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135-567: HMS Hood ( pennant number 51) was a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy (RN). Hood was the first of the planned four Admiral-class battlecruisers to be built during the First World War . Already under construction when the Battle of Jutland occurred in mid-1916, that battle revealed serious flaws in her design, and despite drastic revisions she was completed four years later. For this reason, she

270-488: A bulbous bow to reduce drag on the hull, the first time the feature was used in the German Navy. The ships as designed required a crew of 46 officers and 1,140 enlisted sailors. Service as a squadron flagship would increase that number by an additional 14 officers and 62 sailors. The vessels carried a number of small boats, including two picket boats, one barge, two launches , two cutters, and three yawls . The ships of

405-509: A seaplane . She embarked a Fairey III F from No. 444 Flight of the Royal Air Force (RAF). During the 1932 West Indies cruise, the catapult proved to be difficult to operate in anything but a calm sea, as it was frequently awash in bad weather. The catapult and crane were removed in 1932, along with the flying-off platform on 'B' turret. Although the Royal Navy always designated Hood as

540-468: A 250 kg (550 lb) bomb from a Junkers Ju 88 bomber that damaged her port torpedo bulge and her condensers. By early 1940, Hood ' s machinery was in dire shape and limited her best speed to 26.5 knots (49.1 km/h; 30.5 mph); she was refitted between 4 April and 12 June. Hood and the aircraft carrier Ark Royal were ordered to Gibraltar to join Force H on 18 June where Hood became

675-452: A 3 feet (0.91 m) deep band as a flotilla leader. As a divisional leader they had a 2 feet (0.61 m) wide vertical band the same colour as, and extending 6 feet (1.8 m) below, the upper flotilla band. Leaders bands were white for Home Fleet, red for Mediterranean Fleet, and the system of flotilla bands changed to; Flotilla bands were used throughout the war although war-losses, operational requirements, and new construction broke up

810-408: A French sloop and had damaged a turbine reaching 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph). Hood was relieved as flagship of Force H by Renown on 10 August, after returning to Scapa Flow. On 13 September she was sent to Rosyth along with the battleships Nelson and Rodney and other ships, to be in a better position to intercept a German invasion fleet. When the threat of an invasion diminished,

945-486: A battlecruiser, regardless of the amount of protective armour. For instance, the never-built G3 battlecruiser was classified as such, although it would have been more of a fast battleship than Hood . The scale of Hood ' s protection, though adequate for the Jutland era, was at best marginal against the new generation of 16-inch (406 mm) gunned capital ships that emerged soon after her completion in 1920, typified by

1080-510: A battlecruiser, some modern writers such as Antony Preston have classified her as a fast battleship , since Hood appeared to have improvements over the fast Queen Elizabeth -class battleships. On paper, Hood retained the same armament and level of protection, while being significantly faster. Around 1918, American commanders, including Vice Admiral William Sims , commander of US naval forces in Europe, and Admiral Henry T. Mayo , commander of

1215-463: A consequence, she never received the scheduled modernisation afforded to other capital ships such as Renown and several of the Queen Elizabeth -class battleships. The ship's condensers were in such bad condition by this time that much of the output from the fresh-water evaporators was required to replenish the boiler feedwater and could not be used by the crew to wash and bathe or even to heat

1350-408: A fairly systematic basis, later allocations were on the basis of re-allocating numbers made available by the disposal of older vessels. The next major revision took place in the late 1930s, when the volume of new construction was such that insufficient 'spare' numbers were now available for new ships. Accordingly, older cruisers had the flag-superior 'I' added in front of their existing plain numbers; as

1485-407: A flag superior. The Royal Navy first used pennants to distinguish its ships in 1661 with a proclamation that all of his majesty's ships must fly a union pennant. This distinction was further strengthened by a proclamation in 1674 which forbade merchant vessels from flying any pennants. The system of numbering pennants was adopted prior to the First World War to distinguish between ships with

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1620-403: A fortnight after the loss. It endorsed this opinion, stating that: (c) (The) probable cause of the loss of HMS Hood was direct penetration of the protection by one or more 15-inch shells at a range of 16,500 yards [15,100 m], resulting in the explosion of one or more of the aft magazines. The Vice Chief of Naval Staff, Acting Vice-Admiral Tom Phillips and others criticised the conduct of

1755-529: A longer and wider hull to keep any increases in draft minimal and avoid reducing the speed. The constraints on enlarging the hull were compounded by restrictions on width imposed by the locks of the canal in Wilhelmshaven . As a result, Großadmiral (Grand Admiral) Alfred von Tirpitz , the head of the RMA, prohibited a design displacement greater than 30,000 metric tons (29,526 long tons ). The initial design

1890-400: A maximum distance of 23,300 m (25,500 yd). The ships' secondary battery consisted of fourteen 15 cm (5.9 in) SK L/45 quick-firing guns mounted in armored casemates along the central superstructure. Each gun was supplied with 160 rounds, and had a maximum range of 13,500 m (44,300 ft), though this was later extended to 16,800 m (55,100 ft). The guns had

2025-420: A new number. The Admiralty took the situation in hand and first compiled a "Naval Pendant List" in 1910, with ships grouped under the distinguishing flag of their type. In addition, ships of the 2nd and 3rd (i.e. reserve) fleets had a second flag superior distinguishing from which naval depot they were crewed: "C" for Chatham , "D" for Devonport , "N" for Nore and "P" for Portsmouth . A completely new system

2160-417: A pennant number system based on that of the Royal Navy. The system guarantees that, amongst those navies and other navies that later joined, all pennant numbers are unique. The United States and Canada do not participate in this system; their ships are identified by unique hull classification symbols . Participating countries, with their assigned number ranges, include: The NATO pennant number system added

2295-419: A reduced speed of 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph), the range increased significantly to 15,000 m (16,000 yd). The Mackensen -class ships were protected with Krupp cemented steel armor , as was the standard for German warships of the period. Specific figures for the arrangement of the armor layout have not survived, but according to naval historian Erich Gröner "The outfit of Krupp armour

2430-409: A result, submarines, which had previously used 'I', were given a new scheme of flags-inferior. Other changes were also made at this time. The next major change took place in 1940, when there was a wholesale set of changes to flags-superior, including the old cruisers changing from 'I' to 'D'. Traditionally, a pennant number was reported with a full stop "." between the flag superior or inferior and

