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. The battlecruiser squadron made a Caribbean cruise in early 1932, and Hood was given another brief refit between 31 March and 10 May at Portsmouth. 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. An excellent place to post guestbook greetings & share photos/information concerning the ship and crew. HMS Hood was the pride of the British fleet and the Bismarck ended her existence. [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). Such a shell could only have come from. The loss of HMS Hood, with 1,400 crew was the Royal Navy's darkest hour. This is a database on the people who perished or survived attacks by German U-boats during WWII. HMS HOOD - 15in gun Battlecruiserincluding Convoy Escort Movements. Hood Rolls of Honour Memorials to Men Lost in the Sinking of Hood, 24th May 1941 Updated 07-Mar-2010 This page contains a listing the 1415 men who were lost when Hood was sunk on 24th May, 1941 HMS Ledbury saved some of her crew out of the blazing sea. When Briggs fought his way to the surface, he could see only two other . Afterwards, she patrolled the North Atlantic before putting into Scapa Flow on 6 May. Hood continued this pattern of a winter training visit to the Mediterranean for the rest of the decade. 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 . THE only three British sailors to have survived the sinking of HMS Hood after an attack by the Nazis have spoken about their terrifying ordeal the day after the 75th anniversary of D-Day. 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). It ended peacefully and Hood returned to her home port afterwards. This high position allowed them to be worked during heavy weather, as they were less affected by waves and spray compared with the casemate mounts of earlier British capital ships. The Bismarck took some beatings from the best battleships in the British navy. In 1934, the "pom-pom" directors were moved to the former locations of the 5.5-inch control positions on the spotting top and the 9-foot (2.7m) rangefinders for the 5.5-inch control positions were reinstalled on the signal platform. 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. [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. [18] The 5.5-inch control positions and their rangefinders on the spotting top were removed during the 1932 refit. The secondary armament was primarily controlled by directors mounted on each side of the bridge. To compensate for the additional weight, the 4 midships above water torpedo tubes and the armour for the rear torpedo warheads were removed, and the armour for the aft torpedo-control tower was reduced in thickness from 6 to 1.5 inches (38mm). She was above all the proud steel ambassador of the whole Royal Navy and of the country. Patrick Drennan. The Admiral-class, HMS Hood, 1941 is a rank V British battlecruiser with a battle rating of 7.0 (AB/RB/SB). [45], Captain John Im Thurn was in command when Hood, accompanied by the battlecruiser Repulse and Danae-class cruisers of the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron, set out on a world cruise from west to east via the Panama Canal in November 1923. to P.O. This is a public FB page for the H.M.S. [30] During her 19291931 refit, the platform was removed from 'X' turret and a rotating, folding catapult was installed on her quarterdeck, along with a crane to recover a seaplane. A large fragment of the wooden transom from one of Hood's boats was washed up in Norway after her loss and is preserved in the National Maritime Museum in London. [24] Hood's protection accounted for 33% of her displacement, a high proportion by British standards, but less than was usual in contemporary German designs (for example, 36% for the battlecruiser SMSHindenburg). STOKER IST CLASS Served from 1943 - 1945 Served in HMS Duke Of York. [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. 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. The men lost in the sinking are not the only ones who died whilst serving in Hood: It is known that nearly 40 men, possibly more, died whilst building or assigned to Hood between 1916 and her loss in May 1941. H.M.S. [62], The British squadron spotted the Germans at 05:37 (ship's clocks were set four hours ahead of local timethe engagement commenced shortly after dawn),[63] but the Germans were already aware of their presence, Prinz Eugen's hydrophones having previously detected the sounds of high-speed propellers to their southeast. The memorials were assembled by blending official records with public casualty listings. Draft: 32 ft. HMS Hood was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy - and was lost while chasing the most infamous battleship of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine - the Bismarck. They were supplemented by two additional control positions in the fore-top, which were provided with 9-foot (2.7m) rangefinders, fitted in 19241925. HMS Challenger: a trailblazer for modern ocean science 150 years ago, HMS Challenger departed England on a quest to explore the world's oceans. [21] An Admiralty document indicates however that, following the 1941 refit at Rosyth, Hood's Type 279 radar was indeed functional. Navy Artwork. Hood Crew List The HMS Hood, originally launched in 1918, . Illustrious, H.M.S. [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. [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. HMS Hood was avenged and it was a gallant end to the German warship. As a result, a second Board was convened under Rear Admiral Sir Harold