Lot Essay
The battlecruiser H.M.S. Hood was laid down as part of the Emergency War Programme in September 1916. Built by John Brown's on the Clyde, she was launched in August 1918 but not completed until March 1920, by which time the Great War was over. Displacing 41,200 tons, her main armament consisted of 8-15in. guns and she had a top speed of 31 knots. She was the largest and finest capital ship of her era and, by the time the Second World War broke out, was the embodiment of national pride in the Royal Navy. H.M.S. Norfolk, 9,750 tons, was a cruiser built by Fairfield's at Govan in 1927-28 and completed in 1930. Armed with 8-8in. and 8-4in. guns and capable of 32 knots at full stea, she was a fast andpowerful addition to the fleet and thus much in demand for a variety of duties as soon as the War started in 1939. Bismarck, by comparison, was the product of newer, more progressive ideas, and was the first German battleship built since the Great War. Laid down in 1936 and completed in August 1940, she displaced 41,700 tons and was formidably armed with a variety of sophisticated weaponry, much of it superior to our own.
Awaiting her chance to slip out unnoticed into the North Atlantic, Bismarck sailed from the Baltic port of Gdynia on 18 May 1941 although Bristish intelligence was alerted to her departure almost immediately. Various ships were dispatched from Scapa Flow to intercept her and she was eventually spotted entering the Denmark Strait on the evening of 23 May. Initially sighted by the cruiser H.M.S. Suffolk, she and her sister Norfolk then shadowed Bismarck and her consort Prince Eugen as they waited for H.M.S. Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales to reach a point where they could engage the enemy. Shortly before 6am. on 24may, the four capital ships came into action and opened fire as a range of 25,000 yards. afer a mere ten minutes, a plunging 15in. shell penetrated Hood's deck and, to the amazement of all who watched, she blew up and sank instantaneously with the loss of 1,338 officers and men; out of her entire company, only 3 survived. The news of the Hood's loss broadcast that evening came as a profound shock, not least to Churchill and the War Cabinet, and efforts to avenge her and destroy Bismarck were redoubled with a ferocity rare even in wartime. When on 27 May, Bismarck was finally sunk after a protracted operation involving large numbers of both ships and aircraft, the natural elation of the victory was tempered by the catastrophic loss of the Hood as Trafalgar ahd been blighted by the death of Nelson over a hundred years before.
Awaiting her chance to slip out unnoticed into the North Atlantic, Bismarck sailed from the Baltic port of Gdynia on 18 May 1941 although Bristish intelligence was alerted to her departure almost immediately. Various ships were dispatched from Scapa Flow to intercept her and she was eventually spotted entering the Denmark Strait on the evening of 23 May. Initially sighted by the cruiser H.M.S. Suffolk, she and her sister Norfolk then shadowed Bismarck and her consort Prince Eugen as they waited for H.M.S. Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales to reach a point where they could engage the enemy. Shortly before 6am. on 24may, the four capital ships came into action and opened fire as a range of 25,000 yards. afer a mere ten minutes, a plunging 15in. shell penetrated Hood's deck and, to the amazement of all who watched, she blew up and sank instantaneously with the loss of 1,338 officers and men; out of her entire company, only 3 survived. The news of the Hood's loss broadcast that evening came as a profound shock, not least to Churchill and the War Cabinet, and efforts to avenge her and destroy Bismarck were redoubled with a ferocity rare even in wartime. When on 27 May, Bismarck was finally sunk after a protracted operation involving large numbers of both ships and aircraft, the natural elation of the victory was tempered by the catastrophic loss of the Hood as Trafalgar ahd been blighted by the death of Nelson over a hundred years before.