2565-766: A squadron flagship; in 1934, she had 81 officers and 1,244 ratings aboard. The Admirals were powered by four Brown -Curtis geared steam turbines , each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by 24 Yarrow boilers . The battlecruiser's turbines were designed to produce 144,000 shaft horsepower (107,000  kW ), which would propel the ship at 31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph), but during sea trials in 1920, Hood ' s turbines provided 151,280 shp (112,810 kW), which allowed her to reach 32.07 knots (59.39 km/h; 36.91 mph). She carried enough fuel oil to give her an estimated range of 7,500 nautical miles (13,900 km; 8,600 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph). The main battery of

2700-500: A sustained rate of fire of 7 rounds per minute. The shells were 45.3 kg (99.8 lb), and were loaded with a 13.7 kg (31.2 lb) RPC/12 propellant charge in a brass cartridge. The guns fired at a muzzle velocity of 835 meters per second (2,740 ft/s). The guns were expected to fire around 1,400 shells before they needed to be replaced. The ships were also armed with eight 8.8 cm (3.45 in) L/45 Flak guns in single pedestal mounts. Four were arranged around

2835-429: A total of 720 armor-piercing shells, or 90 per gun. The weapons were designed to fire 600 kg (1,323 lb) shells at a rate of fire of around 2.5 shots per minute. The shells were fired with a muzzle velocity of 820 meters per second (2,700 ft/s). As with other heavy German guns, these weapons used a fore propellant charge in a silk bag with a main charge in a brass case. These guns could hit targets out to

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2970-666: A winter training visit to the Mediterranean for the rest of the decade. Captain Harold Reinold relieved Captain im Thurn on 30 April 1925 and was relieved in turn by Captain Wilfred French on 21 May 1927. Hood was given a major refit from 1 May 1929 to 10 March 1931, and afterwards resumed her role as flagship of the battlecruiser squadron under the command of Captain Julian Patterson . Later that year, her crew participated in

3105-425: Is not used (for instance the helicopter carrier Ocean  (L12) was followed by Albion  (L14) ). From 1925, flotilla leaders were issued with but did not paint on pendant numbers. Instead, a broad band 4 feet (1.2 m) deep was painted round their fore-funnel. Divisional leaders wore a pendant number and had a narrower 2 feet (0.61 m) deep band on the fore-funnel, painted 3 feet (0.91 m) from

3240-743: The Mackensen class were equipped with four sets of marine-type turbine engines , each of which drove a three-bladed screw propeller that was 4.2 m (13 ft 9 in) in diameter. The turbines mounted in Fürst Bismarck were equipped with Föttinger fluid transmission, while those on the other three ships were two sets of direct-coupled turbines with geared transmissions. The ships had 24 coal-fired marine-type single ended boilers and eight oil-fired marine-type boilers. The power plants were designed to provide 90,000 metric horsepower (89,000  shp ) and 295  revolutions per minute . Maximum speed

3375-426: The Mackensen s was a much improved version of the previous Derfflinger class . The most significant improvement was a new, more powerful 35 cm (14 in) gun, compared to the 30.5 cm (12 in) gun of the earlier ships. The Mackensen -class ships also featured more powerful engines that gave the ships a higher top speed and a significantly greater cruising range. The Mackensen design provided

3510-462: The Mackensen s were equipped with submerged torpedo tubes . There were five 60 cm (24 in) tubes: one in the bow, and two on each flank of the ship. The torpedoes were the H8 type, which were 9 m (30 ft) long and carried a 210 kg (463 lb) Hexanite warhead. The torpedoes had a range of 8,000 m (8,700 yd) when set at a speed of 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph); at

3645-501: The Mackensen s, the three ships ordered under the Ersatz-Yorck design were never completed. In response, the British ordered the four Admiral-class battlecruisers , though the British designed the class under the mistaken impression that the Mackensen class would be armed with 38.6 cm (15.2 in) guns and would be capable of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph). Three of

3780-585: The Atlantic Fleet , became extremely impressed by Hood , which they described as a "fast battleship", and they advocated that the US Navy develop a fast battleship of its own. However, the US continued with their established design direction, the slower, but well-protected, South Dakota -class battleship and the fast and lightly armoured Lexington -class battlecruiser, both of which were later cancelled in accordance with

3915-471: The Battle of the Denmark Strait , Hood was struck by several German shells, exploded, and sank with the loss of all but 3 of her crew of 1,418. The RN conducted two inquiries into the reasons for the ship's quick demise. The first, held soon after the ship's loss, concluded that Hood ' s aft magazine had exploded after one of Bismarck ' s shells penetrated the ship's armour. A second inquiry

4050-654: The Faroe Islands to protect convoys and intercept German merchant raiders and blockade runners attempting to break out into the Atlantic. On 25 September 1939, the Home Fleet sortied into the central North Sea to cover the return of the damaged submarine Spearfish . The fleet was spotted by the Germans and attacked by aircraft from the KG 26 and KG 30 bomber wings. Hood was hit by

4185-464: The French battleship  Dunkerque , which was hit by four fifteen-inch shells and was forced to beach herself. Hood was straddled during the engagement by Dunkerque ; shell splinters wounded two men. Dunkerque ' s sister ship , Strasbourg , managed to escape from the harbour. Hood and several light cruisers gave chase, but gave up after two hours; Hood had dodged a salvo of torpedoes from

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4320-505: The German U-boat campaign . The Admirals were significantly larger than their predecessors of the Renown class. As completed, Hood had an overall length of 860 feet 7 inches (262.3 m), a maximum beam of 104 feet 2 inches (31.8 m), and a draught of 32 feet (9.8 m) at deep load . This was 66 feet (20.1 m) longer and 14 feet (4.3 m) wider than

4455-531: The Invergordon Mutiny over pay cuts for the sailors. It ended peacefully and Hood returned to her home port afterwards. The battlecruiser squadron made a Caribbean cruise in early 1932, and Hood was given another brief refit between 31 March and 10 May at Portsmouth . Captain Thomas Binney assumed command on 15 August 1932 and the ship resumed her previous practice of a winter cruise in the Mediterranean

4590-797: The QF 4-inch Mark XVI dual-purpose gun . The single guns were removed in mid-1939 and a further three twin Mark XIX mounts were added in early 1940. In 1931, a pair of octuple mountings for the 40-millimetre (1.6 in) QF 2-pounder Mk VIII gun "pom-pom" were added on the shelter deck, abreast of the funnels , and a third mount was added in 1937. Two quadruple mountings for the Vickers 0.5-inch (12.7 mm) Mk III machine gun were added in 1933 with two more mountings added in 1937. To these were added five unrotated projectile (UP) launchers in 1940, each launcher carrying 20 seven-inch (178 mm) rockets. When they detonated,

4725-908: The Y (for yard ) symbol for tugboats, floating cranes, docks and the like. The Royal Navy uses a single letter (typically the first letter of the ship's name) for aircraft carriers and large vessels operating aircraft, and pairs of letters (usually, letters from the ship's name) for smaller vessel. Albion class River class Daring class Duke class Invincible class Queen Elizabeth class Bay class Tide class Wave class Fort Rosalie Class Individual ships De Zeven Provinciën class Holland class Amphibious support ships Halifax class Harry DeWolf-class (Deck codes of decommissioned ships) St. Laurent-class Annapolis-class Iroquois-class HMCS Provider — PR Protecteur-class Braunschweig class Sachsen-class frigate Mackensen-class battlecruiser The Mackensen class

4860-410: The bow , though the stern was not protected by armor at all. A 45 mm (1.8 in) torpedo bulkhead ran the length of the hull, several meters behind the main belt. The main armored deck ranged in thickness from 30 mm in less important areas to 80 mm (3.1 in) in the sections that covered the more critical areas of the ship. The forward conning tower was protected with heavy armor:

4995-422: The bridge . They were supplemented by two additional control positions in the fore-top, which were provided with 9-foot (2.7 m) rangefinders, fitted in 1924–1925. The antiaircraft guns were controlled by a simple high-angle 2-metre (6 ft 7 in) rangefinder mounted on the aft control position, fitted in 1926–1927. Three torpedo-control towers were fitted, each with a 15-foot (4.6 m) rangefinder. One

5130-475: The destroyer Electra , which spotted substantial debris but no bodies. Prince of Wales was forced to disengage by a combination of damage from German hits and mechanical failures in her guns and turrets after Hood was sunk. Despite these problems, she had hit Bismarck three times. One of these hits contaminated a good portion of the ship's fuel supply and subsequently caused her to steer for safety in occupied France where she could be repaired. Bismarck

5265-423: The "H" and "L", and some transferred American vessels, were not issued names, only numbers. In these cases, the pendant number was simply the hull number inverted (i.e. L24 was issued pendant "24L"). Pre-war photos show the pendants painted correctly, with the flag inferior, but wartime photos show that the numbers tend to be painted "backwards", in that the inferior was painted on as a superior. For obvious reasons,

5400-585: The 30,000-ton limit. Another suggested alternative was to use six 38 cm (15 in) guns in twin turrets, one forward and two aft; Wilhelm II accepted that design on 2 May 1913, though Admiral Friedrich von Ingenohl , the commander in chief of the High Seas Fleet , preferred the 30.5 cm gun of the Derfflinger -class ships. As a compromise, the new battlecruisers were to be armed with eight 35 cm (13.8 inch) guns. The question of whether

5535-402: The 30.5 cm guns, and there were problems with enlarging the new ships to accommodate the heavier armament. The Imperial dry docks were deep enough only for ships with a draft of 9 m (30 ft), and simply accepting an increased displacement on the same hull as the Derfflinger class would entail a reduction in speed. This meant that an increase in displacement would necessitate

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5670-474: The Admiral-class ships consisted of eight BL 15-inch (381 mm) Mk I guns in hydraulically powered twin gun turrets . The turrets were designated 'A', 'B', 'X', and 'Y' from bow to stern, and 120 shells were carried for each gun. The ship's secondary armament consisted of twelve BL 5.5-inch (140 mm) Mk I guns, each with 200 rounds. They were shipped on shielded single- pivot mounts fitted along

5805-511: The Admirals was originally based on that of the battlecruiser Tiger with an 8-inch (203 mm) waterline belt . Unlike Tiger , the armour was angled outwards 12° from the waterline to increase its relative thickness in relation to flat-trajectory shells. This change increased the ship's vulnerability to plunging (high-trajectory) shells, as it exposed more of the vulnerable deck armour. Some 5,000 long tons (5,100 t) of armour were added to

5940-573: The American Colorado -class and the Japanese Nagato -class battleships. The Royal Navy were fully aware that the ship's protection flaws still remained, even in her revised design, so Hood was intended for the duties of a battlecruiser, and she served in the battlecruiser squadrons through most of her career. Late in her career, Hood was outclassed by the armour and protective arrangement of Second World War-era fast battleships, but few of

6075-685: The Atlantic Fleet, under the command of Rear-Admiral Sir Roger Keyes . After a cruise to Scandinavian waters that year, Captain Geoffrey Mackworth assumed command. Hood visited the Mediterranean in 1921 and 1922 to show the flag and to train with the Mediterranean fleet, before sailing on a cruise to Brazil and the West Indies in company with the battlecruiser squadron. Captain John Im Thurn

6210-592: The Atlantic in May 1941, Hood , flying the flag of Vice-Admiral Lancelot Holland , together with the newly commissioned battleship Prince of Wales , was sent out in pursuit along with several other groups of British capital ships to intercept the German ships before they could break into the Atlantic and attack Allied convoys. The German ships were spotted by two British heavy cruisers ( Norfolk and Suffolk ) on 23 May, and Holland's ships intercepted Bismarck and her consort,

6345-711: The Church of St John the Baptist, in Boldre , Hampshire, and also on the gravestone of his brother, who died while serving in the Royal Air Force in 1942, in the Hamilton Road Cemetery , Deal, Kent. Pennant number In the current system, a letter prefix , called a flag superior , identifies the type of ship, and numerical suffix , called a flag inferior, uniquely identifies an individual ship. Not all pennant numbers have

6480-618: The Falkland Islands in 1914. Graf Spee was laid down on 30 November 1915 in the Schichau yards in Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland ), under the provisional name Ersatz Blücher , to replace the large armored cruiser Blücher that had been sunk at the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915. She was launched on 15 September 1917. At the launching ceremony, Großadmiral Prince Heinrich gave

6615-703: The German Mackensen -class battlecruisers, which were reported to be more heavily armed and armoured than the latest British battlecruisers of the Renown and the Courageous classes . The design was revised after the Battle of Jutland to incorporate heavier armour and all four ships were laid down . Only Hood was completed, because the ships were very expensive and required labour and material that could be put to better use building merchant ships needed to replace those lost to

