HMS Hood: The Ghost of the Denmark Strait

May 24 1941, the pride of the Royal Navy, the Battlecruiser HMS Hood, confronts the pride of Hitler's Kriegsmarine, the powerful battleship DKM Bismarck. Bearyl 10 minutes into the battle a single shell from Bismarck ignites Hood's powder magizine, reducing the once proud warship to a shattered burning hulk. When Hood vanishes beneath surface only three of her 1,416 man crew remain alive.

Part I of my planned Bismarck Trilogy, which will include Bismarck and Prince of Wales
Song: Sleeping Sun
Artist: Nightwish
Subject: HMS Hood

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• HMS
• Hood
• Bismarck
• Battleship
• Battlecruiser
• Royal
• Navy
• Nightwish
• Sleeping
• Sun
• World
• War
• II
• Denmark
• Strait
• Tribute

[frankydman]

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)

[MrNeversaynever]

God bless the HMS hood

[SuperAncientmariner]

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

[snakes3425]

@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

[SuperAncientmariner]

@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.

[snakes3425]

@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]

@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

[21onkelhotte]

For a warship of that age she looks pretty modern to me. pure and clear design. A beautyful ship with an terrible end.

[HelmutVillam]

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

[snakes3425]

@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

[thebritish25]

At 1.44 is that an HMAS ship ??

Becuase at the center the mascot looks like a baby kangaroo

[phaasch]

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.