Added: 4 years ago
From: snakes3425
Views: 70,670
Sort by time | Sort by thread (beta)

Link to this comment:

Share to:
see all

All Comments (274)

Sign In or Sign Up now to post a comment!
  • For a warship of that age she looks pretty modern to me. pure and clear design. A beautyful ship with an terrible end.

  • why do you use the same song for every video??

  • At 1.44 is that an HMAS ship ??

    Becuase at the center the mascot looks like a baby kangaroo

  • @thebritish25

    It's a pre-war photo of HMS Hood's crew during the so called Empire Cruse in 1924, the picture was actually taken while Hood was in Newfoundland, the baby Kangaroo is Joey, a gift to the crew from Austrailia who became the ship's mascot until 1926 when he was given to a zoo due to behavior problems. It's believed that Hood's two kitten mascots, Fishcakes and Ginger were aboard the ship during her last mission and died in the Battle of the Denmark Strait

  • In my school libraray was a wonderful 2- volume book on fighting ships, (not Janes)published sometime in the late 30s. I wish I could find out what it was, and how to find a copy. In it was a colour plate of a painting of Hood. Part of the caption read "due for replacement in 1941" How prophetic.

  • even the hood could not escape the legeacy of jutland. she went down fighting

  • At 1:56, that is not a picture from H.M.S. Hood as the tampion is incorrect. Hood's 15" tampion was a Cornish Chough holding an anchor.

  • @jensen1964

    I admit that by the time I started the crew section I was in a rush so I probably over looked a minor detal, the captain though if I remember said the men in the photo were later assigned to Hood during her final voyage

  • she even fired a shell as she was sinking.

  • is the photo at 1:12 a official photo of Hood? i was under the impression there were none, since Prince of Wales was trailing so how is this the Hood?

  • @dlharwood

    It's actually a photo of Hood underfire from French Shorebattiers during the battle of Mers-El-Kebir, I used to as a stand in for when Hood was struck by Bismarck's shell since I couldn't find a genuine photo or painting of when Bismarck's shell hit the Hood's magazine, and someone else apparently added the title claiming it to be a lost phot of the Denmark Strait

  • @snakes3425 with respect my friend, it is not even at Mers-el -Kebir. It is Mediterranean but she is under air attack from the Regia Aeronautica. To the left is the stern of Warspite and it was taken from the flight deck of Ark Royal

  • RIP brave men who whether they knew it or not were fighting for freedom for the entire world. Thanks!

    Miguel

  • Plunging fire has been used for three centuries and more, factnotfic. Factoids are easy...

  • Why do you add cacaphonous music? Do you see yourself as a vj? Horrible

    and it cheapens the disaster.

  • 1,415 crew lost..... damn! RIP 

  • OK, the song isn't that bad actually, but it's weird how it seems to be used for EVERY video about a famous historical sinking...

  • @WeaselKing1000

    the video uploader seems to like it... it's been used for a lot of his ship videos =/

  • this muSICK sux!!!!!!!

  • super video great very good

  • bismark FTW

  • @thebritish25 because of her design as a battlecruiser, the Hood was much more lightly armored (battlecruisers were not intended to engage capital ships) and this was compounded by the fact that much of her armor was on the vertical surfaces, it was very easy for a plunging shell to tear right into her

  • What Class was Hood??

  • @thebritish25 She was the only one of 4 "Admiral" class to be completed (the others being cancelled) so she is just HOOD and not of any class.

  • @thebritish25

    She was an 'Admiral' class battlecruiser. Superancientmariners comment not withstanding

  • There is one thing I forgot to include: Ginger and Fishcakes, Hood's two kitten mascots, while it's unknown for certain it's believed one or both kittens were killed in the Battle of the Denmark Strait, either from the hit Hood recieved from Prinz Eugen on the her deck or from the fatal blow from the Bismarck

  • @snakes3425 They were not kittens and both had been in Hood for many years. All indications are that both cats went down with her.

  • Why to accompany these images of a great battleships with such fluffy silly songs? It´s a disrespect for the brave men that fought and died in them. Put epic music, like Wagner, Mahler et al., instead of this little music for girls.

  • HMS hood ghost ship her men all gone god bless the men who on that day,May 21 1941

  • It is sad to think that with ships like HMS.Hood and the USS.Arizona is that there claim to fame is infact there sinking.

  • Ah! The Roma is not Hood. I forget which one it was that hit the Roma, it was either a Fritz X or a Henschel 293.

  • She was struck by a Fritz X class missle

  • @snakes3425 I knew it was one of those two..cheers.

  • Experts now say that it was not a shell that destroyed Hood but one of the very first Anti Ship missles a precursor to Exocet!

  • @vnck25 Stick to comedy...you need the practice!

  • That was the RN Roma, and that was an Italian Battleship, not a British ship

  • Okay, thanks!

  • @snakes3425 Was it an accident

    Becuase the Italians and Germans where allies unless was it after the Invasion of Italy??

  • @thebritish25

    Roma was sunk a day after the Armistice with Italy was signed, and Italy fell under German Occupation. One of the conditions was that the Royal Italian Navy was to sail to Allied Ports, out of fear that the ships would fall into the hands of Musollini Loyalists, in the Italian Social Republic or the Nazi Occupation Force

  • @snakes3425 Ah so the same conditions as the French Navy after the Fall of France in 1940.

    But do you know how it came to sink?? did it just confront a german task group or something along those lines.

  • @thebritish25

    Roma was attacked by Luftwaffe DO 217 Bombers from Gruppe III, Kampfgeschwader 100, which was baised in southern France and armed with Fritz X radio controled guided bombs, which were controlled by the pilots of the bombers

  • @vnck25 No that cant be right in 1941 missiles from small like the Fritz X to the Big V2 could not even get of the ground and when they did they exploded in Mid filght.

  • @vnck25

    I dont know , I think you should look it up on the Latin American Maritime Journal which is published by the Bolivian Academy of Science.

  • The "lost photo " of Hood was in fact taken in the med. from the flight deck of Ark Royal during an air attack by the Regia Aeronautica. To the left is the stern of Warspite

  • USE A FREAKING DIFFERNET SONG

  • I have never understood the strategy here, slow for daylight not use radar for night action, with PoW having gun problems why not creep up behind, 10 big guns to 4, slip in where Norfolk and suffolk were, force Bismark to turn, Hood was condemned by poor tactics, it might have been very different as surely Lutjens well understood

  • Holland knew the deck armor put Hood at risk, his plan was to close swiftly, and head on under the cover of darkness, protecting Hood's weak deck armor from Bismarck's plunging fire, the problem was the cruiser shadowing Bismarck, HMS Suffolk lost contact with Bismarck's battle group, and constant radar contact was the key to the plan. Suffolk and Norfolk were also too far behind once contact had been reestablished. Also Bismarck had 8 15in guns which were more powerful then, PoW's 10 14in guns

  • FINISH HIM!

    *Kaboom*

    FLAWLESS VICTORY!

  • britain went into WW2 with a lot of the same weaponry from WW1, the germans had moved on.

    the royal oak which went down in scapa flow was another dinasoaur. even the crew hated it as they knew it was slow, well out of date and highy vulnerable.

  • Over matched with the Bismark. Cruisers and Battleships fights don't go well for cruisers.

  • God bless the HMS hood

  • Hms Hood and vandguard are the best ships ever

    LONG LIVE THE BRITISH EMPIRE

    -FALLLON

  • why did the Hood have the sink, i love that Special Admiral Class Battlecruiser!

  • Comment removed

  • the bismark was a worthy enemy

    but put modern german naval units against the hams dragon

  • German AP rounds were not superior to British,also British gunnery was not inferior look up Battles of North Cape,Barrents sea,Narvic,Scharnhorst/Geneise­nu V Repulse,and Bismarck's last battle,in particular at North Cape POW,S sister disabled Scharnhorst at 20000yds at night in a force 9 gale,Sharnhorst with identical fire control to Bismarck scored a single hit on Duke of York's mast.

