarck at all costs, made many poor decisions which ultimately led to Hood’s sinking.
• During maneuvering, Vice Admiral Holland positioned his ships so unfortunately that they could not use their aft guns against Bismarck without firing upon each other.
• Finally, on May 24, 1941, Hood was hit by a shell from the distant Bismarck, which struck at a steep angle on the lightly armored deck and penetrated into the ammunition magazine.
• The subsequent explosion, with flames shooting up to 300 meters high, sank the pride of the British Empire in just 2 minutes.
• Out of 1,419 sailors, only Tedd Briggs, Bob Tilburn, and Bill Dundas survived.
• In 2001, with the support of TV Channel 4, the wreck of Hood was discovered in the Denmark Strait at a depth of 3,000 meters.

Technical specifications:

• dimensions length 262.3 m, width 31.7 m, draft 10.1 m
• displacement 47,430 t
• armor hull 127–305 mm, deck 25–76 mm, conning tower 229–280 mm
• propulsion unit 24 Yarrow boilers, 4x steam turbines with a total output of 107,380 kW
• number of propellers 4
• fuel supply 4,064 t
• maximum speed 56 km/h
• range 9,870 km
• armament after modernization in 1940  4x gun caliber 381 mm, 7x gun caliber 102 mm, 24x anti-aircraft cannon caliber 40 mm, 16x anti-aircraft cannon 12.7 mm, 5 rocket launchers and 4x torpedo tubes 533 mm
• equipment 10x search mega spotlight, 1x fire-control radar and 1x air-target radar
• crew 1,169 – 1,419 persons

Eyewitnesses on the destruction of HMS Hood: