This is a public FB page for the H.M.S. In the afternoon two more Swordfish conducted an A/S patrol around the carrier force. Previously K 64910 (further details absent), Re-entered as Stoker 1st Class (Pensioner) now KX88498, Re-entered for 3 years non continuous service, Transferred to Supply Assistant MX50989 (service record not available), Victory I (Reverts from N.Z.N. Hood Association Archives and various family sources. [102], Some relics from the time of Hood's sinking still exist.
Crewlist from HMS Lapwing (U 62) (British Sloop) - U-boat . 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. We work with our members around the world in remembering the Mighty Hood and all those who sailed in her. In May 1941, Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales were ordered to intercept the German battleshipBismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, which were en route to the Atlantic, where they were to attack convoys. Hood Association. [4] The ship's secondary armament consisted of twelve BL 5.5-inch (140mm) Mk I guns, each with 200 rounds. [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.
Ted Briggs: Last survivor of the battleship HMS 'Hood'. All the 5.5-inch guns were removed during another refit in 1940. 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. 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. Unlike Tiger, the armour was angled outwards 12 from the waterline to increase its relative thickness in relation to flat-trajectory shells. Hood, Renown and Repulse were deployed to the Bay of Biscay on 5 November to prevent the "pocket battleship" Admiral Scheer from using French ports after she had attacked Convoy HX 84, but the German ship continued into the South Atlantic. William was born in Jarrow 1929, the son of Thomas and Catherine Ramshaw (nee Gibson) of Jarrow. To save construction time, this was accomplished by thickening the existing armour, rather than redesigning the entire ship. Monthly listings of officers who served in Hood, Admirals & Captains The stern section rises from the seabed at an angle. 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. Hood Crew List Updated 06-Jun-2022 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. [88], The search team and equipment had to be organised within four months, to take advantage of a narrow window of calm conditions in the North Atlantic. Hood Crew Information- H.M.S. This work is still very much in development but we have about one-third of the people who died already listed. [99][98][100], The recovered bell was originally carried on the pre-dreadnought battleship Hood. Served from 1931 - 1957 Served in HMS Rodney.
HMS Hood - Wikipedia Hood reported an accuracy of 3 degrees with her 279M set. Hood 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. Crew lists from Ships hit by U-boats. 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 . One was on each side of the amidships control tower and the third was on the centreline abaft the aft control position. Hood Rolls of Honour 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. The guns were restored by the RAF in 1984. [94], The forward section lies on its port side, with the amidships section keel up. [58], Hood and the aircraft carrier Ark Royal were ordered to Gibraltar to join Force H on 18 June where Hood became the flagship. The remaining 90% for 1861, 1862, and years ending in '5', are held by the National Maritime Museum. The catapult and crane were removed in 1932, along with the flying-off platform on 'B' turret. This was to be used for a major event documentary to be aired on the 60th anniversary of the ships' battle. Afterwards, she patrolled the North Atlantic before putting into Scapa Flow on 6 May. On paper, Hood retained the same armament and level of protection, while being significantly faster.
hms hood: crew list 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. [53] Captain Pridham 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.
H.M.S. Hood Association-Battle Cruiser Hood: Crew Information [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. Roll of Honour & Crew Memorials Updated 01-Jan-2020. 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. [40] In addition, she was grossly overweight compared to her original design, making her a wet ship with a highly stressed structure. Such a shell could only have come from. [14] When they detonated, 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. Hood Roll of Honour List (24th May 1941), You can also try searching our database for a particular name Hood Crew Information Updated 10-Apr-2022 Though mighty, the battle cruiser H.M.S. Barham Navy List: Hood, Robert: 05/10/1893: Gunner RMA: 09/08/1915: 20/02/1918: 13714: ADM 159/87/13714: Hope, Robert: The pieces of the propeller were kept by dockyard workers: "Hood" v "Renown" Jan. 23rd. They served as tragic reminders as to why the war was being fought and why it had to be won. [97][98], The expedition also took the opportunity to re-film the wreck and survey her using techniques unavailable in 2001. [78], An extensive review of these theories (excepting that of Preston) is given in Jurens's 1987 article. 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 [26], The gun turrets and barbettes were protected by 11 to 15 inches (279 to 381mm) of KC armour, except for the turret roofs, which were 5 inches thick. 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).