6750-621: The Mediterranean fleet on 20 October, shortly after the beginning of the Spanish Civil War . On 23 April 1937, the ship escorted three British merchantmen into Bilbao harbour despite the presence of the Nationalist cruiser Almirante Cervera that attempted to blockade the port. Hood was refitted at Malta in November and December 1937, and had her submerged torpedo tubes removed. Captain Pridham

6885-431: The RMA to conclude that ships with 38 cm guns, heavier armor, and a higher top speed were necessary. The Mackensen design was used as the basis for the Ersatz-Yorck class, which incorporated the larger guns and more armor for the main battery turrets and barbettes. More powerful engines were unavailable to compensate for the extra weight, so the designers were forced to accept a reduced speed. Nevertheless, like

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7020-582: The RN's available "big gun" vessels could match Bismarck ' s speed. Construction of Hood began at the John Brown shipyard in Clydebank , Scotland, as yard number 460 on 1 September 1916. Following the loss of three British battlecruisers at the Battle of Jutland, 5,000 tons of extra armour and bracing were added to Hood ' s design. Most seriously, the deck protection was flawed—spread over three decks, it

7155-673: The United States. While in Australia in April 1924, the squadron escorted the battlecruiser HMAS  Australia out to sea, where she was scuttled in compliance with the Washington Naval Treaty. The battlecruiser squadron visited Lisbon in January 1925 to participate in the Vasco da Gama celebrations before continuing on to the Mediterranean for exercises. Hood continued this pattern of

7290-534: The additional armour was never fitted pending further trials. As completed, Hood remained susceptible to plunging shells and bombs. The torpedo-warhead armour was reinstated during the ship's 1929–1931 refit. For protection against torpedoes, she was given a 7.5-foot (2.3 m) deep torpedo bulge that ran the length of the ship between the fore and aft barbettes. It was divided into an empty outer compartment and an inner compartment filled with five rows of water-tight "crushing tubes" intended to absorb and distribute

7425-403: The aft part of the ship. This explosion broke the back of Hood , and the last sight of the ship, which sank in only three minutes, was her bow, nearly vertical in the water. Only three men survived: Ordinary Signalman Ted Briggs (1923–2008), Able Seaman Robert Tilburn (1921–1995), and Midshipman William John Dundas (1923–1965). The three were rescued about two hours after the sinking by

7560-576: The after part of the ship. The probability is that the 4-inch magazines exploded first. Both boards of enquiry exonerated Vice-Admiral Holland from any blame regarding the loss of Hood . Memorials to those who died are spread widely around the UK, and some of the crew are commemorated in different locations. One casualty, George David Spinner, is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval memorial, the Hood Chapel at

7695-584: The basis for the subsequent Ersatz Yorck class, armed with 38 cm (15 in) main-battery guns, after the Battle of Jutland in 1916 made the need for the larger guns clear. The fourth and final Naval Law , passed in 1912, governed the building program of the German navy during World War I . The Imperial Naval Office ( Reichsmarineamt ) decided the Navy should construct one battleship and one battlecruiser every year between 1913 and 1917, with an additional unit of both types in 1913 and 1916. Design work on

7830-425: The battlecruiser SMS  Hindenburg ). The armoured belt consisted of face-hardened Krupp cemented armour (KC), arranged in three strakes . The main waterline belt was 12 inches (305 mm) thick between 'A' and 'Y' barbettes and thinned to 5 to 6 inches (127 to 152 mm) towards the ship's ends, but did not reach either the bow or the stern. The middle armour belt had a maximum thickness of 7 inches over

7965-536: The casemates; the guns themselves had 70 mm (2.8 in) shields to protect their crews from shell splinters. Seven ships were originally planned in the class: Mackensen , Graf Spee , Prinz Eitel Friedrich , "A"/ Ersatz Friedrich Carl , and three other vessels. The last three ships were redesigned as the Ersatz Yorck class , leaving four ships to be built to the Mackensen design. The first two ships were ordered on 14 August 1914, shortly after

8100-523: The deck and the remaining torpedo tubes removed. In addition, the conning tower would have been removed and her bridge rebuilt. The ship's near-constant active service, resulting from her status as the Royal Navy's most battle-worthy fast capital ship, meant that her material condition gradually deteriorated, and by the mid-1930s, she was in need of a lengthy overhaul. The outbreak of the Second World War made removing her from service near impossible, and as

8235-448: The design in late 1916, based on British experiences at the Battle of Jutland , at the cost of deeper draught and slightly decreased speed. To save construction time, this was accomplished by thickening the existing armour, rather than redesigning the entire ship. Hood ' s protection accounted for 33% of her displacement, a high proportion by British standards, but less than was usual in contemporary German designs (for example, 36% for

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8370-526: The finest-looking warships ever built. She was also the largest warship afloat when she was commissioned, and retained that distinction for the next 20 years. Her size and powerful armament earned her the nickname of "Mighty Hood" and she came to symbolise the might of the British Empire itself. Shortly after commissioning on 15 May 1920, Hood became the flagship of the Battlecruiser Squadron of

8505-465: The first letter of the ship's name) for aircraft carriers and large vessels operating aircraft, and pairs of letters (usually letters from the ship's name) for smaller vessels. The United States Navy , with its larger fleet, uses the numeric part of the hull classification number (a system analogous to pennant numbers). Deck codes used by contemporary major British naval warships include: Several European NATO and Commonwealth navies agreed to introduce

8640-637: The flagship. Force H took part in the destruction of the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir in July 1940. Just eight days after the French surrender, the British Admiralty issued an ultimatum that the French fleet at Oran intern its ships in a British or neutral port to ensure they would not fall into Axis hands. The terms were rejected, and the Royal Navy opened fire on the French ships berthed there. The results of Hood ' s fire are not known exactly, but she damaged

8775-518: The fleet flagship Baden . Mackensen was stricken from the German navy, according to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles , on 17 November 1919. She was sold for scrap and eventually broken up in 1922 at Kiel -Nordmole. Graf Spee was named for Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee , the commander of the East Asia Squadron ; he was killed when his squadron was annihilated at the Battle of

8910-599: The following year, Hood was officially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet until she had to return to Britain in 1939 for an overhaul. By this time, advances in naval gunnery had reduced Hood ' s usefulness. She was scheduled to undergo a major rebuild in 1941 to correct these issues, but the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 kept the ship in service without the upgrades. When war with Germany

9045-400: The force of an explosion. The bulge was backed by a 1.5-inch-thick torpedo bulkhead . Hood was initially fitted with flying-off platforms mounted on top of 'B' and 'X' turrets, from which Fairey Flycatchers could launch. During her 1929–1931 refit, the platform was removed from 'X' turret and a rotating, folding catapult was installed on her quarterdeck, along with a crane to recover