  • You damn fool! During that battle the Scharnhorst was stationary on water, it wasnt moving and mind you at that moment the Gunnery officer of the Scharnhorst was badly wounded and his duties were transfered to junior officers and most of the communication were out of order and the range finders were also down

  • Really? actually Scharnhorst was at flank speed (32.5k)when hit at 20000yds by DOY,also please not at the start of the battle DOY opened fire on S at 12000yds(hit first salvo) and had been tracking S on centimetric radar from 38000yds,S was unaware of DOY,S presence,Brits you see can see in the dark.

  • Ya Brits see in the dark they can't even see their hands in the dark, not to mention a ship far away.

    Any how the German seamanship was even admired by the British Admiral himself.

  • No one has ever criticised German seamanship.

  • Thats true until you started

  • Don,t think so I made no mention of German seamanship and have videos of 3 German warships on my channel as well as a tribute to Baron Mullenheim Von Reichburg, Bismarcks highest ranking survivor.

  • Well your comment that Brits can see in the dark is kind of insluting to the German navy personal who faced the Brits during the war. Thats not a very good remark!

  • The comment was referring to centimetric radar,the Germans did not have it although they did have meteric radar.

  • It doesnt rectify the mistake you have made. I reported you to the Association for German Naval veterans they are going to take legal action agains you in the near future. If you dont have any legal advice I can supply it for a flat rate of US$39.99 per hour plus tax.

  • Only $39.99 you sell yourself short!

  • Not me there is a bad ass con artist he surely look like a lawyer and would probably act like one too. Its his price I am just getting a commission you know

  • Never act for less than 25%

  • I will keep that in mind the next time thanks

  • Why did the Hood have to sink?

  • Because it went after a superior counterpart the Bismarck. Brits should have said back at Scapa Flow having some good hot tea and some English muffins!

  • Well...

    By the time of Denmark Strait, Hood was already 20 years old. It was a Battle CRUISER, not a battleship, which means she was built for speed, not armor protection. Bismarck, on the other hand, was a pure Battleship, and on top of that, in addition to better armor, her 15 inchers could fire 3 salvos a minute to Hood's 2. In other words, had Hood undergone a refurbishment years earlier, it might have stood a chance. But it didn't

    (Sorry for sounding negative, but its true)

  • The manual for Bismarcks guns give a firing cycle of 26 secs,in practice they averaged rather a fair bit longer than that,other than that a fair assesement .

  • I agree with you wholeheartedly. The history channel has a specail about the sinking of the Hood. The only thing i can say is that is was mercifully quick for those who passed away. Rest in peace

  • @frankydman I understand all of what you just said

    But surley it must have been I very lucky shot for a single shell to find I blind spot and hit the Magazine.

  • @thebritish25 When The Hood was designed, such penetrative shellfire was not common. But by WWII advances in gunnery etc, had made it so. And I think you'll find the catastrophic effects were magnified by 'flasover' in the onboard ventelation system.

  • @frankydman Mainy accurate - but speed of fire had little to do with it! It was falling - deck penetrating shellfire - that doomed Hood.d

  • a fight between the bismark, or any german ship, and the hood was the high seas commands worst nightmare. the Hood was a terror to the German Navy because they really werent sure if they could match her. the Hood was the best the royal navy had with the most exprienced crew and everyone in the german navy knew it

  • The German AP rounds were superior to British AP rounds.

    And it was well known even within the RN that the crews of German director control towers were very effient compared to their lethargic British counterparts.

  • this was true in the 1st war, Britsh shells had very poor performance and the German ships could find the range quicker

  • Most of the British gun crews suffered from lack of vitamin K and resluted in double vision during the WW1 naval wars. This was revealed by a paper presented by a Bulgarian scientist at Oxford university last week and the Bulgarian guy had to leave the country afterwards.

