HMS Hood

Pride of the British fleet during the interwar period, the HMS Hood still holds the record for longest vessel to be commissioned in the Royal Navy. He was in the bombing of the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir in 1940. The following year he participated in the hunt for the Bismark, exploding after being hit. Only three sailors were rescued.

History
The HMS Hood belongs to a class of four ships of which only the Hood has been completed.

It was a big battlecruiser, a concept accepted prior to the World War I, but that resulted very few efficient in practice.

However in 1920 was one of the latest and most modern ships of the Royal Navy, and it was decided to keep him.

Underwent to upgrades to increase their skill and increasing their armor, which reduced his speed from 32 to 30 knots, but even so the added armor did not solve the main problem of the protection against vertical projectiles. But even so it was during the interwar period, the most powerful and emblematic ship of the British Navy.

In 1939 there were plans to increase its protection against projectiles, but the WWII prevented the modernization because the ship was needed for the British war effort. After several operations during the initial phase of the conflict, the Hood was sunk in1941 by the German battleship Bismarck, in a confrontation in the strait of Denmark.

The Hood was hit by projectiles fired at a great distance, piercing th protection of vertical cover, and hit the ammo storage of the ship.

The Hood was destroyed victim of the explosion on his chain lockers, because of the disability known as characteristic of the Battlecruiser’s armor. Its crew of 1,421 men, only three survived

Specifications

 * Length: 262.3 m ( total) and 259.2 m ( waterline)
 * Beam (width): 28.9 m ( waterline) and 31.7 m ( bosses anti- torpedo )
 * Silent: 10.2 m
 * Displacement: 43 360 ton. (Standard) and 48 360 ton. ( full load )
 * Propulsion: geared turbines, 4 shafts (144,000 shp)
 * Maximum speed: 30 knots
 * Shield: 102-305 mm (lateral), 19-25 + 38-76 + 25-51 mm ( decks ) and 280-381 mm ( towers)
 * Main Armament: 8 guns Mk I of 381 mm/42 cal. (4 twin turrets )
 * Secondary armament: 14 guns QF HA Mk XVI 102 mm/45 cal. (7 twin turrets )
 * Antiaircraft Weapons: 3 mounts Mk VIII eightfold from 40.5 mm/40 cal. and 4 quad 12.7 mm/62 cal.
 * Airplanes: No
 * Crew: 1421