85th Anniversary of the Sinking of HMS Hood - Including HMS Belfast’s link with HMS Hood?

​It’s been 85 years… (yep, pun intended)! Today I knew I needed to write a blog post, as well as make some art of this fine ship’s crest, using a mix of watercolours and Indian ink on this boiling hot day. 

With Following Winds is the English translation from HMS Hood's Latin motto: Ventis Secundis. 


85 years ago today, the Royal Navy lost their dear ship, HMS Hood. Launched on 22nd August 1918 at John Brown and Co shipyard on the Clyde by Lady Hood, the widow of Admiral Sir Horace Hood who died at the Battle of Jutland in 1918 and commissioned in 1920. 

Source: HMS Hood Association 

Was this Admiral-class battlecruiser named after Horace Hood? 

No, she was actually named after First Viscount Samuel Hood - another notable naval officer. Read more about Samuel Hood here. However, Horace Hood may have inspired the name. 

On 24th May 1941, HMS Hood was sunk by the German battleship KMS Bismarck; the Bismarck shot a shell that landed a direct hit on Hood’s deck armour, triggering an explosion of 100 tons in a magazine. The ship shuddered violently, throwing sailors overboard and flames roared beneath her deck. Surrounded by a major oil spill, she was destroyed in 3 minutes. 


1,415 officers and men on board perished, except for three: Midshipman William Dundas, Able Seaman Bob Tilburn, and Ordinary Signalman Ted Briggs. 

Crew Information: Roll of Honour - HMS Hood Association

What links HMS Belfast with HMS Hood? 

After HMS Belfast hit a magnetic mine in 1939, approximately 300 of her crew transferred to HMS Hood while Belfast was taken out of service and repaired. Those sailors were among the unfortunate who never returned. 

HMS HOOD MEMORIALS:


Vice Admiral L E Holland Book of Remembrance - New Forest, Hampshire 








HMS Hood’s wreckage was discovered in 2001 by a Channel 4 expedition led by David Mearns. In 2013, a US expedition took place to retrieve the bell, but was unfortunately not successful. Finally in 2015, the bell was salvaged from the wreckage and was taken to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard where it is now housed in the Royal Navy Museum.



I was honoured to see the bell for myself when I visited the Royal Navy Museum at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. 


Have you been to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and seen the bell? 🔔 Let me know and feel free to share with me any stories of you have of HMS Hood. 

With her link of HMS Belfast’s lads transferring to Hood, I might join HMS Hood Association! 

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