  • When you talk to most people they will agree that the Hood was classified as a fast battleship. she had a experienced crew and another battleship as good as the bismark accompanying her. The fact is that everything at the start of the battle pointed to a british victory. unfortunatley everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. the Bismark found the range first, the Prince of wales main guns malfunctioned and evrything just went to hell.

  • my great granpa was in the war

  • Although Hood was refitted in 1939, the problem of her thin deck armor was not addressed. A direct hit from Bismarck's 15" main battery easily penetrated the deck, and the ship suffered a catastrophic, violent end.

  • the sad truth is the Bismark got lucky and found the range first. if it had been the other way around the Hood would have taken her.

  • I don't think it would've made much difference, Hood wasn't designed to take on a battleship, had she just engaged the Prinz Eugen (a Heavy Cruiser) she could have gotten the upper hand.

    The fatal blunder was that Hood was damaged before the fatal shot hit, she had already taken one hit from Prinz Eugen on her boat deck, which set off 4in Ammunition and UP Rockets, and this hit had caused enough damage that Hood should've retreated

  • With that in mind, HMS Hood had HMS Prince Of Wales along side her, a fully armored modern Battleship, more than capable of engaging Bismarck, 10 x 14 inch main guns against Bismarcks 8 x 15 inch main guns, but had HMS Prince Of Wales had fully functional weaponry and a trained crew, HMS Hood may have survived the battle of the Denmark straight, as the odds were 1 Battlecruiser (largest in the world) and 1 Battleship against 1 Battleship (Largest in the world) and 1 Heavy Cruiser, a luck shot!

  • The blunder that doomed Hood wasn't so much her deck armor, but the fact that they had lost the element of surprise.

    Prince of Wales got lucky in the fact she had retreated just as she had come into range of Prinz Eugen's torpedoes, had managed to damage the Bismarck's forward oil tanks, and a dispute between Capt. Linderman and Admiral Lutjens prevented Bismarck from following and finishing off the damaged battleship

  • I suppose the decision for Bismarck to retreat was made due to that the Germans did not want to lose the biggest battleship in the world chasing a badly damaged ship, but thanks to PoW, Bismarck was sunk, I don't say that in a good way, but without Bismarck it did help win the war in Europe.

  • Actually the German Naval High Command had given Lutjens orders not to engage the British Navy. Bismarck also suffered from a design flaw of her own, namely her stern lacked any sort of support to hold it in place

  • It should be noted that Lutjens probably made the correct decision in light of the damage to Bismarck related by Baron Reichburg in his book survivors story on page 116,I seriously doubt that B could even of caught POW.

  • I am not entirely convinced of the Bismarck getting lucky. He (Kapitan Zur See Ernst Lindemann insisted on his ship being referred to with masculinity) was a cutting-edge warship and the pride of the Kriegsmarine. On the other hand, however, your comments regarding the Hood vs Bismarck matchup gave me pause. Hood had massive 14" main guns and would have wreaked havoc on any ship in the world with a few decisive hits.

  • most battleship battles arent really slugging matchs but a question of who finds the range first. when ships are packing main guns in excess on 14 inches its all about finding the range.

  • True, Bismarck got lucky and on their 5th round found the aft magazine of the Mighty Hood, but finding range is only one factor, a gunnery team must also consider temperature, wind speed and direction, the natural rolling of the ship etc. The percentage of accuracy of any warship in the 1940's is reckoned to be about 1%, on a good day. On that day PoW gunnery was superior to the Hood, landing more hits on the Bismarck before disengagement.

  • 0:56/3:05

  • "Only 3 survived"

    Those 3 men were:

    William Dundas

    Robert Tilburn

    Ted Briggs

  • i would give anything to dive on Hood

  • Hey I'm a diver too. I know what you mean. How deep is the Denmark strait, anyway?

  • snakes might know

  • Hood lies at a depth of 10,000 feet, however the site is a war grave and it's illegal for divers to touch or enter the wreck

  • It was lucky for KG5 HMS Rodney was with her on May 27, her main turrets started to play up just like POW's on the 24th.