9180-436: The four Admiral-class ships were cancelled; only HMS  Hood was completed after the end of the war. The primary reason construction halted on the four ships was the shifting of construction materials and manpower from capital ships to U-boats in the last two years of the war. The RMA filed a report dated 1 February 1918 stating that capital ship construction had ground to a halt primarily for this reason. Some thought

9315-412: The funnels. Flotilla leaders continued to display a large band at the top of the funnel and half leaders would carry a thin black band around the funnel. Aircraft carriers and vessels operating aircraft have a deck code painted on the flight deck to aid identification by aircraft attempting to land. This is in a position clearly visible on the approach path. The Royal Navy uses a single letter (typically

9450-552: The heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen , in the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland on 24 May. The British squadron spotted the Germans at 05:37 (ship's clocks were set four hours ahead of local time—the engagement commenced shortly after dawn), but the Germans were already aware of their presence, Prinz Eugen ' s hydrophones having previously detected the sounds of high-speed propellers to their southeast. The British opened fire at 05:52 with Hood engaging Prinz Eugen ,

9585-523: The homogeneity of the destroyer flotillas. Vessels were deployed as and when they were needed or available, and were often incorporated into mixed "escort groups" containing a range of vessel types such as sloops , corvettes , frigates and escort carriers . A few of the escort groups adopted funnel bands; others (like the B7 escort group) wore letters on their funnels. Post-war Flotillas were no longer identified by bands, but by large cast metal numbers bolted to

9720-408: The hull areas between the torpedo bulkhead and the outer wall of the ship were used to store additional fuel. Maximum fuel capacity was 4,000 t (3,900 long tons) of coal and 2,000 t (2,000 long tons) of oil. This was estimated to give a range of up to about 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at a cruising speed of 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph). Electrical power on

9855-463: The hull. This was significantly greater than the older Derfflinger -class ships, which had a double bottom for only 65 percent of the length of the hull. Experience with previous battlecruiser designs led to the adoption of a continuous upper deck, which raised the level of the deck aft. This was necessary because the aft decks of earlier designs were usually awash when steaming at high speed, even in calm seas. The ships were also equipped with

9990-517: The impact. Temporary repairs were made at Gibraltar before the ship sailed to Portsmouth for permanent repairs between February and May 1935. The captains of both ships were court-martialled , as was the squadron commander, Rear-Admiral Sidney Bailey. Tower and Bailey were acquitted, but Renown ' s Captain Sawbridge was relieved of command. The Admiralty dissented from the verdict, reinstated Sawbridge, and criticised Bailey for ambiguous signals during

10125-469: The inferior "U" was not used so as not to confuse friendly ships with German U-boats . For similar reasons "V" was not used. Pendant numbers 00–10, 13, and those ending in a zero were not allocated to flag inferiors. After the Second World War, in 1948, the Royal Navy adopted a rationalised "pennant" number system where the flag superior indicated the basic type of ship as follows. "F" and "A" use two or three digits, "L" and "P" up to four. Again, pennant 13

10260-451: The inquiry, largely because no verbatim record of witnesses' testimony had been kept. Moreover, Sir Stanley V. Goodall , Director of Naval Construction came forward with an alternative theory, that the Hood had been destroyed by the explosion of her own torpedoes. As a result, a second Board was convened under Rear-Admiral Harold Walker and reported in September 1941. This investigation was, in

10395-477: The lead ship in the German formation, and the Germans returned fire at 05:55, both ships concentrating on Hood . Prinz Eugen was probably the first ship to score when a shell hit Hood ' s boat deck, between her funnels, and started a large fire among the ready-use ammunition for the anti-aircraft guns and rockets of the UP mounts. Just before 06:00, while Hood was turning 20° to port to unmask her rear turrets, she

10530-685: The manoeuvre. The ship participated in King George V 's Silver Jubilee Fleet Review at Spithead the following August. She was attached to the Mediterranean fleet shortly afterwards and stationed at Gibraltar at the outbreak of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War in October. Captain Arthur Pridham assumed command on 1 February 1936 and Hood returned to Portsmouth for a brief refit between 26 June and 10 October 1936. She formally transferred to

10665-477: The mess decks during cold weather, as the steam pipes were too leaky. These problems also reduced her steam output so that she was unable to attain her designed speed. Captain Irvine Glennie assumed command in May 1939 and Hood was assigned to the Home Fleet's Battlecruiser Squadron while still refitting. When war broke out later that year, she was employed principally to patrol in the vicinity of Iceland and

10800-453: The new 15-inch APC (armour-piercing, capped) shell against a mock-up of Hood showed that this shell could penetrate the ship's vitals via the 7-inch middle belt and the 2-inch slope of the main deck as a result 3-inch plating on the main deck over the slopes was added alongside the magazine spaces at a very late stage of construction and the four aftermost 5.5-inch guns and their ammunition hoists were removed in partial compensation.. A proposal

10935-450: The new class began in 1912, with construction intended to begin in the 1914 budget year. The question about the main battery for the new battlecruisers was the most pressing; the previous Derfflinger class was armed with 30.5-centimeter (12 in) guns, though some consideration had been given to redesigning the last two ships— SMS  Lützow and Hindenburg —with 35 cm (14 in) guns. The 35 cm guns were heavier than

11070-503: The new ships should be powered entirely by oil-fired boilers was less controversial. The design staff was generally in agreement with the standard practice of using coal-fired boilers for two-thirds of the power plant, with the remainder being oil-fired boilers. Coal-fired boilers were preferred because the coal, stored in the sides of the ship, provided additional protection, particularly for the battlecruisers, which carried less armor than their battleship counterparts. The finalized design

11205-623: The next year. Captain Thomas Tower replaced Captain Binney on 30 August 1933. Her secondary and antiaircraft fire-control directors were rearranged during another quick refit between 1 August and 5 September 1934. While en route to Gibraltar for a Mediterranean cruise, Hood was rammed in the port side quarterdeck by the battlecruiser Renown on 23 January 1935. The damage to Hood was limited to her left outer propeller and an 18-inch (460 mm) dent, although some hull plates were knocked loose from

11340-492: The number was increased by 100, 200 or 300, as necessary. The 1948 system was later taken over by NATO, and a single pennant list set up for all NATO navies, apart from the USA and Canada. During the 1970s, the service stopped painting pennant numbers on submarines on the grounds that, with the arrival of nuclear boats, they spent too little time on the surface, although submarines do continue to be issued numbers. HMS  Lancaster

