Bismarck/HMS Hood.

[Jim Brady]

How The Bismarck Sank HMS Hood.8pm Sunday Ch 4..Search the wreck of HMS Hood for clues as to why the battlecruiser sank after being attacked by German battleship Bismarck.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[John Pruden]

Jim some years ago they did have a program on why she blew up {can't spoil it for you} but it should have never happened and very interesting a great loss of life with three that survived. but its not to be missed.jp

[Keith Tindell]

thanks for the heads up on the programe. Most of the tragic sinkings etc should never have happened, my own father crippled for life when he served on HMS SUffolk, on operation DUCK, he was not aware of anything, ie what the operation was called, what went wrong etc, until i found all the facts on the internet, just before he died. Wars are a waste of life . KT

[Tony Wilding]

Was not really an evenly matched fight, Bismark was a very modern Ship, they say with superior rangefinding equipment, she certainly found the range very quickly, the Hood was an old ship, modernised at times , but lacking in certain areas, Bismark found that weak spot in minutes.

[Lou Barron]

I remember that episode pretty well .When the chase was on to sink the Bismark .We was home bound (Duchess of Bedford )and sailing alone as we was abeam about Gibralter we was passed by a few British navy ship steaming flat out as they passed us as some of our lads standing on deck gave a big cheer .We had got word from bridge of what it was all about Them was the days when ships was getting sunk by the dozen and Britain was really fighting to keep alive

[Colin Hawken]

HMS Hood was a Battlecruiser from WW!.A Battlecruiser's decks weren't armoured like a Battleship. She didn't have a chance. An Uncle of mine a full time RN man was in Hood for years.She was considered by my Family to be our Ship. He had six weeks to serve when WW2 broke out, so of course he was then in for the duration.The last time I saw him was in 1940 just after the birth of my youngest Brother.For whatever reason,I never knew,he transferred from HMS Hood to the Destroyer HMS Acasta.He was lost with her and HMS Ardent and HMS Glorious during the ill fated Norwegian campaign. If he had remained in Hood he still wouldn't have survived. I seem to remember reading a long time back the RN didn't have such efficient Flashguards in their older ships. It was,I believe,open to question whether a flashback or good gunnery from Bismarck killed HMS Hood. She was iconic,She was the Royal Navy,known through the World.I have often wondered if the Commander of Bismarck knew he had committed suicide as Hood blew up. He must have known the Royal Navy wouldn't let this go unavenged.I've always had a picture in my mind of an incandescent Winston Churchill when he got the news. Probably just me being silly but she was my Family's ship. There was a photo of me on her Foredeck under the guns.I think it was taken at the last Navy Days in Pompey August 1939 just before the outbreak of WW2. Every November the British Legion plants a cross in memory of my Uncle and HMS Acasta in the memorial Gardens around Westminster Abbey. I quite happily make a donation to them for this.I don't know what happened to the photo of me on the Foredeck of HMS Hood.

[John Pruden]

Colin one reason for transfer my uncle and my father in law{both dead}once told me with them being navy men well before war broke out they were often moved from ship to ship because of the influx of conscripted young sailors and with the shortage of old hands they were a valuable asset to the war effort as they finished the war after being in most theaters of operations from the med to the north Atlantic to the Russian convoys one was even at the battle of the river plate he had many pictures after he died i don't know what ever happened to them sad they never put their experiences to paper.jp

[Colin Hawken]

Thank you John.

[John Pruden]

Colin my father in law and uncle grew up in the same street joined the navy together at 14 and spent many years in the royal navy the stories{after copious amounts of rum} about their time in the service and the things they got up to well could you blame them any day could have been their last and that's the way the lived right up to their deaths two nut cases god rest them many a bad head off them two.jp

[John Pruden]

there was one theory that if a battle was imminent cordite would be brought up out of the magazine and stored in alleyways ready and a lucky shot caused the explosion also the belly band was not added as the wait would reduce speed the navy still thought she was the most powerful ship afloat just a theory that was reported but i cannot for the life of me remember the source?jp