Walker and reported in September 1941. In addition to the two inscriptions, the bell still wears vivid royal blue paint work on its crown as well as its interior. HMS Prince of Wales was a King George V -class battleship of the Royal Navy that was built at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, England. For this reason, she was the only ship of her class to be completed, as the Admiralty decided it would be better to start with a clean design on succeeding battlecruisers, leading to the never-built G-3 class. HMS Hood, battlecruiser, lost two men in 1935 - one drowned, one to illness (Maritime Quest, click to enlarge) on to 1936 or return to inter-war casualties, 1918-1939 . Answer (1 of 4): Three. [86], In their study of the battleship Bismarck's operational history released in 2019, including its engagement with Hood, Jurens, William Garzke, and Robert O. Dulin Jr. concluded that Hood's destruction was most likely caused by a 380-mm shell from Bismarck that penetrated the deck armour and exploded in the aft 4-inch magazine, igniting its cordite propellant, which in turn ignited the cordite in the adjacent aft 15-inch magazine. Bismarck was temporarily able to evade detection, but was later spotted and sunk on 27 May.[69]. It is held by a private collector and stamped HMS HOOD v HMS RENOWN 23 1 35. The ship had a metacentric height of 4.2 feet (1.3m) at deep load, which minimised her roll and made her a steady gun platform. Crew Lost During the Sinking of Hood, 24th May 1941, Crew & Dockyard Workers Lost Prior to the Sinking (Sept 1916 - May 1941). Hood Crew List -H.M.S. [74], Memorials to those who died are spread widely around the UK, and some of the crew are commemorated in different locations. Two of these were submerged forward of 'A' turret's magazine and the other four were above water, abaft the rear funnel. [64], Just before 06:00, while Hood was turning 20 to port to unmask her rear turrets, she was hit again on the boat deck by one or more shells from Bismarck's fifth salvo, fired from a range of approximately 16,650 metres (18,210yd). Here you will find our attempt at creating such a listing. Already under construction when the Battle of Jutland occurred in mid-1916, that battle revealed serious flaws in her design despite drastic revisions before she was completed four years later. 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. Lutjens, commander in chief of the German Fleet, the Bismarck sunk the Hood, resulting in the death of 1,500 of its crew; only three Brits survived. The Admiralty dissented from the verdict, reinstated Sawbridge, and criticised Bailey for ambiguous signals during the manoeuvre. On 25 September 1939, the Home Fleet sortied into the central North Sea to cover the return of the damaged submarine Spearfish. These deaths constituted the Royal Navy's greatest single ship loss of the Second World War. A look at the animal sailors who made up a special part of Hood's crew, Sport & Athletics [99][98][100], The recovered bell was originally carried on the pre-dreadnought battleship Hood. However, these records are only available for men who joined the Royal Navy before 1931. [8], The Admirals were powered by four Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by 24 Yarrow boilers. She had an extensive battle history, first seeing action in August 1940 while still being outfitted in her drydock when she was attacked and damaged by German aircraft. This change increased the ship's vulnerability to plunging (high-trajectory) shells, as it exposed more of the vulnerable deck armour. The Royal Navy kept no lists of ratings serving in individual ships and, therefore, for ratings any crew list can only be assembled from information relating to individuals. Issue 22 4 knots. The objective of the cruise was to remind the dominions of their dependence on British sea power and encourage them to support it with money, ships, and facilities. She embarked a Fairey IIIF from No. Hood's crew gained their first clue that something was developing at 1939, 23 May when full speed was ordered. HMS Hood broke in two and sank in a mere matter of minutes. 1,415 members of its crew perished. The terms were rejected and the Royal Navy opened fire on the French ships berthed there. [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. The Royal Navy were fully aware that the ship's protection flaws still remained, even in her revised design, so Hood was intended for the duties of a battlecruiser and she served in the battlecruiser squadrons through most of her career. 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. [57], Captain Irvine Glennie assumed command in May 1939 and Hood was assigned to the Home Fleet's Battlecruiser Squadron while still refitting. By this time, advances in naval gunnery had reduced Hood's usefulness. *** Please note that joining this FB page group does not make you a member . In March Janus was involved in the battle of Cape Matapan, whilst a unit of the 14th DD Flotilla, under Captain Mack aboard . Monthly listings of officers who served in Hood, Admirals & Captains They were and are the very heart and soul of the ship. Victor Noel White HMS Copra . Hood Crew Information- It was more thorough than the first board but concurred with the first board's conclusion. Unlike Tiger, the armour was angled outwards 12 from the waterline to increase its relative thickness in relation to flat-trajectory shells. It has been suggested that the fatal fire spread from the aft end of the ship through the starboard fuel tanks, since the starboard side of Hood "appears to be missing most, if not all of its torpedo bulge plating". [90] In 2015, the same team attempted a second recovery operation and Hood's bell was finally retrieved on 7 August 2015. 