11475-499: The number, although this practice has gradually been dropped, and inter-war photos after about 1924 tend not to have the full stop painted on the hull. The system was used throughout the navies of the British Empire so that a ship could be transferred from one navy to another without changing its pennant number. Pennant numbers were originally allocated by individual naval stations and when a ship changed station it would be allocated

11610-554: The older ships. She displaced 42,670 long tons (43,350  t ) at load and 46,680 long tons (47,430 t) at deep load, over 13,000 long tons (13,210 t) more than the older ships. The ship had a metacentric height of 4.2 feet (1.3 m) at deep load, which minimised her roll and made her a steady gun platform. The additional armour added during construction increased her draught by about 4 feet (1.2 m) at deep load, which reduced her freeboard and made her very wet. At full speed, or in heavy seas, water would flow over

11745-534: The outbreak of World War I. Mackensen was funded through the 1914 budget, while funding for Graf Spee came from the war budget. Mackensen —ordered under the provisional name Ersatz Victoria Louise , as a replacement for the old protected cruiser Victoria Louise —was named after Generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshal) August von Mackensen . The ship was laid down on 30 January 1915 at Blohm & Voss in Hamburg , under construction number 240. She

11880-403: The outer hull plates were riveted . This was the same type of construction as in the preceding Derfflinger -class battlecruisers, and was intended to save weight compared to the traditional method of construction, which incorporated both longitudinal and transverse frames. The ships' hulls contained 18 watertight compartments and a double bottom that ran for 92 percent of the length of

12015-456: The rear superfiring main battery turret and the other four around the forward conning tower . The Flak guns were emplaced in MPL C/13 mountings, which allowed depression to −10 degrees and elevation to 70 degrees. These guns fired 9 kg (19.8 lb) shells, and had an effective ceiling of 9,150 m (30,020 ft) at 70 degrees. As was standard for warships of the period,

12150-506: The refit she was still in poor condition, but the threat from the German capital ships was such that she could not be taken into dock for a major overhaul until more of the King George V -class battleships came into service. Captain Ralph Kerr assumed command during the refit, and Hood was ordered to sea in an attempt to intercept the German battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst upon

12285-705: The refit's completion in mid-March. Unsuccessful, she was ordered to patrol the Bay of Biscay against any breakout attempt by the German ships from Brest, France . Hood was ordered to the Norwegian Sea on 19 April when the Admiralty received a false report that the German battleship  Bismarck had sailed from Germany. Afterwards, she patrolled the North Atlantic before putting into Scapa Flow on 6 May. When Bismarck sailed for

12420-474: The rockets shot out lengths of cable that were kept aloft by parachutes ; the cable was intended to snag aircraft and draw up the small aerial mine that would destroy the aircraft. The Admirals were fitted with six fixed 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes , three on each broadside . Two of these were submerged forward of 'A' turret's magazine and the other four were above water, abaft the rear funnel. About 28 torpedoes were carried. The ship's main battery

12555-522: The same length as the thickest part of the waterline armour and thinned to five inches abreast 'A' barbette. The upper belt was 5 inches thick amidships and extended forward to 'A' barbette, with a short 4-inch extension aft. The gun turrets and barbettes were protected by 11 to 15 inches (279 to 381 mm) of KC armour, except for the turret roofs, which were 5 inches thick. The decks were made of high-tensile steel . The forecastle deck ranged from 1.75 to 2 inches (44 to 51 millimetres) in thickness, while

12690-514: The same or similar names, to reduce the size and improve the security of communications, and to assist recognition when ships of the same class are together. During the First World War, pennant numbers were changed on a regular basis, with only those for ships in Home waters centrally controlled; those on foreign stations were allocated on a local basis. However, in November 1919 a new navy-wide system

12825-528: The ship resumed her previous roles in convoy escort and patrolling against German commerce raiders. Hood , Renown and Repulse were deployed to the Bay of Biscay on 5 November to prevent the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer from using French ports after she had attacked Convoy HX 84 , but the German ship continued into the South Atlantic. In January 1941, the ship began a refit that lasted until March; even after

12960-427: The ship's gun turrets that reached down into the magazine. Other historians have concentrated on the cause of the magazine explosion. The discovery of the ship's wreck in 2001 confirmed the conclusion of both boards, although the exact reason the magazines detonated is likely to remain unknown, since that portion of the ship was obliterated in the explosion. The Admiral-class battlecruisers were designed in response to

13095-411: The ship's quarterdeck and often entered the messdecks and living quarters through ventilation shafts. This characteristic earned her the nickname of "the largest submarine in the Navy". The persistent dampness, coupled with the ship's poor ventilation, was blamed for the high incidence of tuberculosis aboard. The ship's complement varied widely over her career; in 1919, she was authorised 1,433 men as

13230-538: The ships were broken up in the early 1920s. The lead ship of the class was named for August von Mackensen , a prominent military commander during the war. In response to the Mackensen -class ships, the British Royal Navy laid down the Admiral-class battlecruisers, all but one of which would eventually be cancelled; the sole survivor, HMS  Hood , was completed after the end of the war. The design of

13365-449: The sides were 300 mm thick and the roof was 130 mm (5.1 in). The rear conning tower was less well armored; its sides were only 200 mm (7.9 in), and the roof was covered with 50 mm (2 in) of armor plate. The main battery gun turrets were also heavily armored: the turret sides were 270 mm (11 in) and the roofs were 110 mm (4.3 in). The 15 cm guns had 150 mm worth of armor plating in

13500-498: The speech and Spee's widow Margarete christened the ship. Construction stopped about 12 months away from completion; Graf Spee was the furthest along of all four ships when work was halted. She too was struck on 17 November 1919; on 28 October 1921 the unfinished hull was sold for 4.4 million Marks and broken up in Kiel-Nordmole. Prinz Eitel Friedrich , ordered as Ersatz Freya (a replacement for SMS  Freya )

13635-441: The spotting top were removed during the 1932 refit. In 1934, the "pom-pom" directors were moved to the former locations of the 5.5-inch control positions on the spotting top and the 9-foot (2.7 m) rangefinders for the 5.5-inch control positions were reinstalled on the signal platform. Two years later, the "pom-pom" directors were moved to the rear corners of the bridge to get them out of the funnel gases. Another "pom-pom" director

