HMS Hood (51) was a battle cruiser that was used by the Royal Navy. HMS Hood was a unique ship, as there were other members of it's class, and was commissioned in 1920.
History[]
HMS Hood was built in 1916, just before the Battle of Jutland.[1] At the outbreak of World War II, HMS Hood was part of a force commanded by Admiral Marcel Gensoul, who would go on to command the Vichy fleet. Ironically, HMS Hood was one of the ships which fired on the French fleet at Oran on 3 July 1940.[2]
HMS Hood was sunk shortly after 5 AM on 24 May 1941, during the Battle of the Denmark Strait, by the German battleship KMS Bismarck, when the Bismarcks second or third salvo struck the main magazine of HMS Hood, causing the latter to explode and sink, leaving only three survivors.[3]
At the time of Hoods sinking, she was serving as a consort vessel to the battleship HMS Prince of Wales,[4] while Bismarck was being escorted by the cruiser KMS Prinz Eugen.
References[]
- ↑ Roberts, Andrew. The Storm of War - A new history of the Second World War. Penguin Books. ISBN 978 0 141 02928 3. (2010). Page 361
- ↑ Roberts, Andrew. Page 92
- ↑ Odhams History of World War Two. 1951. Page 286
- ↑ Clarkson, Jeremy. I Know You Got Soul. Penguin Books. 2005. ISBN 0 141 02292 2 Page 210
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||