We are the official veterans, families and enthusiast association for British battle cruiser H.M.S. The probability is that the 4-inch magazines exploded first. [52] Hood was refitted at Malta in November and December 1937, and had her submerged torpedo tubes removed. Captain Arthur Pridham assumed command on 1 February 1936 and Hood returned to Portsmouth for a brief refit between 26 June and 10 October 1936. 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. Anecdotes and remembrances concerning Hood, Hood's Mascots All crew were off the ship at 0430 on 14 Nov as the list increased to 35 degrees. [47] The battlecruiser squadron visited Lisbon in January 1925 to participate in the Vasco da Gama celebrations before continuing on to the Mediterranean for exercises. The stern section rises from the seabed at an angle. The Nelson-Class Battleship Pennant number 29, HMS Rodney was one of only two Nelson -class battleships built for the Royal Navy in the 1920s. The relevant series of documents are ADM188 (men joined before 1926), ADM362 (men joining 1926-1928) and ADM363 (service after 1929 for men joining before before that date). . HMS Hood was avenged and it was a gallant end to the German warship. [5] This characteristic earned her the nickname of "the largest submarine in the Navy". It was divided into an empty outer compartment and an inner compartment filled with five rows of water-tight "crushing tubes" intended to absorb and distribute the force of an explosion. 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". The Prince of Wales was joined by HMS Hood in a battle of mythical and historical proportions. [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). The exact cause of the loss of Hood remains a subject of debate. [56] The ship's condensers were in such bad condition by this time that much of the output from the fresh-water evaporators was required to replenish the boiler feedwater and could not be used by the crew to wash and bathe or even to heat the mess decks during cold weather, as the steam pipes were too leaky. The destroyer HMS Ilex attempted to tow the ill fated destroyer, but failed and the vessel had to be abandoned, Janus was tasked to sink her. Through their deaths, the resolve of the British Empire was restored with a vengeance. After a cruise to Scandinavian waters that year, Captain Geoffrey Mackworth assumed command. Deborah. [54], Hood was due to be modernised in 1941 to bring her up to a standard similar to that of other modernised First World War-era capital ships. H.M.S. [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. In addition, the conning tower would have been removed and her bridge rebuilt. It is estimated that as many as 15,000 men may have served in her from 1920-1941. [88] This was the first time anyone had attempted to locate Hood's resting place. The amidships section, the biggest part of the wreck to survive the explosions, lies inverted south of the eastern debris field in a large impact crater. One of four Admiral-class battlecruisers ordered in mid-1916, Hood had serious design limitations, though her design was drastically revised after the Battle of Jutland and improved while she was under construction. [61], When Bismarck sailed for the Atlantic in May 1941, Hood, flying the flag of Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland, together with the newly commissioned battleship Prince of Wales, was sent out in pursuit along with several other groups of British capital ships to intercept the German ships before they could break into the Atlantic and attack Allied convoys. In addition to the above, submissions by individuals remains a valuable contribution to the database. Roster entries: 90,827 (for 89,120 people) Service Persons; Merchant Navy: 43,355: RN: 13,428 . [27], Live-firing trials with the new 15-inch APC (armour-piercing, capped) shell against a mock-up of Hood showed that this shell could penetrate the ship's vitals via the 7-inch middle belt and the 2-inch slope of the main deck as a result 3-inch plating on the main deck over the slopes was added alongside the magazine spaces at a very late stage of construction and the four aftermost 5.5-inch guns and their ammunition hoists were removed in partial compensation.. A proposal was made to increase the armour over the forward magazines to 5inches and 6inches over the rear magazines in July 1919 in response to these trials. Transferred to the Home Fleet shortly afterwards, Hood was dispatched to Scapa Flow, and operated in the area as a convoy escort and later as a defence against a potential German invasion fleet. Contained here are 1,415 individual memorial pages - one for each man confirmed lost when Hood sank during combat with the German battleship Bismarck in the Denmark Strait on 24th May 1941. [94], The forward section lies on its port side, with the amidships section keel up. [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. Dundass survived by kicking out a starboard side window and swimming away. HMS Hood was a massively armed battlecruiser and was considered