  • i have to say that this song is crap!

  • There's a small irony in the story of Bismarck and Hood. One of the ships that finally sank the Bismarck, HMS Rodney, bore the name of one of HMS Hood's cancelled sister ships

  • A bit poetic that the older ship and the new built ship were defeated, then avenged by the modern veteran ships.

  • I never realised that one until you pointed it out snakes3425, good comment! :-)

  • @Warriorking1963

    Hood was the first Admiral Class Battlecruiser out of a planned four. The other three were to be named Howe, Rodney, and Anson. The other three had been laid down in 1916, but were canceled with the end of World War I.

    All three names were eventually used for other ships: Rodney became a Nelson Class Battleship and is the only one of Hood's "Sisters" to have fought with Bismarck, Howe and Anson would become King George V class Battleships but weren't in service till 1942

  • @snakes3425 Sorry snakes but the battleship Rodney was laid down as a battleship in december 1922 and was not a sister of Hood.

  • The Rodney and was a different ship all toegther that had been cancelled prior to Battleship Rodney being built. The battleship was just assigned the name after the ship I'm talking about had been cancelled and scrapped.

  • @SuperAncientmariner He He, yes I know but the way you had worded it gave the impression that the unfinished Rodney hull became the Battleship. I think we got at cross threads. :o)

    BTW, Over here we know Nelson and Rodney as "Washingtons".

  • @SuperAncientmariner

    I'm guessing they picked up that nickname becuase of the washington naval treaty.

    BTW The Pride of the US Navy at the time: USS Maryland was crippled at Pearl Harbor six months after Hood's loss

  • @snakes3425 Bang on old chap. If you get the chance have a look at the original designs for them. Two of the ugliest things ever. We live and learn, I did not realise Hood's "pride buddy" was the Maryland.

  • Maryland was comissioned a year after Hood, while Maryland was repared after Pearl was attacked, and served through out the war, she was scrapped after the war ended.

  • @SuperAncientmariner

    While I haven't found photos Hood and Maryland may have met each other during the 1923-24 Empire Cruise when Hood made a good will visit to the US West Cost

  • @snakes3425 Don,t know about the cruise meeting but Hood and Repulse joined Maryland and Nevada and the Japanese Idzumo in Rio harbour in 1921 to celebrate Brazil's 100 years of Independence. There were a series of sports fixtures of which hood took most of them, including a bit of dirty work by an American in one event that was declared null and void.

  • @SuperAncientmariner

    I was actually curious as to wheather Hood and Maryland had ever met each other, since it would be interesting to see a photo of the pride of the Royal Navy and the Pride of the US Navy together

  • @snakes3425 Would be very interesting . I shall research ang get back on this one.They def. did meet in Rio.

  • Ventis Secundis!!

  • actually the bismarks armour was penetrated by heavy cruisers 8" fire during the finale to the chase.

    where you get the idea german armour for ships was superior is beyond me.

  • the POW had thicker armour than the bismark , bismarks belt armour at its thickest was 12.7" compared to POWs 14" for example.

    the main fault with POW was her armament , during this fight she had major problems with her main guns , even then she still got three direct hits on bismark while suffering 8 hits in return from bismark and eugen.

  • three beautiful ships , bismark , hood and prince of wales.

    it shows how intense the fighting was in 1941 that none of the three survived the year.

  • The Hoods armour was already 34% of

    her displacement, more than any other ship of the RN at that time.The Hood was

    designed as a B/C Which ,by definition meant she would have been less well armoured than a B/S

    After the R/Ns debacle at Jutland more

    armour was added to the point SHE COULD TAKE NO MORE!

     That is why she was a "wet ship" she

    rode so low in the water she had little

    or no freeboard in rough seas.Any

    more armour would have sunk her just

    as surely as the Bismarck did.

  • R.I.P. H.M.S. Hood.

