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Whatever caused the explosion, it proved fatal for the ship and most of her crew. [57], Captain Irvine Glennie assumed command in May 1939 and Hood was assigned to the Home Fleet's Battlecruiser Squadron while still refitting. The results of Hood's fire are not known exactly, but she damaged the French battleshipDunkerque, which was hit by four fifteen-inch shells and was forced to beach herself. Roll of Honour who match particular criteria such as rank / rating, age, home town etc. [48], 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. . [95], In 2002, the site was officially designated a war grave by the British government. Hood reported an accuracy of 3 degrees with her 279M set. You can also click below to view a single list of all names H.M.S. Also listed are the three survivors (coloured blue) - all of whom have now crossed the bar. HMS Hood (pennant number 51) was a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy (RN). -H.M.S. 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. Click here to access the list of dates men joined the ship. "[70] The first formal board of enquiry into the loss, presided over by Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Blake, reported on 2 June, less than a fortnight after the loss. Anecdotes and remembrances concerning Hood, Hood's Mascots [56] 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 the mess decks during cold weather, as the steam pipes were too leaky. The Bismarck took some beatings from the best battleships in the British navy. [13] In 1931, a pair of octuple mountings for the 40-millimetre (1.6in) 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. Hood was nothing without the many men it took to design, built and operate her. . Propulsion: 4 shafts, Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines, 24 Yarrow water-tube boilers Speed: 31 knots (1920), 28 knots (1940) Range: 5,332 miles at 20 knots Complement: 1,169-1,418 men HMS Hood - Armament (1941): Guns The middle armour belt had a maximum thickness of 7 inches over the same length as the thickest part of the waterline armour and thinned to five inches abreast 'A' barbette. Hood Crew Information- The Battle of the Denmark Strait was effectively part of the larger Battle of the Atlantic, the conflict fought as Germany tried to isolate Britain from its colonies and allies in hopes of forcing a negotiated peace. The hit split the ship in two and it sank in three minutes! Hood Association-Battle Cruiser Hood: Crew Information - H.M.S. [8], The Admirals were powered by four Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam provided by 24 Yarrow boilers. (Public Domain) Launched in 1913, the battleship HMS Warspite saw extensive service during both world wars. In March Janus was involved in the battle of Cape Matapan, whilst a unit of the 14th DD Flotilla, under Captain Mack aboard . [54], 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. HMS Hood was the pride of the Royal Navy. Shipwreck The forecastle deck ranged from 1.75 to 2 inches (44 to 51 millimetres) in thickness, while the upper deck was 2 inches (51mm) thick over the magazines and 0.75 inches (19mm) elsewhere. HMS Hood was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy - and was lost while chasing the most infamous battleship of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine - the Bismarck. Wherever possible, records were cross-referenced and/or supplemented with information from the database of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), Northeast War Memorials Project, FLEET-DNPERS, The National Archives (TNA), various Admiralty 104 series documents, Navy Lists, the H.M.S. The HMS Hood, originally launched in 1918, . Conceptualized during World War I as the follow on to the Queen Elizabeth class super-dreadnoughts, which were some of the most powerful battleships in the world at the time, the Admiral-class . [11] Two of these guns on the shelter deck were temporarily replaced by QF 4-inch (102mm) Mk V anti-aircraft (AA) guns between 1938 and 1939. [2] [32], Construction of Hood began at the John Brown & Company shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland, as yard number 460 on 1 September 1916. The fact that the bow section separated just forward of 'A' turret is suggestive that a secondary explosion might have occurred in this area. This is a database on the people who perished or survived attacks by German U-boats during WWII. Hood in 2001", "Relics of HMS Hood Ledger Container Lid", "HMS Hood v HMS Renown propeller fragment", Battle of the Denmark Strait Documentation Resource, Imperial War Museum Interview with survivor Robert Tilburn, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HMS_Hood&oldid=1142099804, A direct hit from a shell penetrated to a magazine aft. The Hood had been launched in 1918 and was armed with 8 x 15 inch guns, 12 x 5.5 inch guns, 8 x 4 inch AA guns, 24 x 2 pound guns and . over 3 years). [16], The ship's main battery was controlled by two fire-control directors. It is worth pointing out that in any warship at Action Stations, the vast majority of the ship's compa. Illustrious, H.M.S. We therefore welcome and encourage anyone