SUNK BY UNLUCKY HIT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 122, 26 May 1941, Page 7

SUNK BY UNLUCKY HIT

ACTION WITH MODERN NAZI BATTLESHIP

LONDON, May 2i

An Admiralty communique announces: "British naval forces intercepted early this morning- off the coast of Greenland German naval forces, including- the battleship Bismarck. The enemy were attacked, and duringthe ensuing- action H.M.S. Hood, flying- the flag- of Vice-Admiral Holland, received an unlucky hit in a mag-azine and blew up. "The Bismarck has received damage, and the pursuit of the enemy continues. "It is feared that there will be few survivors from the Hood." The Hood's normal complement was 1341. A German High Command communique states: "A German naval formation operating in the Atlantic encountered strong British naval forces .in Icelandic waters. The Bismarck destroyed the British battle-cruiser Hood, and another British battleship was forced to turn away. "We arc continuing operations. No damage has been done to our ships worth mention-

ing."

H.M.S. Hood was the largest capital ship in the world, having a displacement of over 42,000 tons. She was begun in 1916 and completed in 1920, and a general refit was carried out in 1929-30. Her main armament consisted of eight: 15--inch guns, being the same as that of her opponent, the Bismarck.

The Hood, the Renown, and the Repulse were classed as battle-cruisers, differing from battleships of similar age, in that, although they carried heavy armament, they were not so heavily armoured and had higher speed. This differentiation has now disappeared. Modern battleships such as the King George or the Bismarck have the speed of a cruiser, and the armament and armour of a battleship.

The Bismarck, which had the good fortune to sink the Hood, was building when war broke out. She was expected to be completed about 1940, about 20 years after the Hood was completed and ten years after she was refitted.—B.O.W.