13770-518: The terms of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. Influences from Hood showed on subsequent Lexington designs, with the reduction of the main armour belt, the change to sloped armour , and the addition of four above-water torpedo tubes to the four underwater tubes of the original design. To add to the confusion, Royal Navy documents of the period often describe any battleship with a maximum speed over 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph) as

13905-478: The three battlecruisers which blew up at the Battle of Jutland. To make room in the shipyard for merchant construction, Hood sailed for Rosyth to complete her fitting-out on 9 January 1920. After her sea trials, she was commissioned on 15 May 1920, under Captain Wilfred Tompkinson. She had cost £ 6,025,000 to build. With her conspicuous twin funnels and lean profile, Hood was widely regarded as one of

14040-482: The top. The Mediterranean Fleet wore black leader bands and the Atlantic – later Home Fleet wore white bands. The flotillas wore combinations of bands on their after funnel to identify them. From 1925 the following bands were worn; When single funnelled destroyers entered the fleet with the J class in 1939 and with an expansion in the number of flotillas, the system was changed accordingly. Single funnelled ships wore

14175-598: The upper deck and the forward shelter deck. This high position allowed them to be worked during heavy weather, as they were less affected by waves and spray compared with the casemate mounts of earlier British capital ships . Two of these guns on the shelter deck were temporarily replaced by QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mk V anti-aircraft (AA) guns between 1938 and 1939. All the 5.5-inch guns were removed during another refit in 1940. The ship's original anti-aircraft armament consisted of four QF 4-inch Mk V guns on single mounts. These were joined in early 1939 by four twin mounts for

14310-435: The upper deck was 2 inches (51 mm) thick over the magazines and 0.75 inches (19 mm) elsewhere. The main deck was 3 inches (76 mm) thick over the magazines and 1 inch (25 mm) elsewhere, except for the 2-inch-thick slope that met the bottom of the main belt. The lower deck was 3 inches thick over the propeller shafts, 2 inches thick over the magazines and 1 inch elsewhere. Live-firing trials with

14445-523: The vessels was provided by eight diesel generators that put out 2,320 kilowatts at 220  volts . The Mackensen s were equipped with a main battery of eight new 35 cm SK L/45 guns in four twin gun turrets . The turrets were mounted in superfiring pairs fore and aft of the main superstructure . The guns were placed in Drh LC/1914 mountings, which could elevate to 20 degrees and depress to −5 degrees. The guns were supplied with

14580-472: The words of one author, "much more thorough than was the first, taking evidence from a total of 176 eyewitnesses to the disaster", and examined both Goodall's theory and others (see below). The Board came to a conclusion almost identical to that of the first board, expressed as follows: That the sinking of Hood was due to a hit from Bismarck ' s 15-inch shell in or adjacent to Hood ' s 4-inch or 15-inch magazines, causing them all to explode and wreck

14715-583: Was added on the rear superstructure, abaft the HACS director in 1938. Two HACS Mark III directors were added to the aft end of the signal platform the following year, and the Mark I director aft was replaced by a Mark III. During Hood ' s last refit in 1941, a Type 279 early-warning radar for aircraft and surface vessels and a Type 284 gunnery radar were installed, although the Type 279 radar lacked its receiving aerial and

14850-403: Was adopted in 1948, when flags-superior specific to a type of ship were introduced. For example, cruisers had the flag-superior 'C', destroyers 'D', frigates 'F' and carriers 'R'. In general, the existing numerical part of a ship's number was kept, except where this would lead to duplication (especially in the case of frigates, where 'F' now absorbed the former 'K', 'L' and 'U' lists), in which case

14985-496: Was approved on 23 May 1914. The Mackensen -class ships were 223 m (731 ft 8 in) long and had a beam of 30.4 m (99 ft 9 in) and a draft of 9.3 m (30 ft 6 in) forward and 8.4 m (27 ft 7 in) aft. The ships were designed to displace 31,000 t (30,510 long tons) on a standard load, and up to 35,300 t (34,742 long tons) fully laden. The Mackensen s ' hulls were composed of longitudinal steel frames , over which

15120-561: Was approved on 30 September 1912, though the heads of the General Navy Department— Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Günther von Krosigk and Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Reinhard Scheer —and the Weapons Department head, Vizeadmiral Gerhard Gerdes , had to submit any revisions they deemed were necessary. The design staff suggested using triple or even quadruple gun turrets to keep the displacement under

15255-458: Was controlled by two fire-control directors . One was mounted above the conning tower , protected by an armoured hood, and was fitted with a 30-foot (9.1 m) rangefinder . The other was fitted in the spotting top above the tripod foremast and equipped with a 15-foot (4.6 m) rangefinder. Each turret was also fitted with a 30-foot (9.1 m) rangefinder. The secondary armament was primarily controlled by directors mounted on each side of

15390-482: Was declared, Hood was operating in the area around Iceland , and she spent the next several months hunting for German commerce raiders and blockade runners between Iceland and the Norwegian Sea . After a brief overhaul of her propulsion system, she sailed as the flagship of Force H , and participated in the destruction of the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir . Transferred to the Home Fleet shortly afterwards, Hood

15525-414: Was designed to detonate an incoming shell on impact with the top deck, with much of the energy being absorbed as the exploding shell had to penetrate the armour of the next two decks. The development of effective time-delay shells at the end of the First World War made this scheme much less effective, as the intact shell would penetrate layers of weak armour and explode deep inside the ship. In addition, she

15660-408: Was dispatched to Scapa Flow , and operated in the area as a convoy escort and later as a defence against a potential German invasion fleet. In May 1941, Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales were ordered to intercept the German battleship  Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen , which were en route to the Atlantic, where they were to attack convoys. On 24 May 1941, early in

15795-407: Was grossly overweight compared to her original design, making her a wet ship with a highly stressed structure. She was launched on 22 August 1918 by the widow of Rear-Admiral Sir Horace Hood , a great-great-grandson of Admiral Samuel Hood , after whom the ship was named. Sir Horace Hood had been killed while commanding the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron and flying his flag on Invincible —one of

15930-408: Was held after complaints that the first board had failed to consider alternative explanations, such as an explosion of the ship's torpedoes . It was more thorough than the first board but concurred with the first board's conclusion. Despite the official explanation, some historians continued to believe that the torpedoes caused the ship's loss, while others proposed an accidental explosion inside one of

16065-426: Was hit again on the boat deck by one or more shells from Bismarck ' s fifth salvo, fired from a range of approximately 16,650 metres (18,210 yd) (or 10.3 mi.). A shell from this salvo appears to have hit the spotting top, as the boat deck was showered with body parts and debris. A huge jet of flame burst out of Hood from the vicinity of the mainmast, followed by a devastating magazine explosion that destroyed

