The Mighty Hood.

[Neeves]

"Massie's book 'Dreadnought' is a good intro and for JB, Johnston's 'Ships for a Nation' is a good start."

I would also recommend Massie's 'Castles of Steel' Both tomes are excellent reads.

And both are 'readable'.

And for some background on the politics

Roskill 'Naval Policy Between the Wars' both volumes.

Jonathan

 

[Railbob]

I did have a copy of British Battleships and Battlecruisers of WWII by Raven & Roberts, described by quite a few as probably the best definitive book on the heavy units of the RN, very hard to get hold of it now.

 

[capnsensible]

My father in laws brother was a signalman in the post war navy. Retired as a special duties lieutenant. He has told me several stories about the legendary radio operator and his cheeky messages, signed '***** off the hood.

 

[NPMR]

Dear, now departed Father in Law was one of the last people alive who had seen action on the Hood.

He was not aboard when she was sunk. He represented the navy at many events where Hood was featured and was also on the TV documentary discussing the sinking of the French Fleet, which he took part in as a very young man.

Finished the war as a Commander of his own ship, commended for bringing her in unaided when she was damaged.

Lovely man, who couldn't bear fireworks.

 

[Greenheart]

In 1979 my mother was understudying in a T. S. Elliot play at the Vaudeville theatre in the West End. One of the roles was played by Esmond Knight, who had been aboard Prince of Wales, pursuing Bismarck. He was permanently blinded by shrapnel shortly after witnessing the destruction of the Hood. He later played John Leech, captain of the Prince of Wales, in "Sink the Bismarck".

He accepted my parents' invitation to stay, and somewhere we have a snapshot of the old gent in a deck chair in our garden near Chichester, while I played with toy boats on the grass. He said he could sometimes catch just a glimmer of light in that peaceful sky.

 

[longjohnsilver]

HMS Hood (1891)
was scuttled in late 1914 to act as a blockship across the southern entrance of Portland Harbour after the start of World War I.
I dived on it before it became too dangerous.

I too dived on it a number of times in the 80s. I wasn't aware it had become too dangerous to dive. It used to be an interesting shallow water second dive on the way back into Weymouth.

 

[Mudisox]

I had an old MG which needed a new camshaft.
From the dockyard there emerged a new one turned by a 'matey' for 200 cigarettes, from a spare breech block, supposedly from the Hood. Drove out of the yard with it in the car!

 

[dom]

"Massie's book 'Dreadnought' is a good intro....

Intro you say, all 1040 pages of it!

Fully second your recommendation BTW, a fab work, even though academic purists might question the way it is told through the eyes of the protagonists.

It's interesting how these old vessels evoke something deep within us despite being so, so obsolete.

Take this quote, aside from speed and possibly range of a guided missile, I can't think of a single item on this long list that applies today:

“A battleship is a floating platform for naval guns designed to destroy enemy ships. Assuming equal marksmanship on both sides, the ship with the larger number of guns, firing heavier shells at longer range, will prevail. Speed is also a factor, giving a captain the power to choose the moment of action – whether to pursue or withdraw. In battle in mid-ocean, where an enemy ship cannot flee to a friendly harbor and where there is no hiding place other than in rain clouds, fog, or darkness, destruction of the slower, weaker vessel is almost inevitable. Range is important because a ship which can fire and score hits out of range of the guns of her enemy is fighting a helpless foe. Range, size of the guns, and destructive power go hand in hand; the larger the shell, the greater the range, and the heavier its penetrating and blast effect. When she was designed and built, the Dreadnought was the supreme embodiment of these concepts…”​

​

In fact, obsolescence was the story of these ships; Massie tells us that SMS Blucher, the last armored cruiser built by Germany, was designed to match what German intelligence mistakenly believed to be the specifications of the latest British Invincible-class battlecruisers. So she was obsolete upon launching!

 

[capnsensible]

Same day 39 years ago HMS Antelope was destroyed by an Argentinean bomb.

My good friend who was best man when I got married was evacuated off the ship prior to the bomb going off.

Another friend who was in the same training class as me for several years was killed when HMS Sheffield was sunk.

 

[Frogmogman]

I had an old MG which needed a new camshaft.
From the dockyard there emerged a new one turned by a 'matey' for 200 cigarettes, from a spare breech block, supposedly from the Hood. Drove out of the yard with it in the car!

When my Dad was based up at Faslane in the early 60s he bought a very decrepit old Rolls Royce 20hp woody shooting brake which had seen very hard service on the sporting estate of a Scottish Laird. He paid £25 for it.

The ERAs on his submarine fixed it up for him with great ingenuity, using assorted submarine parts. Sadly, my Mum loathed it and forced him to get rid of it.

 

[Neeves]

​

In fact, obsolescence was the story of these ships;

For sobering reading of 'these ships' try

Hough's book 'The Hunting of Force Z'


And to underline how these ships were commonly a complete waste of a resource check the history of the Russian battleship Volya (or Volga?) which temporarily became HMS Volya. She left the Black Sea, for (then) Istanbul as HMS Volya in 1919, and returned to Sebastopol and her second exit from The Black Sea, 1920/21 was to be laid up. Built at considerable cost and never fired a shot in anger, Scrapped after WW1 in Bizerte, but her guns retained. One gun was installed on one of the Channel Islands during the German occupation (and I'm not aware was ever fired) in WW11 and another installed on a Finnish Island, and may still be there (as a monument to ?). Her one redeeming feature was - her power source was from John Brown's - which presumably they were paid for (the UK Navy did not want her).

Jonathan