Crewlists from Allied Ships Hit during WWII - uboat.net HMS Ledbury saved some of her crew out of the blazing sea. HMS Janus (F53), named after the Roman god, was a Javelin or J-class destroyer of the Royal Navy, she was ordered from the Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson Limited at Wallsend-on-Tyne as part of the 1936 Build Programme and laid down on 29 September 1937, launched on 10 November 1938 and commissioned on 5 August 1939. HMS Hood (pennant number 51) was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy. While dry-docked for repairs, Renown had fragments of this propeller removed from her bilge section. 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 In the heat of the Bismarck battle, HMS Hood was placed out of commission by the KMS Prinz Eugen, leaving the Prince of Wales to defend herself against the two German ships. The fire on the boat deck penetrated to a magazine.
Navybuddies.com Crew List - Reunite with old US Navy Buddies Hood. 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. HMS Hood v Bismarck The fame Bismarck received for sinking HMS Hood and then being hunted in turn have turned her into a legend.
H.M.S. Hood Association-Battle Cruiser Hood: Crew Information - H.M.S The process of identifying Hood men is, therefore, a time-consuming one which involves trawling all records looking for "Hood" as an entry in amongst the list of ships in each record. [42], With her conspicuous twin funnels and lean profile, Hood was widely regarded as one of the finest-looking warships ever built. Updated 06-Jun-2022. Alternative routes for admission of flame could have been the ventilation or venting arrangements of the magazines or, as Ted Briggs suggested, through the floor of a 15-inch gunhouse. [2] 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. HMS Hood was a battlecruiser not a battleship, a flawed concept from the Edwardian age that sacrificed armour for speed in the mistaken belief the latter would protect her when under fire from 'heavy' opponents. Hood Crew List -H.M.S. Categories . [21], For protection against torpedoes, she was given a 7.5-foot (2.3m)[27] deep torpedo bulge that ran the length of the ship between the fore and aft barbettes. [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. Here you will find our attempt at creating such a listing. The captains of both ships were court-martialled, as was the squadron commander, Rear Admiral Sidney Bailey. [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). The Royal Navy's HMS Hood will forever be linked with the German Kriegsmarine battleship KMS Bismarck, as the former vessel was sunk on May 24, 1941 during the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Areas that Mearns felt were more likely to hold the wreck were prioritised, and the side-scan sonar located the battlecruiser in the 39th hour of the search.[89]. 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. 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]. Click here to access the list of dates men joined the ship. 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. The RN conducted two inquiries into the reasons for the ship's quick demise. Hood Crew Information The destroyer HMS Ilex attempted to tow the ill fated destroyer, but failed and the vessel had to be abandoned, Janus was tasked to sink her. The damage to Hood was limited to her left outer propeller and an 18-inch (460mm) dent, although some hull plates were knocked loose from the impact. It ended peacefully and Hood returned to her home port afterwards. Tower and Bailey were acquitted, but Renown's Captain Sawbridge was relieved of command. She was above all the proud steel ambassador of the whole Royal Navy and of the country. [66] A huge jet of flame burst out of Hood from the vicinity of the mainmast,[Note 1] followed by a devastating magazine explosion that destroyed the aft part of the ship. 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. 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.
HMS Janus in the Second World War 1939-1945 - Wartime Memories Project As a result, for the Midshipmen and junior officers who served in Hood in the later years of the 1930s little information in addition to the date on which they joined the ship is available without charge. The crew was safe and later returned to HMS Ark Royal. When war broke out later that year, she was employed principally to patrol in the vicinity of Iceland and the Faroe Islands to protect convoys and intercept German merchant raiders and blockade runners attempting to break out into the Atlantic. The Prince of Wales was joined by HMS Hood in a battle of mythical and historical proportions. As such, it remains a protected place under the Protection of Military Remains Act of 1986. HMS Repulse was one of two Renown -class battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. . The Royal Navy kept no lists of ratings serving in individual ships and, therefore, for ratings any crew list can only be assembled from information relating to individuals. 