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. The spectacular end of HMS Hood demonstrated what many in the Royal Navy already knew . 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 Warspite bombarding defensive positions off Normandy, 6 June 1944. Hood was ordered to the Norwegian Sea on 19 April when the Admiralty received a false report that the German battleshipBismarck had sailed from Germany. 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. As a result, for the Midshipmen and junior officers who served in Hood in the later years of the 1930s little information in addition to the date on which they joined the ship is available without charge. [27] The torpedo-warhead armour was reinstated during the ship's 19291931 refit. 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. [59], Hood was relieved as flagship of Force H by Renown on 10 August, after returning to Scapa Flow. 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. 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. The captains of both ships were court-martialled, as was the squadron commander, Rear Admiral Sidney Bailey. Hood Association. It was introduced in Update "Danger Zone" . The ship was laid down on 1st September 1916 and was launched on 22nd August 1918 as the 3rd RN ship to carry this, introduced in 1859 and previously used in 1891 for a battleship sunk as a blockship in 1918. 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". Out of the of 1,418 sailors onboard, only three including Midshipman . [60], In January 1941, the ship began a refit that lasted until March; even after the refit she was still in poor condition, but the threat from the German capital ships was such that she could not be taken into dock for a major overhaul until more of the King George V-class battleships came into service. One was mounted above the conning tower, protected by an armoured hood, and was fitted with a 30-foot (9.1m) rangefinder. [65] A note on a survivor's sketch in the RN Historical Branch Archives gives .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}6320N 3150W / 63.333N 31.833W / 63.333; -31.833 as the position of the sinking. "[70] The first formal board of enquiry into the loss, presided over by Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Blake, reported on 2 June, less than a fortnight after the loss. 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. The bulge was backed by a 1.5-inch-thick torpedo bulkhead. On paper, Hood retained the same armament and level of protection, while being significantly faster. Hood. Basil O'Neill. August 4, 2020. The memorials were assembled by blending official records with public casualty listings. 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. At this point, the order to abandon ship was given. HMS Hood (pennant number 51) was a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy (RN). [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. 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. [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. They served as tragic reminders as to why the war was being fought and why it had to be won. [102], Some relics from the time of Hood's sinking still exist. In the afternoon two more Swordfish conducted an A/S patrol around the carrier force. H.M.S. At 0925 hours, when the Ohio, . Served from 1931 - 1957 Served in HMS Rodney. AB Served from 1946 - 1955 Served in HMS Duke Of York. Hood Crew Information- Wherever possible, records were cross-referenced and/or supplemented with information from the database of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), Northeast War Memorials Project, FLEET-DNPERS, The National Archives (TNA), various Admiralty 104 series documents, Navy Lists, the H.M.S. The hit split the ship in two and it sank in three minutes! Also one Swordfish carried out a photographic reconnaissance of the east east of Bogen and the Herjangsfjord. [95], In 2002, the site was officially designated a war grave by the British government. The middle armour belt had a maximum thickness of 7 inches over the same length as the thickest part of the waterline armour and thinned to five inches abreast 'A' barbette. This was to be used for a major event documentary to be aired on the 60th anniversary of the ships' battle. [28] As completed, Hood remained susceptible to plunging shells and bombs. 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. [40] In addition, she was grossly overweight compared to her original design, making her a wet ship with a highly stressed structure. [11], During the 19291931 refit, a high-angle control system (HACS) Mark I director was added on the rear searchlight platform and two positions for 2-pounder "pom-pom" antiaircraft directors were added at the rear of the spotting top, although only one director was initially fitted. When war with Germany was declared, Hood was operating in the area around Iceland, and she spent the next several months hunting for German commerce raiders and blockade runners between Iceland and the Norwegian Sea. [87], In 2001, British broadcaster Channel 4 commissioned shipwreck hunter David Mearns and his company, Blue Water Recoveries, to locate the wreck of Hood, and if possible, produce underwater footage of both the battlecruiser and her attacker, Bismarck.
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