When we turn the pages of history we will come across many stories that are absolutely timeless. One such story is of the HMS Hood this was the most powerful battle cruiser of its time. Today we will talk about this popular ship which was operated by the Royal Navy. It was immortalised in the pages of history after the Second World War. In this war the HMS Hood bravely fought with the German navy. The place where this battle took place was the famous Denmark Strait.

The Denmark Strait is quite narrow as a result there is very less movement that any ship can do when in this area. It works as a naval chokepoint. You can imagine how it might have been to fight a battle in here. The location of this strait is between Iceland and Greenland. The strait is also known for the icebergs and the rough sea. The royal navy used this strait to engage the German navy during the world war.

The Germans thought that their battleship Bismarck will easily defeat the HMS Hood and leave it defenseless  The British used the HMS Hood mainly as a convoy escort. It was not meant to fight a battle of this force. The HMS Hood was loaded with eight fifteen inch naval guns; it also had four twin turrets. The HMS Hood was the largest battleship that the world had seen at that point of time. The crew was about fourteen hundred. It was the pride of Britain and was one of the most well-known ships in the world. Although it was not meant to fight a battle it did make a good attempt to defend itself.

The crew of HMS Hood wanted to ensure that the pride of Britain by no means land in the hand of the Germans. The ship did destroy a significant portion of the French army.

There was always a debate on whether HMS Hood was a battleship or a battle cruiser. The size and the ability of the HMS Hood made it more of a battle ship. When the Second World War started the ship was quite old. In spite of the age the Britishers considered it as one of the most powerful ships that they had.

There was an expensive reconstruction planned for the HMD Hood. However, the plan was cancelled as the war broke. The plan was to give it more armour protection. Unfortunately it was this lack of armour protection that finally led to the destruction of the vessel.

The year was 1941 and the date was 18th May when the German navy ordered the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen to attack the British merchant ships. The HMS Hood and the HMS Prince of Wales were sent to meet this impending threat.

The HMS Hood had put a brave fight. In spite of not being meant for such a combat the HMS Hood ensured that it caused a significant damage. The HMS Hood did shoot at the Bismarck quite a few times. The ship was old and it was not equipped with strong armour. This is exactly why a salvo from the Bismarck penetrated the armour of HMS Hood and managed to reach her bowels that exploded almost immediately.

The explosion was so huge that it engulfed the whole battle cruiser in seconds. The HMS Prince could only look at the site with utter sadness.

There were about 1418 people on the ship when the explosion took place. Of these only three survived. The HMS Hood was the pride of the nation for over twenty years. No one had expected that the ship would end in such a tragedy. Now the remains of the mighty HMS Hood must be lying under the icy waters of the sea. The iconic ship was destroyed in less than ten minutes. This made it the worst loss of the Royal Navy in the history.

This is the brief and the very interesting story of the HMS Hood. In spite of the bad defeat that it faced, it remains to be one of the most celebrated warships in history. When we discuss the most famous ships in the world the list will remain incompletely unless there is mention of the HMS Hood.

HMS Hood & Denmark Strait Battle, 10.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating