The Loss of HMS Hood

Pride of the Royal Navy

Andrew Norman

• Publisher: Pen and Sword Maritime
• Year: 2026
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781399036320
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

"…offers a relatively quick take on the history of the ship via workmanlike prose and some nice analysis." – Historical Miniatures Gaming Society

In 1941, the battlecruiser HMS Hood – at 860 feet long, with a beam of 105 feet, a displacement of 48,360 tons (fully loaded), and a maximum speed of 32 knots – was Britain’s largest and fastest warship.

And yet on 24 May, HMS Hood, the epitome of British naval power, with an armament which included eight 15-inch guns, was blown up a mere eight minutes after engaging the German battleship KMS Bismarck and her consort, the heavy cruiser KMS Prinz Eugen.

As HMS Hood sank into the icy depths of the Atlantic Ocean on 24 May 1941, she took with her the lives of 1,415 brave men – there were only 3 survivors - and a secret that has haunted the maritime world ever since. How could this possibly have happened? HMS Hood had seemed invincible, and the hopes of the British Navy in wartime had rested upon her great reputation. Her tragic demise was greeted with disbelief by the nation, and the shock waves reverberated all around the world.

Various theories have been put forward to account for her sinking, none of them entirely satisfactory. Here, these theories are reappraised in the light of the discovery of the wreckage of HMS Hood in 2001. Furthermore, a new and intriguing theory is proposed.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• About the Author
• By the Same Author
• The Loss of HMS Hood: Eight Minutes to Save
• Acknowledgements
• British Naval Terminology and Notes
• Song of HMS Hood
• Prologue
• Chapter 1 Welcome Aboard HMS Hood
• Chapter 2 Hood’s Lack of Protective Armour: A Possible Cause for Concern?
• Chapter 3 Recollections of a Crew Member
• Chapter 4 Recollections of a Midshipman
• Chapter 5 Recollections of a Captain’s Messenger
• Chapter 6 Recollections of a Signalman
• Chapter 7 Recollections of a Midshipman who Steered HMS Hood
• Chapter 8 Recollections of an Engineer Artificer: Hood’s World Cruise: 1923-1924
• Chapter 9 Hood at War: 1939
• Chapter 10 Hood at War: 1940
• Chapter 11 Hood at War: 1941
• Chapter 12 KMS Bismarck’s Whereabouts is Discovered
• Chapter 13 In Pursuit of KMS Bismarck: HMSs Hood, Prince of Wales, Norfolk, and Suffolk
• Chapter 14 A Game of Cat and Mouse: Contact!
• Chapter 15 Into Battle
• Chapter 16 HMS Prince of Wales Fights on
• Chapter 17 Survival!
• Chapter 18 The End of Bismarck
• Chapter 19 Hood and Bismarck Rediscovered: Evidence from the Wreckage
• Chapter 20 The Conclusions of the British Admiralty’s two Boards of Enquiry into the Loss of HMS Hood
• Chapter 21 The First World War: Cordite, its Development and Use as a Propellant: The Problem with Nitroglycerine
• Chapter 22 Lessons Learned from the Battle of Jutland
• Chapter 23 The Unlikelihood that a 15-inch Shell from Bismarck Penetrated Hood and Exploded in one of her After Magazines
• Chapter 24 How and Why the Explosions which Sank Five British Battleships During the First World War Differed from the Explosion which Sank HMS Hood in the Second World War
• Chapter 25 The Detonation of Hood’s Torpedoes or Funnel Penetration by an Enemy Shell is Ruled Out, as is a Torpedo Attack
• Chapter 26 The Boat Deck Fire: Its Description and Origin
• Chapter 27 The Enormity of the Fire: An Explanation
• Chapter 28 The First Explosion: A Possible Explanation
• Chapter 29 The Second Explosion
• Chapter 30 Consequences of the Second Explosion
• Chapter 31 Radar: A Decisive Factor in the Battle of the Denmark Strait
• Chapter 32 HMS Hood’s Ship’s Bell
• Chapter 33 Conclusion
• Chapter 34 Epilogue
• Appendix The Quantity of Cordite contained in each of HMS Hood’s Magazines
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Plates