with information on the men who served in Hood to contact us to submit new or supplementary information or photos. [107], Coordinates: 6320N 3150W / 63.333N 31.833W / 63.333; -31.833, This article is about the Admiral-class battlecruiser. [4], The main battery of the Admiral-class ships consisted of eight BL 15-inch (381mm) Mk I guns in hydraulically powered twin gun turrets. Retained after World War I, it moved between postings in . HMS Hood had a crew of 1,419 and was faster than the Bismarck with a maximum speed of 32 RN Northern Ireland - In Remembrance. Deborah. [89] Mearns had spent the previous six years privately researching the fate of Hood with the goal of finding the battlecruiser, and had acquired the support of the Royal Navy, the HMS Hood Association and other veterans groups, and the last living survivor, Ted Briggs. H.M.S. The amidships section, the biggest part of the wreck to survive the explosions, lies inverted south of the eastern debris field in a large impact crater. The upper belt was 5 inches thick amidships and extended forward to 'A' barbette, with a short 4-inch extension aft. Crew lists from Ships hit by U-boats. [58], Hood and the aircraft carrier Ark Royal were ordered to Gibraltar to join Force H on 18 June where Hood became the flagship. She embarked a Fairey IIIF from No. These were joined in early 1939 by four twin mounts for the QF 4-inch Mark XVI dual-purpose gun. The memorials were assembled by blending official records with public casualty listings. The men who commanded the ship & the squadrons she served in, Crew Stories & Anecdotes Later that year, her crew participated in the Invergordon Mutiny over pay cuts for the sailors. The container and its contents were subsequently lost, but its lid survived and was eventually presented to the Royal Navy shore establishment HMS Centurion in 1981.[103][104]. 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. HMS Hood (pennant number 51) was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy. Her 5-inch upper-armour strake would have been removed and her deck armour reinforced. Crew Lost During the Sinking of Hood, 24th May 1941 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 despite drastic revisions before she was completed four years later. At 2002, a message from cruiser HMS Suffolk reported the enemy as one battleship and one cruiser, course 240 degrees, in a position that translated to some 560 kilometers distant and almost directly north of the battlecruiser force. [62], The British squadron spotted the Germans at 05:37 (ship's clocks were set four hours ahead of local timethe engagement commenced shortly after dawn),[63] 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. Dundass survived by kicking out a starboard side window and swimming away. Its main conclusion is that the loss was almost certainly precipitated by the explosion of a 4-inch magazine, but that there are several ways this could have been initiated, although he rules out the boat deck fire or the detonation of her torpedoes as probable causes. The bulge was backed by a 1.5-inch-thick torpedo bulkhead. It is estimated that as many as 18,000 men, perhaps more, served aboard the "Mighty Hood" during the operational portion of her 21 year career. 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. The HMS Hood at Table Bay in Cape Town with the HMS Repulse behind, January 1924. The relevant series of documents are ADM188 (men joined before 1926), ADM362 (men joining 1926-1928) and ADM363 (service after 1929 for men joining before before that date). After the sinking of Hood, seven large caliber shells hit Prince of Wales forcing the battleship to disengaged under a smokescreen and joined HMS Suffolk and HMS Norfolk. [4] They were shipped on shielded single-pivot mounts fitted along the upper deck and the forward shelter deck. HMS Hood immediately entered a drydock. C.P.O. After conservation work, Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, unveiled the bell at the museum on 24 May 2016 the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Denmark Strait. CREWMAN Served from 1942 - 1941 Served in HMS Rodney. H.M.S. Roster entries: 90,827 (for 89,120 people) Service Persons; Merchant Navy: 43,355: RN: 13,428 . [72] This investigation was "much more thorough than was the first, taking evidence from a total of 176 eyewitnesses to the disaster",[73] and examined both Goodall's theory and others (see below). Although these give the date on which any man joined the ship, they do not give the date on which he left. HMS Hood - Specifications: Displacement: 47,430 tons Length: 860 ft., 7 in. As a result, a second Board was convened under Rear Admiral Sir Harold Walker and reported in September 1941. Information about men who served in Hood, NAAFI Men Lutjens, commander in chief of the German Fleet, the Bismarck sunk the Hood, resulting in the death of 1,500 of its crew; only three Brits survived. It ended peacefully and Hood returned to her home port afterwards. Dunkerque's sister ship, Strasbourg, managed to escape from the harbour. The captains of both ships were court-martialled, as was the squadron commander, Rear Admiral Sidney Bailey. Here you will find our attempt at creating such a listing. 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. If you have information about a man who served in the ship please contact William Sutherland by e-mail at crewsubs@hmshood.org.uk In the first instance if would help if you include in your e-mail the following information relating to the crew man: When he is able, William will reply to your e-mail so that we can draw it together into a page for the man concerned. Furthermore, a section of the bow immediately forward of 'A' turret is missing, which has led historian and former Dartmouth lecturer Eric J. Grove and expedition leader David Mearns to believe that "either just before or just after leaving the surface, the bow suffered massive internal damage from an internal explosion",[85] possibly a partial detonation of the forward 15-inch magazines. [35], 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. [60], In January 1941, the ship began a refit that lasted until March; even after 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. Before being installed on the battlecruiser, the bell was inscribed around its base with the words: "This bell was preserved from HMS Hood battleship 18911914 by the late Rear Admiral, The Honourable Sir Horace Hood KCB, DSO, MVO killed at Jutland on 31st May 1916. The U-boat War in World War Two (Kriegsmarine, 1939-1945) and World War One (Kaiserliche Marine, 1914-1918) and the Allied efforts to counter the threat. Hood's crew gained their first clue that something was developing at 1939, 23 May when full speed was ordered. HMS Prince of Wales was a King George V -class battleship of the Royal Navy that was built at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, England. [94], The forward section lies on its port side, with the amidships section keel up. Hood Crew Information- H.M.S. At full speed, or in heavy seas, water would flow over the ship's quarterdeck and often entered the messdecks and living quarters through ventilation shafts. What is presented below is therefore necessarily incomplete in respect of Royal Navy ratings and Royal Marines. HMS Hood v Bismarck The fame Bismarck received for sinking HMS Hood and then being hunted in turn have turned her into a legend. For almost 2 decades, she was the largest and most powerful warship afloat. 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 [15,100m], resulting in the explosion of one or more of the aft magazines.[71]. Hood and several light cruisers gave chase, but gave up after two hours; Hood had dodged a salvo of torpedoes from a French sloop and had damaged a turbine reaching 28 knots (52km/h; 32mph). Hood's wreck lies on the seabed in pieces among two debris fields at a depth of about 2,800 metres (9,200 feet). She had an extensive battle history, first seeing action in August 1940 while still being outfitted in her drydock when she was attacked and damaged by German aircraft. [24] 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 the battlecruiser SMSHindenburg). [27] The torpedo-warhead armour was reinstated during the ship's 19291931 refit. Hood was well known as a top sporting ship. 444 Flight of the Royal Air Force (RAF). When the Spanish Civil War broke out the following year, Hood was officially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet until she had to return to Britain in 1939 for an overhaul. Hood Rolls of Honour Memorials to Men Lost in the Sinking of Hood, 24th May 1941 Updated 07-Mar-2010 This page contains a listing the 1415 men who were lost when Hood was sunk on 24th May, 1941 The secondary armament was primarily controlled by directors mounted on each side of the bridge. King George V and Smaller Vessels of RDF279", "Memorials in Southsea Portsmouth Naval Memorial", "The July 2001 Channel 4 Expedition to Locate and Film the Wrecks of, "Statutory Instrument 2006 No. [65] A shell from this salvo appears to have hit the spotting top, as the boat deck was showered with body parts and debris. As a battlecruiser, Hood was similar in size and had the offensive capability of. . [28] As completed, Hood remained susceptible to plunging shells and bombs. The same deflagration would have collapsed the bulkhead separating the 4-inch and 15-inch magazines, resulting very quickly in a catastrophic explosion similar to those previously witnessed at Jutland. The original attempt, sponsored by Paul Allen and using his yacht Octopus, was abandoned after ten days in September 2012 due to unfavourable weather conditions. . Over 40.000 pages on the officers, the boats, technology and the Allied efforts to counter the U-boat threat. These problems also reduced her steam output so that she was unable to attain her designed speed. [43] Her size and powerful armament earned her the nickname of "Mighty Hood" and she came to symbolise the might of the British Empire itself. [86], In their study of the battleship Bismarck's operational history released in 2019, including its engagement with Hood, Jurens, William Garzke, and Robert O. Dulin Jr. concluded that Hood's destruction was most likely caused by a 380-mm shell from Bismarck that penetrated the deck armour and exploded in the aft 4-inch magazine, igniting its cordite propellant, which in turn ignited the cordite in the