    We shall never forget,she embodied the beauty and pride of the Royal Navy.

    The Video is incredible,

    Good work fella.

    All the Best,

    Johnny

  • JohnnyH- Re HMS Hood, I agree, she was an incredibly good looking unit, perhaps the finest looking of all the big hitters ever built? Extremely graceful lines & very elegant.

    Hood & her crew will never by forgotten HEARTS OF OAK!

  • I HAVE NOTHING TO OFFER OR TO SAY!

  • The song is called "Sleeping sun",by "The Nightwish" (from Finland).

  • The HMS Hood definitely was not the most powerfull ship in the world. Watch out for right informations, and don't write stupid emotionally things 'bout this ship. In 1920 she might be the greatest battlecruiser, but in 1941 the hms hood was just an old battleship that never had to proof a fight, an by the way, she was a fail of construction if you would check out the information from studies based on the construction plans. So please if you make some future movies, inform yourself.

  • may they rest in peace

  • fantastic song... who is?

  • stupid :)) night wish :X sleeping sun , but this music sucks , no Marco voice :))

  • Bismarck was a monster of a ship, DESPITE the fact that she had an outdated armor scheme. There was so much of it that it hardly mattered that the layout was of a somewhat obsolete arrangement.

    As for her guns, they were about the same size as the Hood's.

  • an now she black an dour doth slip in ebony night ... hollow knocking orders bridge-way: "GEN-ral quarters ... GEN-ral quarters ... ", wind whipping through flagriggings ... down to ghosted decks below ... they've for countless undending times do and shall spot Bis-Krauten-schnausen ...

  • Sad News: the last surivor of HMS Hood passed away today

  • That is sad news. But kind of not bad at the same time...he didn't meet the unfortunate death as the rest of the crew. I take it that he was up there in age. He was blessed to go on and live a full life from what I gather. So,that's my "try to think positive" note. I'm NOT good at positive but I do try time to time. Another good video as use! There's so many people lost in all these ships..it makes my head spin.Very sad.

  • Yeah, in a way Ted Briggs was able to find a small messure of peace by being able to see the Hood one last time, and pay his final respects to his fallen comrades.

  • Yeah. I wonder how 'over it' he was even 60 years later. That kind of thing probably never goes away... I can't imagine what it must have felt like right afterwards, in the days and weeks after the Hood went down. Knowing that in minutes, all those guys he'd served with but two were just gone. It's hard to even fathom.

  • Nice music, Snakes !

    Far from being TOO sad, in my own opinion (which of course, is personal taste) is that it strikes just the right note, and has that rare 'haunting' quality, to be memorable, for such a memorable ship.

    5 Star

  • Don't talk such rubbish, poperpants.

    Without backing it up with proper authenicated sources of your so called information.

    'Long research' by WHO, for instance ???

    Hood's armour was CERTAINLY up to whatever the P.E. could fling at her.

    If you don't believe me, contrast her with the MUCH more lightly armoured Exeter, which survived 11" hits from Graf Spee, not the 8" of Prinz Eugen.

    There's always one 'crank' and crackpot theory.

    What happened to Bismarck's shells then?

    Bounce off?

  • Hood was a battlecruser. While lightly armored compared with a true battleship, battlecruisers were designed to kill smaller ships than themselves, like light cruisers and armored cruisers, which evolved into heavy cruisers like Prinz Eugen.

    Hood would have been armored enough to repel fire from such. She was not armored to fully repel fire from guns the size of her own, which Bismarck had, though they had intended to retrofit her in order to amend this.

    So yes, Prinz Eugen didn't sink Hood.

  • Actually, you are wrong about Bismarck being the most advanced ship afloat. Some of her design features were old fashioned. A myth has grown up around Biz that she was uber modern & invincible, this is not the case at all. Some of her design features dated back to the 1920's. She was still one hell of a ship though :)

  • I wonder why many keep using the "bismarck was the most advanced ship then". Germany couldn't built battleships for almost 18 years and when they planned 2 of them, old designs from wwI german ships were used (in terms of gunnery for example, by the end of the 30's almost every new BB was using triple or quadruple gun towers). In fact the bismarck had appealing AA potential when compared with other BB's built around the same era, what explains why outdated byplanes could score a torpedo hit.