to be one of the most powerful battlecruisers afloat in World War Two. [106], As a result of a collision off the coast of Spain on 23 January 1935, one of Hood's propellers struck the bow of Renown. [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 bell was rung eight times in a commemorative service at midday attended by descendants of crew members who died in the battle before being placed in the museum's exhibit on the Battle of Jutland. David Hunt. No hits were scored, but the submarine crash-dived and retreated. [4], The main battery of the Admiral-class ships consisted of eight BL 15-inch (381mm) Mk I guns in hydraulically powered twin gun turrets. The same deflagration would have collapsed the bulkhead separating the 4-inch and 15-inch magazines, resulting very quickly in a catastrophic explosion similar to those previously witnessed at Jutland. H.M.S. H.M.S. Hood, Renown and Repulse were deployed to the Bay of Biscay on 5 November to prevent the "pocket battleship" Admiral Scheer from using French ports after she had attacked Convoy HX 84, but the German ship continued into the South Atlantic. 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. You can learn more about these men here. Moreover, computer-generated profiles of Hood show that a shell falling at this angle could not have reached an aft magazine without first passing through some part of the belt armour. Such a shell could only have come from. They were and are the very heart and soul of the ship. What is presented below is therefore necessarily incomplete in respect of Royal Navy ratings and Royal Marines. [9] She carried enough fuel oil to give her an estimated range of 7,500 nautical miles (13,900km; 8,600mi) at 14 knots (26km/h; 16mph). "[101] There is a second inscription on the side of the bell that reads "In accordance with the wishes of Lady Hood it was presented in memory of her husband to HMS Hood battle cruiser the ship she launched 22nd August 1918." Armed Merchant Cruisers such as HMS Jervis Bay, were made up of various naval forces, and although she was a British ship, her crew were not all British, with some from the Commonwealth countries around the world. H.M.S. H.M.S. This change increased the ship's vulnerability to plunging (high-trajectory) shells, as it exposed more of the vulnerable deck armour. Admiral Tom Phillips and others criticised the conduct of the inquiry, largely because no verbatim record of witnesses' testimony had been kept. The memorials were assembled by blending official records with public casualty listings. [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. . 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. We are using the few, fragmentary crew lists known to exist, Navy Lists, various official reports, public records, and most importantly of all, inputs from the families of former crew. 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 Hood Crew List -H.M.S. Aboard HMS Lapwing (U 62) when hit on 20 Mar 1945 [72], Both boards of enquiry exonerated Vice-Admiral Holland from any blame regarding the loss of Hood. As mentioned above, for officers, the main source, which is a complete listing of all officers who served in Hood, is the Navy Lists. Her secondary and antiaircraft fire-control directors were rearranged during another quick refit between 1 August and 5 September 1934. Draft: 32 ft. Beam: 104 ft. 2 in. [68], Prince of Wales was forced to disengage by a combination of damage from German hits and mechanical failures in her guns and turrets after Hood was sunk. [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. [3], The Admirals were significantly larger than their predecessors of the Renown class. The Hood was a truly mighty warship and if you yourself served in any of the Royal Navy's battleships (Hood was a battlecruiser) you will know what 40-odd thousand tons of grey coloured steel looks like, but if you didn't, you can still see that spectacle in the U.S.A., where several of her battleships of around this tonnage are parked as museums. [26], The gun turrets and barbettes were protected by 11 to 15 inches (279 to 381mm) of KC armour, except for the turret roofs, which were 5 inches thick. When Briggs fought his way to the surface, he could see only two other . Barham Navy List: Hood, Robert: 05/10/1893: Gunner RMA: 09/08/1915: 20/02/1918: 13714: ADM 159/87/13714: Hope, Robert: Captain Ralph Kerr assumed command during the refit, and Hood was ordered to sea in an attempt to intercept the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst upon the refit's completion in mid-March. Hood Rolls of Honour Memorials to Hood's final crew, 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. Information about men who served in Hood, NAAFI Men 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. Hood Crew Information- In May 1941, Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales were ordered to intercept the German battleshipBismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, which were en route to the Atlantic, where they were to attack convoys. The