The story of the HMS Hood, the last great warship of the British
Royal Navy, told by the bestselling author of Hannibal.
When it was launched in 1918, the HMS Hood was the flagship of the
Royal Navy. As a battle cruiser, "The Mighty Hood" was fast enough to
evade enemy cruiser ships and powerful enough to destroy them. But for
all the Hood's might, it had one fatal flaw: armor had been sacrificed
for speed.
In 1941, the Hood confronted the legendary German warship Bismarck.
A salvo from the enemy penetrated the Hood's ammunition magazine,
destroying the British ship and killing all but three of its crew. The
brutal defeat marked the end of the Royal Navy's dominance. But it also
inspired Winston Churchill's vow to sink the Bismarck--a vow that in
time was fulfilled.
Through oral history and documentary research, Ernle Bradford chronicles
the Hood's career from design to demise, with colorful insight into
life aboard the ship as well as its broader historical significance.