  • DK- You are correct in that Bismarck was not ultra modern, contrary to what many people seem to think. However, she had great armour protection and was well nailed together. Her crew certainly showed a lot of guts & bravery when she was cornered by the RN. Guts & fighting ability are never in short supply where the Germans are concerned! Re her AA shortcomings, her AA guns could not be depressed sufficiently, the Swordfish came in low & slow, below the traverse capability of her main AA guns.

  • she was well built in every area cept the Stern, which was poorly armored compared too the rest of the ship, which is way the stern broke off when she sank

  • The Bismarck used two-gun-turrets for stability reasons, the holes in the deck and armor are simply smaller. The armor concept, differing from the float body armor, seemingly worked out very well. She had better firing control, using a simple radar and better optical rangefinders (that's why Prinz Eugen, equipped with similar rangefinders hit Hood so soon).

    Hood was an old outdated ship at that time. It's nevertehless a shame that she sunk - what also goes for Bismacrk.

  • it turns out after long reseach about the battle it wasnt the bismark that sank the hood it was the prinz eugen

  • ummmmmm....snakes?This song is sad.....And do you always use this song for the ships?Just a question.

  • Most of the time

  • its a nice song!You made it old sadly

  • May Those Brave British Sailors Rest In Peace. Those Poor Souls, Only Three Survived The Blast, It Brings Tears To My Eyes. May Our Two Countrys & And Our Friendship Live Forever My Heart Goes Out To These Men Who Died Honorably For Their Country God Bless The United States & God Save The Queen

  • Sorry Andrew, but you must be confusing the hit on Hood's maindeck (setting off the 'ready-use' or UP ammunition), with the fatal shell.

    Either that, or please provide the 'proof' you mention, as EVEN the surviving crew members of the Prinz Eugen, don't claim the credit for Hood's sinking.

    Hood could easily withstand 8 in. shells.

    Heck, HMS Exeter took 11 in. hits !

    Sounds like a 'theory' by some cat smokin' something 'naughty'. LOL

  • prinz eugen sunk the hood wasn't it it was proven that the final shell from bizmarck just missed and the prinz eugen hit the powder in the hull that ignited the engine room and the oil drums caught and that was it

  • Absoulute rubbish. A member of my family was an eye witness from Prince of Wales and his account is nothing like that!!!

  • Powder, hull, oil drums! I think you'll find it was a hit on a magazine which started it all...............

  • What's inexplicable, is Hood's design(?)

    Her 'stepped' maindeck, placing turrets 'X' and 'Y' lower than their respective foward counterparts, rather than having a 'flush' maindeck.

    This is noticable on all the previous 'Queen Elizabeths' but more pronounced in Hood's case, due to her 'need for speed' high length/beam ratio.

    Apart from this 'break' being a potential weak point, it's going to make her wet,aft when more weight(armour)is added.

    How did her plans ever pass Admiralty approval ?

  • My late father served on 'The Mighty Hood' between the two world wars. Looking back, all that pain and suffering - on both sides - was not worth a light! Man always was - and sadly always will be - intent on his own destruction.........

  • Not so, the men of the Hood (and other Allied Forces) stood up against tyranny and prevailed

    Thanks to them we can speak freely today.Their suffering was worth much more than yor"light" mate

  • I DO see your point, but as for being able to speak freely - where do you think 'free' speech will actually get you? When all the jawing is done, its still the man with the biggest stick who will prevail. :-)

  • You happy with that situation then?? Freedom is everything and worth fighting for. If Churchill had your atitude in 1940 then we would all have been nazi slaves now!!