decks were made of high-tensile steel. The development of effective time-delay shells at the end of the First World War made this scheme much less effective, as the intact shell would penetrate layers of weak armour and explode deep inside the ship. Basil O'Neill. [2] The results of Hood's fire are not known exactly, but she damaged the French battleshipDunkerque, which was hit by four fifteen-inch shells and was forced to beach herself. [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. Before 27th November 1923 (Empire Cruise), After 28th September 1924 (Empire Cruise). [90] In 2015, the same team attempted a second recovery operation and Hood's bell was finally retrieved on 7 August 2015. Colin Kitchen. (Public Domain) Launched in 1913, the battleship HMS Warspite saw extensive service during both world wars. [99][98][100], The recovered bell was originally carried on the pre-dreadnought battleship Hood. [28] As completed, Hood remained susceptible to plunging shells and bombs. Hood Crew List Updated 11-Apr-2022 Background 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. Men who died whilst serving in Hood before she was lost or who, Men who served in Hood who had been present at the major battles of World War 1, Men who served in Hood during the Empire Cruise of 1923/24, Acting Chief Electrical Artificer 2nd class, Acting Chief Engine Room Artificer 2nd Class, Shore Free Discharged (Joined Royal Fleet Reserve), Columbine (Coast of Scotland) Rnvr Headquarters Du, Portsmouth Division (A Company) (at Deal), Portsmouth Division (A Company) (at Deal), Portsmouth Division (A Company) (at Plymouth), President II (Coast of Scotland) Rnvr Headquarters, Promoted to Temporary Acting Warrant Writer, Re-engaged as Chief Mechanician (Pensioner), Re-engaged for 3 years no continuous service, Re-engaged K103815. Only three survived: Ordinary Signalman Ted Briggs (19232008), Able Seaman Robert Tilburn (19211995), and Midshipman William John Dundas (19231965). The damage to Hood was limited to her left outer propeller and an 18-inch (460mm) dent, although some hull plates were knocked loose from the impact. Two quadruple mountings for the Vickers 0.5-inch (12.7mm) Mk III machine gun were added in 1933 with two more mountings added in 1937. HMS Hood bore the motto "with favorable winds" and was named after Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, a victorious commander in the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War . 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. Hood was the first of the planned four Admiral-class battlecruisers to be built during the First World War. [46], While in Australia in April 1924, the squadron escorted the battlecruiser HMASAustralia out to sea, where she was scuttled in compliance with the Washington Naval Treaty. The crew in each gunhouse had access to a variety of projectile types. Alternative routes for admission of flame could have been the ventilation or venting arrangements of the magazines or, as Ted Briggs suggested, through the floor of a 15-inch gunhouse. 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. 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". Hood's crew gained their first clue that something was developing at 1939, 23 May when full speed was ordered. Hood's wreck lies on the seabed in pieces among two debris fields at a depth of about 2,800 metres (9,200 feet). [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. The first, held soon after the ship's loss, concluded that Hood's aft magazine had exploded after one of Bismarck's shells penetrated the ship's armour. The Board came to a conclusion almost identical to that of the first board, expressed as follows: That the sinking of Hood was due to a hit from Bismarck's 15-inch shell in or adjacent to Hood's 4-inch or 15-inch magazines, causing them all to explode and wreck the after part of the ship. The main deck was 3 inches (76mm) thick over the magazines and 1 inch (25mm) elsewhere, except for the 2-inch-thick slope that met the bottom of the main belt. Captain Thomas Binney assumed command on 15 August 1932 and the ship resumed her previous practice of a winter cruise in the Mediterranean the next year. On May 24, 1941, the fifth salvo of the German battleship Bismarck sank the British battlecruiser HMS Hood. Temporary repairs were made at Gibraltar before the ship sailed to Portsmouth for permanent repairs between February and May 1935. . This explosion broke the back of Hood, and the last sight of the ship, which sank in only three minutes, was her bow, nearly vertical in the water. [11] Two of these guns on the shelter deck were temporarily replaced by QF 4-inch (102mm) Mk V anti-aircraft (AA) guns between 1938 and 1939. Her 5-inch upper-armour strake would have been removed and her deck armour reinforced. Although this can be ascertained by tracing his next ship, this is a prohibitively time consuming process. Hood Crew Information- Memorials to all those who died while building or serving in Hood, Crew List Hood Rolls of Honour 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). Terms & Conditions! what was the premier league called before; Tags . She embarked a Fairey IIIF from No. During the brief battle, Prince of Wales scored three hits on Bismarck. HMS Hood (hull number 51) was a battleship of the Royal Navy (RN). She formally transferred to the Mediterranean fleet on 20 October, shortly after the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. [40] In addition, she was grossly overweight compared to her original design, making her a wet ship with a highly stressed structure. 