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. Captain Thomas Binney assumed command on 15 August 1932 and the ship resumed her previous practice of a winter cruise in the Mediterranean the next year. [27] The torpedo-warhead armour was reinstated during the ship's 19291931 refit. The official Admiralty communiqu 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. A catapult would have been fitted across the deck and the remaining torpedo tubes removed. She was attached to the Mediterranean fleet shortly afterwards and stationed at Gibraltar at the outbreak of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War in October. [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. Transferred to the Home Fleet shortly afterwards, Hood 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. John Woodcock. To request a crew list to view in the reading room, please . The terms were rejected and the Royal Navy opened fire on the French ships berthed there. Commissioned in 1920, she was named after the 18th-century Admiral Samuel Hood. HMS Hood immediately entered a drydock. Through their deaths, the resolve of the British Empire was restored with a vengeance. what was the premier league called before; Tags . [36] To add to the confusion, Royal Navy documents of the period often describe any battleship with a maximum speed over 24 knots (44km/h; 28mph) as a battlecruiser, regardless of the amount of protective armour. Inspection of the wreck has confirmed that the aft magazines did indeed explode. P.O.TEL Served from 1943 - 1957 Served in HMS Duke Of York. This was 66 feet (20.1m) longer and 14 feet (4.3m) wider than the older ships. The stern of the Hood was located, with the rudder still in place, and it was found that this was set to port at the time of the explosion. over 3 years). "[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. Deborah. Hood Rolls of Honour Updated 01-Jan-2020 These memorials are dedicated to those who died whilst building and serving aboard Hood. [5] This characteristic earned her the nickname of "the largest submarine in the Navy". Victor Noel White HMS Copra . Information about men who served in Hood, NAAFI Men [12], The ship's original anti-aircraft armament consisted of four QF 4-inch Mk V guns on single mounts. 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. We also have a detailed page on the British Sloop HMS Lapwing (U 62). Crew Lost During the Sinking of Hood, 24th May 1941 Rapid expansion of the resulting combustion gases from the conflagration then caused structural failure, passing out through the sides of the ship as well as forward and upwards via the engine room vents, expelling the aft main battery turrets and causing the stern to be detached from the rest of the hull at the aft armoured bulkhead. 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. HMS HOOD - 15in gun Battlecruiserincluding Convoy Escort Movements. At the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 HMS Queen Mary , HMS Indefatigable, and the unfortunately named HMS Invincible.
HMS Hood - History Learning Site Draft: 32 ft. 24-03-2018. A look at the often overlooked members of Hood's crew, Miscellaneous Crew Photos
German battleship, the Bismarck, sinks Britain's HMS Hood Ted Briggs: Last survivor of the battleship HMS 'Hood', sunk by the Originally laid down as an improved version of the Revenge -class battleship, her construction was suspended on the outbreak of war because she would not be ready in time. Over 40.000 pages on the officers, the boats, technology and the Allied efforts to counter the U-boat threat. Only three men from her 1,418-man crew survived.
Hms Hood Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Although this can be ascertained by tracing his next ship, this is a prohibitively time consuming process. At this point, the order to abandon ship was given. 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. Here you will find our attempt at creating such a listing.
HMS Janus (F53) - Hmscavalier.org.uk 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. HMS Hood, battlecruiser, lost two men in 1935 - one drowned, one to illness (Maritime Quest, click to enlarge) on to 1936 or return to inter-war casualties, 1918-1939 . -H.M.S. Hood's crew gained their first clue that something was developing at 1939, 23 May when full speed was ordered. HMS Hood broke in two and sank in a mere matter of minutes. Two quadruple mountings for the Vickers 0.5-inch (12.7mm) Mk III machine gun were added in 1933 with two more mountings added in 1937. [4] About 28 torpedoes were carried. 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. Patrick Drennan. [59], Hood was relieved as flagship of Force H by Renown on 10 August, after returning to Scapa Flow. Each turret was also fitted with a 30-foot (9.1m) rangefinder. You can also click below to view a single list of all names
Members of HMS Rodney | Forces Reunited 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]. The 4-inch fire-control director lies in the western debris field. Hood was the first of the planned four Admiral-class battlecruisers to be built during the First World War. Hood Crew Information- H.M.S.
Bismarck Battleship Wreck - Rebellion Research This is a database on the people who perished or survived attacks by German U-boats during WWII.
HMS Hood survivors share TERRIFYING attack that saw Nazis sink war Photos of many of the men who served in Hood, Navy Lists . After a cruise to Scandinavian waters that year, Captain Geoffrey Mackworth assumed command. The complement of "The Mighty Hood", as she was affectionately known, was 1,421. [65] A shell from this salvo appears to have hit the spotting top, as the boat deck was showered with body parts and debris. -H.M.S. [90] In 2015, the same team attempted a second recovery operation and Hood's bell was finally retrieved on 7 August 2015. 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 HMS Hood, HMS Repulse, HMS Furious, HMS Somali, HMS Eskimo, HMS Mashona, HMS Punjabi and . Kenneth Ellison. HMS Hood Walk-Around HMS Hood was something of a majestic design in terms of warships.