adjacent aft 15-inch magazine. Another "pom-pom" director was added on the rear superstructure, abaft the HACS director in 1938. [39] Most seriously, the deck protection was flawedspread over three decks, it 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 Hood had been launched in 1918 and was armed . Sea. [15], The Admirals were fitted with six fixed 21-inch (533mm) torpedo tubes, three on each broadside. Hood was hit by a 250kg (550lb) bomb from a Junkers Ju 88 bomber that damaged her port torpedo bulge and her condensers. H.M.S. Also one Swordfish carried out a photographic reconnaissance of the east east of Bogen and the Herjangsfjord. Moreover, computer-generated profiles of Hood show that a shell falling at this angle could not have reached an aft magazine without first passing through some part of the belt armour. ENGINEER Served from 1941 - 1943 Served in HMS Rodney. Armed Merchant Cruisers such as HMS Jervis Bay, were made up of various naval forces, and although she was a British ship, her crew were not all British, with some from the Commonwealth countries around the world. Crew & Dockyard Workers Lost Prior to the Sinking (Sept 1916 - May 1941) The Admiral-class battlecruisers were designed in response to 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. She formally transferred to the Mediterranean fleet on 20 October, shortly after the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Sir Horace Hood had been killed while commanding the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron and flying his flag on Invincibleone of the three battlecruisers which blew up at the Battle of Jutland. Additional information on the service of individual officers is contained in the ADM196 series of records which are available on Ancestry (subscription required) or The National Archives (free if registered). This work is still very much in development but we have about one-third of the people who died already listed. As completed, Hood had an overall length of 860feet 7inches (262.3m), a maximum beam of 104feet 2inches (31.8m), and a draught of 32 feet (9.8m) at deep load. This position shows the rudder locked into a 20 port turn, confirming that orders had been given (just prior to the aft magazines detonating) to change the ship's heading and bring the aft turrets 'X' and 'Y' to bear on the German ships. A shell, falling short and travelling underwater, struck below the armoured belt and penetrated a magazine. The bell was rung eight times in a commemorative service at midday attended by descendants of crew members who died in the battle before being placed in the museum's exhibit on the Battle of Jutland. Memorials to all those who died while building or serving in Hood, Crew List On paper, Hood retained the same armament and level of protection, while being significantly faster. [49], 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 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 the after part of the ship. It is estimated that as many as 18,000 men, perhaps more, served aboard the "Mighty Hood" during the operational portion of her 21 year career. For other ships of the same name, see, According to the testimony of Captain Leach, "between one and two seconds after I formed that impression [of a hit on, Last edited on 28 February 2023, at 14:06, destruction of the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir, destruction of the French fleet at Mers-el-Kbir, National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth, "ADM 220/76: Reports of Performance in H.M.S. Hood, H.M.S. Contained here are 1,415 individual memorial pages - one for each man confirmed lost when Hood sank during combat with the German battleship Bismarck in the Denmark Strait on 24th May 1941. By early 1940, Hood's machinery was in dire shape and limited her best speed to 26.5 knots (49.1km/h; 30.5mph); she was refitted between 4 April and 12 June. The complement of "The Mighty Hood", as. The crew in each gunhouse had access to a variety of projectile types. Hood Rolls of Honour The Hood was a truly mighty warship and if you yourself served in any of the Royal Navy's battleships (Hood was a battlecruiser) you will know what 40-odd thousand tons of grey coloured steel looks like, but if you didn't, you can still see that spectacle in the U.S.A., where several of her battleships of around this tonnage are parked as museums. The Special Service Squadron are on a tour around the world. Bertie Jack Tomlinson TELEGRAPHIST CLASS A Served from 1943 - 1946 Served in HMS Royal Arthur Paul Graham Duddle L/COOK Served from 1970 - 1979 Served in HMS Royal Arthur Nicholas Sparey LEADING HAND Served from 1990 - 2002 Served in HMS Royal Arthur Lawrence Johnson [99][98][100], The recovered bell was originally carried on the pre-dreadnought battleship Hood. HMS Barham Crew List; . 