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. Hood was nothing without the many men it took to design, built and operate her. Hood Association Archives and various family sources. The Admiral-class battlecruisers were designed in response to the German Mackensen-class battlecruisers, which were reported to be more heavily armed and armoured than the latest British battlecruisers of the Renown and the Courageous classes. This was to be used for a major event documentary to be aired on the 60th anniversary of the ships' battle. The British opened fire at 05:52 with Hood engaging Prinz Eugen, the lead ship in the German formation, and the Germans returned fire at 05:55, both ships concentrating on Hood. Roll of Honour & Crew Memorials Of the known surviving pieces, one is privately held and another was given by the Hood family to the Hood Association in 2006. -H.M.S. Hood sank stern first with 1418 men aboard. 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. For other ships of the same name, see, According to the testimony of Captain Leach, "between one and two seconds after I formed that impression [of a hit on, Last edited on 28 February 2023, at 14:06, destruction of the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir, destruction of the French fleet at Mers-el-Kbir, National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth, "ADM 220/76: Reports of Performance in H.M.S. [25], The armoured belt consisted of face-hardened Krupp cemented armour (KC), arranged in three strakes. [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. 444 Flight of the Royal Air Force (RAF). Ratings & officers known to have served in Hood, Crew Complements [42], With her conspicuous twin funnels and lean profile, Hood was widely regarded as one of the finest-looking warships ever built. The fact that the bow section separated just forward of 'A' turret is suggestive that a secondary explosion might have occurred in this area. Additional information on the service of individual officers is contained in the ADM196 series of records which are available on Ancestry (subscription required) or The National Archives (free if registered). To these were added five unrotated projectile (UP) launchers in 1940, each launcher carrying 20 seven-inch (178mm) rockets. 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. During the 1932 West Indies cruise, the catapult proved to be difficult to operate in anything but a calm sea, as it was frequently awash in bad weather. It ended peacefully and Hood returned to her home port afterwards. Hood Crew List -H.M.S. HMS HOOD - 15in gun Battlecruiserincluding Convoy Escort Movements. Originally laid down as an improved version of the Revenge -class battleship, her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war because she would not be ready in time. Sea. [74], Memorials to those who died are spread widely around the UK, and some of the crew are commemorated in different locations. Roll of Honour who match particular criteria such as rank / rating, age, home town etc. Only three men from her 1,418-man crew survived. The names can be accessed by clicking on the links at right (alphabetical by surname or a listing of all names). The lower deck was 3inches thick over the propeller shafts, 2inches thick over the magazines and 1inch elsewhere. A Queen Elizabeth -class battleship, Warspite was completed in 1915 and fought at Jutland the following year. [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. HMS Challenger: a trailblazer for modern ocean science 150 years ago, HMS Challenger departed England on a quest to explore the world's oceans. August 4, 2020. 1,415 members of its crew perished. The Battle of the Denmark Strait was effectively part of the larger Battle of the Atlantic, the conflict fought as Germany tried to isolate Britain from its colonies and allies in hopes of forcing a negotiated peace. 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. After the sinking of Hood, seven large caliber shells hit Prince of Wales forcing the battleship to disengaged under a smokescreen and joined HMS Suffolk and HMS Norfolk. The hit split the ship in two and it sank in three minutes! Hood in 2001", "Relics of HMS Hood Ledger Container Lid", "HMS Hood v HMS Renown propeller fragment", Battle of the Denmark Strait Documentation Resource, Imperial War Museum Interview with survivor Robert Tilburn, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HMS_Hood&oldid=1142099804, A direct hit from a shell penetrated to a magazine aft.