Battlecruiser HMS Hood: A Little 'Battleship' with One Massive Defect It has been suggested that the fatal fire spread from the aft end of the ship through the starboard fuel tanks, since the starboard side of Hood "appears to be missing most, if not all of its torpedo bulge plating". [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. [95], In 2002, the site was officially designated a war grave by the British government. An excellent place to post guestbook greetings & share photos/information concerning the ship and crew. AB Served from 1946 - 1955 Served in HMS Duke Of York. The Bismarck took some beatings from the best battleships in the British navy. He then joined HMS Letchworth and was promoted to Wireman (LC) on 26/10/43. (7) 30 May 1940 The troopships Antonia (British, 13867 GRT, built 1921) and Duchess of Richmond (British, 22022 GRT, built 1928) departed Liverpool for Halifax. HMS Hood (pennant number 51) was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy. 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. No hits were scored, but the submarine crash-dived and retreated. They returned home 10 months later in September 1924, having visited South Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and some smaller colonies and dependencies, and the United States.
HMS Royal Arthur in the Second World War 1939-1945 - The Wartime Hood Crew Information- H.M.S. [15], The Admirals were fitted with six fixed 21-inch (533mm) torpedo tubes, three on each broadside. Updated 10-Apr-2022. 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. [85], The evidence of the wreck refutes Goodall's theory of a torpedo explosion, while the eyewitness evidence of venting from the 4-inch magazine prior to the main explosion conflicts with the theory that the Hood was blown up by her own guns. On 24 May 1941, early in 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. [22] 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. The hit split the ship in two and it sank in three minutes! Hood was nothing without the many men it took to design, built and operate her. Basil O'Neill. 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. [103] A metal container holding administrative papers was discovered washed ashore on the Norwegian island of Senja in April 1942, almost a year after the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Updated 11-Apr-2022. [31], Although the Royal Navy always designated Hood as a battlecruiser, some modern writers such as Anthony Preston have classified her as a fast battleship, since Hood appeared to have improvements over the fast Queen Elizabeth-class battleships. 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. However, these records are only available for men who joined the Royal Navy before 1931. Navy Artwork. [18] The 5.5-inch control positions and their rangefinders on the spotting top were removed during the 1932 refit. Hood Association-Battle Cruiser Hood: Crew Information - H.M.S. [103] A third piece was found in Glasgow, where Hood was built. These were joined in early 1939 by four twin mounts for the QF 4-inch Mark XVI dual-purpose gun. Out of the of 1,418 sailors onboard, only three including Midshipman . The fleet was spotted by the Germans and attacked by aircraft from the KG 26 and KG 30 bomber wings. In addition, the conning tower would have been removed and her bridge rebuilt. HMS Hood was a massively armed battlecruiser and was considered to be one of the most powerful battlecruisers afloat in World War Two. The ship was laid down on 1st September 1916 and was launched on 22nd August 1918 as the 3rd RN ship to carry this, introduced in 1859 and previously used in 1891 for a battleship sunk as a blockship in 1918. [34] 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 the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. [67] The three were rescued about two hours after the sinking by the destroyer Electra, which spotted substantial debris but no bodies. Beam: 104 ft. 2 in.
The Men of the Kriegsmarine U-boat force - uboat.net [46], While in Australia in April 1924, the squadron escorted the battlecruiser HMASAustralia out to sea, where she was scuttled in compliance with the Washington Naval Treaty. These memorials are dedicated to those who died whilst building and serving aboard Hood.
Pacific Wrecks - HMS Prince of Wales Of the known surviving pieces, one is privately held and another was given by the Hood family to the Hood Association in 2006. Three ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Hood after several members of the Hood family, who were notable naval officers: HMS Hood (1859), a 91-gun second-rate ship of the line, originally laid down as HMS Edgar, but renamed in 1848 and launched in 1859. David Hunt. The spectacular end of HMS Hood demonstrated what many in the Royal Navy already knew . This included the standard-use 1,920lb Common Pointed Capped (CPC) shell and the equal . [96], In 2012, the British government gave permission for Mearns to return to the site of Hood's final resting place to retrieve one of her two ship's bells which were lying in a small open debris field some way from the wreck herself. It was, in fact, the culmination of the German effort to use capital ships like battlecruiser .