19404: HMS Hood

The “Mighty Hood”, the longest warship created for the Royal Navy to date, was built in 1918 by John Brown & Co Ltd at Clydebank on the river Clyde. Named after 1st Viscount Hood of Whitley (Lord Samuel Hood), she was 262m in length with a beam of 31.7m and displaced 46,680 tons when fully loaded for battle. Her main armament was eight 38cm guns.

On 24 May 1941, during the battle of Denmark Strait, HMS Hood was sunk when she took a hit from the German ship Bismark. Of the 1418 crew only three survived. The Bismark was later defeated and sunk with heavy loss of life.

The wreck of HMS Hood was discovered lying at a depth of 2804m in the Denmark Strait in 2001.

See also the HMS Hood website.