16200-618: Was in command when Hood , accompanied by the battlecruiser Repulse and Danae -class cruisers of the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron , set out on a world cruise from west to east via the Panama Canal in November 1923. The objective of the cruise was to remind the dominions of their dependence on British sea power and encourage them to support it with money, ships, and facilities. They returned home 10 months later in September 1924, having visited South Africa , Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Newfoundland, and other colonies and dependencies, and

16335-490: Was initially allocated the pennant number F232, until it was realised that in the Royal Navy, form number 232 is the official report for ships that have run aground; sailors being superstitious, it was quickly changed to F229. Pendant number 13 was not allocated. Pendant numbers 13 were not allocated to flag superiors. The letters J and K were used with three number combinations due to the number of vessels. Flags inferior were applied to submarines. Royal Navy submarines of

16470-508: Was inoperable according to Roberts. An Admiralty document indicates however that, following the 1941 refit at Rosyth, Hood ' s Type 279 radar was indeed functional. The early-warning radar was of a modified type, known as Type 279M, the difference between this and Type 279 being the number of aerials. While Type 279 used two aerials, a transmitter and a receiver, the Type 279M used only a single transceiver aerial. Hood reported an accuracy of 3 degrees with her 279M set. The armour scheme of

16605-454: Was introduced, with the intention that ships should now carry a permanent number. In most cases, plain numbers were given to capital ships and cruisers, and ones with flags-superior to smaller ships. While the numbers allocated to major warships (except for a few older vessels) would generally remain stable into the 1930s, destroyers were subject to further revisions, stability being reached in January 1922. While 1919/1922 numbers were allocated on

16740-673: Was involved in many showing-the-flag exercises between her commissioning in 1920 and the outbreak of war in 1939 , including training exercises in the Mediterranean Sea and a circumnavigation of the globe with the Special Service Squadron in 1923 and 1924. She was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet following the outbreak of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War in 1935. When the Spanish Civil War broke out

16875-430: Was launched on 21 April 1917; at the small launching ceremony, Generaloberst (Colonel General) Josias von Heeringen gave the speech and the ship was christened by Mackensen's wife. Construction was halted about 15 months before she would have been completed. The British mistakenly believed the ship to have been completed, and so they included the ship on the list of vessels to be interned at Scapa Flow instead of

17010-418: Was made to increase the armour over the forward magazines to 5 inches and 6 inches over the rear magazines in July 1919 in response to these trials. To compensate for the additional weight, the 4 midships above water torpedo tubes and the armour for the rear torpedo warheads were removed, and the armour for the aft torpedo-control tower was reduced in thickness from 6 to 1.5 inches (38 mm). However,

17145-434: Was named for one of Kaiser Wilhelm II 's sons, Eitel Friedrich . She was laid down in 1915 at Blohm & Voss under construction number 241. She was 21 months away from completion when she was launched to clear the slip on 13 March 1920 and was broken up at Hamburg in 1921. At the launching ceremony, dockyard workers named the ship Noske , after Reichswehr Minister Gustav Noske . "A"/ Ersatz Friedrich Carl , which

17280-458: Was on each side of the amidships control tower and the third was on the centreline abaft the aft control position. During the 1929–1931 refit, a high-angle control system (HACS) Mark I director was added on the rear searchlight platform and two positions for 2-pounder "pom-pom" antiaircraft directors were added at the rear of the spotting top, although only one director was initially fitted. The 5.5-inch control positions and their rangefinders on

17415-531: Was rated at 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph). The ships were equipped with a pair of rudders mounted side by side, as opposed to the tandem rudders used on the Derfflinger -class ships. The ships' turbines were equipped with Föttinger gears, which significantly improved performance at cruising speeds and provided a corresponding increase in range of about 20 percent. The vessels were designed to store 800 t (790 long tons) of coal and 250 t (250 long tons) of oil in purpose-built storage spaces;

17550-678: Was relieved by Captain Harold Walker on 20 May 1938 and he, in turn, was relieved when the ship returned to Portsmouth in January 1939 for an overhaul that lasted until 12 August. Hood was due to be modernised in 1941 to bring her up to a standard similar to that of other modernised First World War-era capital ships. She would have received new, lighter turbines and boilers, a secondary armament of eight twin 5.25-inch (133 mm) gun turrets , and six octuple 2-pounder "pom-poms". Her 5-inch upper-armour strake would have been removed and her deck armour reinforced. A catapult would have been fitted across

17685-527: Was similar to that of the [preceding] Derfflinger class". The figures listed here are those for the Derfflinger class. They had an armor belt of 300 mm (11.8 in) thickness in the central citadel of the ship, where the most important parts of the vessel were located. This included the ammunition magazines and the machinery spaces. The belt was reduced in less critical areas, to 120 mm (4.7 in) forward and 100 mm (3.9 in) aft. The belt tapered down to 30 mm (1.2 in) at

17820-421: Was temporarily able to evade detection, but was later spotted and sunk on 27 May . The official Admiralty communiqué on the loss, broadcast on the day of the sinking, reported that: "during the ... action, HMS Hood  ... received an unlucky hit in a magazine and blew up." The first formal board of enquiry into the loss, presided over by Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Blake , reported on 2 June, less than

17955-498: Was the last class of battlecruisers to be built by Germany in World War I . The design initially called for seven ships, but three of them were redesigned as the Ersatz Yorck class . Of the four ships of the Mackensen class, Mackensen , Graf Spee , and Prinz Eitel Friedrich were launched, and Fürst Bismarck was not—but none were completed, after wartime shipbuilding priorities were redirected towards U-boats —and

18090-460: Was the only ship of her class to be completed, as the Admiralty decided it would be better to start with a clean design on succeeding battlecruisers, leading to the never-built G-3 class . Despite the appearance of newer and more modern ships, Hood remained the largest warship in the world for 20 years after her commissioning, and her prestige was reflected in her nickname, "The Mighty Hood". Hood

18225-499: Was to have been named Fürst Bismarck for the famous German chancellor Otto von Bismarck , and ordered as a replacement for Friedrich Carl , was also laid down 1915 at the Wilhelmshaven Imperial Shipyard under construction number 25. She was about 26 months from completion when work ended. She was never launched; instead, the vessel was broken up on the slip in 1922. Experience at the Battle of Jutland led

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