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
Hoodconfronted 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.