  • Happy or no - I have no choice (neither does anyone else!) even the Yanks can't prevent natural disasters (well, maybe in Holywood). :-)

  • Face it, mankind is the single most destructive force on the planet. We can't exsisit with out fighting something, someone for the vaguest reason what so ever. Our race will eventually drown itself in blood. The question is when, how fast and will Earth survivie.

  • Saw a programme today about the earth and how it evolved and is still evolving. The bad news for us as a species is, yes, we will die out (be it self-inflicted or due to nature).But the good news is that given previous form, nature will probably take a rest (for a few million years or so!) and will then 'have another go'. :-)

  • I think you may have hit the nail on the head there, dougstiro.

    Come to think of it, the tight 'pattern' of 4 would suggest bombs, rather than shells, and the amount of smoke: High Explosive, rather than, the Armour Piercing shells, battleships would be 'trading', which would probably not detonate, but raise huge columns of water.

  • Just for the sake of Historical accuracy, I've come across the photo, before entitled: 'Seconds later she was gone..' (1min 12secs)

    It's either a deliberate FAKE with 'doctored' shell splashes, or was possibly taken during Operation Catapult, as the Vichy ships were returning fire, and bears serious investigation, to it's origin.

    At the time of the Bismarck action the only ship anywhere nr. Hood, was PoW, several hundred yds astern, and slightly to her stbd.

    Certainly not ALONGSIDE as shown.

  • its nor bomb splashes from when she was in the med?

  • Yes.

  • Very well done, snakes3425.

    A most fitting and moving tribute, for the dead.

    (Dare I say, even on either side)

    Briggs, Tilburn, and Dundas would have been proud !

    And to anyone hate filled enough to think there was anything 'Good' about this tragedy,

    then may God forgive you.

  • Great video tribute to a great ship.

  • I have two battleship models:

    U.S.S. Arizonia

    H.M.S. Hood

    legends in & of thier own right

  • After the slaughter of British battlecruisers at the Battle of Jutland due to the same deficiency in deck armor, you'd think the Brits would've figured out that they were signing the death warrants of 1500 men by not adding some steel. Sometimes lessons go unheeded, and the men who pay the price are rarely those responsible for it.

  • exactly right but remember that armour makes the ship much heavier and this was an old style ship and to upgrade means spending money that is not available and taking the ship out of service, in an ideal world no wars would exist so being idealistic and smart with hindsight is too easy pal

  • I see your point, but when an achilles heel like that is known to both friend and foe alike, you'd have to expect it to be exploited by the enemy. When it is, you've lost a ship and crew, far more expensive than an upgrade. But you are right in that such problems are rarely taken care of in peacetime because nobody wants to spend the money. Shitty deal.

  • You are right, but the Hood was actually a big improvement over the earlier B.Cruisers with added armour. But by WW2 she was out of date and had had no significant upgrades due to Admiralty neglect and therefore good men paid the price!

  • they didnt have the time to put deck armor on hood becuse they had to intercept Bismarck there and then, they could not wait for the deck armor

  • deck armor, deck armor.....haven't you people heard of the arms "race". The Germans simply had a better ship because it was a newer ship. Each new vessel outgunned its predecessors, the Germans were fortunate enough to have launched Bismarck before the British had a match for her, which of course was the whole reason she was designed and built in the first place, she was designed specifically to outclass Hood. The fucking yanks sold the steel to build her to the Germans rather than the UK.

  • plz, if that was the case Prince of Wales woulda owned the Bismrack and Prinz Eugen because POW was launched about a 2 years before the battle, Bismarck was launched 3 years before the battle, also, if that was true, a US Fletcher class DD could own Bismarck as well, truth is, armor, speed, crew quality, weaponary, and support for said ship matters, not how new it is

  • ermmmm...we're talking about the Hood, not the POW. My point is not really about age either, more to do with the rapid development of the armor, speed, weaponry etc..that you mention, over time. Hood was launched 1918, a battlecruiser with added armor. Plainly no match for a battleship 20 years younger with more modern armor and weaponry. The evidence for this argument is lying on the sea-bed.