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. [93] Bill Jurens points out that there was no magazine of any kind at the location of the break and that the location of the break just forward of the forward transverse armoured bulkhead suggests that the ship's structure failed there as a result of stresses inflicted when the bow was lifted into the vertical position by the sinking stern section. However, these records are only available for men who joined the Royal Navy before 1931. On May 24, 1941, the fifth salvo of the German battleship Bismarck sank the British battlecruiser HMS Hood. Categories . [91] Other researchers have claimed that the final salvo fired by Hood was not a salvo at all, but flame from the forward magazine explosion, which gave the illusion of Hood firing for the last time. In Jurens's opinion, the popular image of plunging shells penetrating Hood's deck armour is inaccurate, as by his estimation the angle of fall of Bismarck's 15-inch shells at the moment of the loss would not have exceeded about 14, an angle so unfavourable to penetration of horizontal armour that it is actually off the scale of contemporaneous German penetration charts. [72], Both boards of enquiry exonerated Vice-Admiral Holland from any blame regarding the loss of Hood. The ship had a metacentric height of 4.2 feet (1.3m) at deep load, which minimised her roll and made her a steady gun platform. The probability is that the 4-inch magazines exploded first. [68], 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. It is further supposed that the small debris fields are the fragments from the aft hull where the magazines and turrets were located, since that section of the hull was totally destroyed in the explosion. Robert Wyllie. The design was revised after the Battle of Jutland to incorporate heavier armour and all four ships were laid down. 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. It is estimated that as many as 15,000 men may have served in her from 1920-1941. When war with Germany 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. Ratings & officers known to have served in Hood, Crew Complements William Ramshaw HMS Janus (d.23rd Jan 1944) William Ramshaw served on board HMS Janus and died, age 19, on the 23rd January 1944 when his ship was bombed and sunk at Anzio. H.M.S. -H.M.S. Hood Crew List -H.M.S. [47] The battlecruiser squadron visited Lisbon in January 1925 to participate in the Vasco da Gama celebrations before continuing on to the Mediterranean for exercises. [40] In addition, she was grossly overweight compared to her original design, making her a wet ship with a highly stressed structure. The outbreak of the Second World War made removing her from service near impossible, and as a consequence, she never received the scheduled modernisation afforded to other capital ships such as Renown and several of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships. She had cost 6,025,000 to build. The terms were rejected and the Royal Navy opened fire on the French ships berthed there. They both had on board 5 million in gold bullion. HMS Hood was 44,600 tons, had a crew of 1,419 and was faster than the Bismarck with a maximum speed of 32 knots. Hood was the first of the planned four Admiral-class battlecruisers to be built during the First World War. A second inquiry was held after complaints that the first board had failed to consider alternative explanations, such as an explosion of the ship's torpedoes. One of four Admiral-class battlecruisers ordered in mid-1916, Hood had serious design limitations, though her design was drastically revised after the Battle of Jutland and improved while she was under construction. Temporary repairs were made at Gibraltar before the ship sailed to Portsmouth for permanent repairs between February and May 1935. The other was fitted in the spotting top above the tripod foremast and equipped with a 15-foot (4.6m) rangefinder. Hood Crew Information- 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. She displaced 42,670 long tons (43,350t) at load and 46,680 long tons (47,430t) at deep load, over 13,000 long tons (13,210t) more than the older ships. 2616 The Protection of Military Remains Act of 1986 (Designation of Vessels and Controlled Sites) Order 2006", "HMS Hood's bell unveiled at Navy museum Portsmouth", "Conserved HMS Hood bell rings out on 75th anniversary of largest ever Royal Navy loss", "Photos of the Wreck of H.M.S. Albert Edward Pryke "Ted" Briggs was the last survivor of the battle cruiser HMS Hood, sunk by the German warship Bismarck in the North Atlantic during the Second World War. Basil O'Neill. These deaths constituted the Royal Navy's greatest single ship loss of the Second World War. The main waterline belt was 12 inches (305mm) thick between 'A' and 'Y' barbettes and thinned to 5 to 6 inches (127 to 152mm) towards the ship's ends, but did not reach either the bow or the stern. [88], After footage of Bismarck was collected, Mearns and the search team began scanning a 600-square-nautical-mile (2,100km2) search box for Hood; completely covering the area was estimated to take six days. Hood Crew Information Updated 10-Apr-2022 Though mighty, the battle cruiser H.M.S. 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. to P.O. Hood Association-Battle Cruiser Hood: Crew Information - H.M.S. [7] The ship's complement varied widely over her career; in 1919, she was authorised 1,433 men as a squadron flagship; in 1934, she had 81 officers and 1,244 ratings aboard. [41] After her sea trials, she was commissioned on 15 May 1920, under Captain Wilfred Tompkinson.