HMS Hood (1891)

Coordinates: 50°34′09″N 2°25′16″W / 50.56917°N 2.42111°W / 50.56917; -2.42111
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For other ships with the same name, see List of ships called HMS Hood.

Hood in the 1890s
History
United Kingdom
NameHood
Namesake
Ordered1889
BuilderChatham Dockyard, England
Cost£926,396
Laid down12 August 1889
Launched30 July 1891
ChristenedViscountess Hood
Commissioned1 June 1893
DecommissionedMarch 1911
FateSunk as a blockship in Portland Harbour 4 November 1914
General characteristics
Class and typeRoyal Sovereign-class pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement
  • 14,780 long tons (15,020 t) (normal)
  • 15,588 long tons (15,838 t) (
    deep load
    )
Length410 ft 5 in (125.1 m) (o/a)
Beam75 ft (22.9 m)
Draught27 ft 6 in (8.4 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph)
Range4,720 nmi (8,740 km; 5,430 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement690
Armament
Armour

HMS Hood was a modified

scuttled in late 1914 to act as a blockship across the southern entrance of Portland Harbour after the start of World War I
.

Design

Hood, the last of the eight Royal Sovereign-class battleships to be built, differed significantly from the other ships of her class in that she had a forward freeboard of only 11 feet 3 inches (3.43 m) compared to 19 feet 6 inches (5.94 m) of the other ships.

Mediterranean. This was seen as a vindication of the barbette/high-freeboard design in the rest of her class, and all subsequent British battleship classes had high freeboard.[3]

The forward 13.5-inch (343-mm) gun turret on Hood

The lower freeboard was required by her use of armoured gun turrets—a heavy type of rotating gun mounting of the mid-and-late 19th century very different from what would later be known as "turrets".[1 1] Hood's half-sisters mounted their guns exposed on top of barbettes, a much lighter arrangement that allowed their freeboard to be substantially increased. The heavy, old-fashioned type of turrets added to the amount of weight high up in the ship compared to barbettes and decreased the ship's stability.[5]

Because the

stability of a ship is largely due to freeboard at high rolling angles, she was given a larger metacentric height (the vertical distance between the metacenter and the centre of gravity below it) of around 4.1 feet (1.2 m) instead of the 3.6 feet (1.1 m) of the rest of the Royal Sovereigns to make her roll less in rough seas. This had the effect of making her roll period shorter by around 7% compared to her sisters, which in turn made her gunnery less accurate.[6] Bilge keels were fitted in 1894 which improved her manoeuvrability.[7]

General characteristics

Hood had an

deep load. She displaced 14,780 long tons (15,020 t) at normal load and 15,588 long tons (15,838 t) at deep load. Her crew numbered 690 officers and ratings.[8]

The ship was powered by two 3-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller. Eight water-tube boilers provided steam to the engines, which produced a maximum of 11,000 indicated horsepower (8,200 kW) when forced. This was intended to allow them to reach a speed of 17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph). She carried a maximum of 1,490 long tons (1,510 t) of coal, enough to steam 4,720 nautical miles (8,740 km; 5,430 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[9]

Armament

The ship was armed with four 32-

casemates in the superstructure. A major problem with the four of these guns mounted on the upper deck was that they were mounted low in the ship and were unusable at high speed or in heavy weather. They were removed in 1904. The ship carried 200 rounds for each gun.[10]

Defence against

18-inch torpedo tubes. Two of these were mounted in the bow below the waterline, four were placed in the sides of the hull, two on each broadside, and one in the stern. These last five tubes were all above water. She also was fitted with a plough-shaped underwater ram.[11]

In 1897 one of these 3-pounder guns was mounted on each turret top and, three years later, the 3-pounders in the fighting tops were transferred to the forward superstructure. At the same time the above-water torpedo tubes were removed. About 1902–03 the 6-pounders on the main deck were removed; two were remounted on the superstructure, but the other two were not replaced. In 1905 the 3-pounders on the forward superstructure were removed while the 3-pounders in the lower fighting tops were removed while the ship was in reserve from 1907–09.[4]

Armour

Hood's protection used both

main belt ranged in thickness between 14 and 18 inches (356 and 457 mm) thick. It covered the middle 250 feet (76.2 m) of the ship and was 8.5 feet (2.6 m) high of which 5 feet 6 inches (1.7 m) was below the waterline at normal load. Fore and aft bulkheads, 16–14-inch (406–356 mm) thick respectively, closed off the ends of the central citadel at the level of the waterline. The upper strake of 4-inch (102 mm) armour was 150 feet (45.7 m) long and protected the ship's side between the barbette[1 2][12] Oblique bulkheads 3 inches (76 mm) thick connected this strake to the armour protecting the bases of the turrets. The gun turrets and their bases were protected by 17 inches (432 mm) of armour that thinned to 16 inches (406 mm) behind the oblique bulkheads. Below the armoured deck their armour was reduced to 11 inches (279 mm). The armour of the main-deck casemates was 6 inches thick and that of the forward conning tower was 14 inches thick. The armoured deck was 3 inches thick over the machinery, but thinned to 2.5 inches (64 mm) outside the central citadel and ran to the ends of the ship. At the bow it dipped down to reinforce the ship's ram.[13]

Construction and career

Hood was laid down at

Mediterranean on 18 June 1893.[14] She arrived at Malta on 3 July 1893, relieving the battleship Colossus
.

In May 1896, Hood steamed from Malta to

Ottoman Army forces from Crete in November 1898 and the establishment of an autonomous Cretan State under Ottoman suzerainty in December 1898.[17]

ironclad Thunderer as port guard ship at Pembroke Dock.[14]

Hood in 1901

The ship rejoined the Mediterranean Fleet at the end of 1901, and Captain

Devonport for a refit upon their completion.[14]

On 25 June 1903 Hood relieved the battleship

Coast of Ireland Station, while continuing as a receiving ship.[19] On 2 April 1911 the ship was in Cork Harbour for the 1911 Census.[20]

Later in 1911, Hood was towed to Portsmouth and listed for disposal. During 1913 and 1914 she was employed as a target for underwater protection experiments and was used in secret tests of anti-torpedo bulges.[19] Subsequently, she was photographed in dry dock at Portsmouth by the crew of Naval Airship No. 18 in June 1914,[21] before being placed on the sale list in August 1914.[22] On 4 November 1914 Hood was scuttled in Portland harbour to block the Southern Ship Channel, a potential access route for U-boats or for torpedoes fired from outside the harbour. Her wreck became known as "Old Hole in the Wall". Despite her 1914 scuttling, the Royal Navy included Hood on its sale list in both 1916 and 1917.[19]

The ship's bell was later used as one of at least two bells

rear admiral, The Honourable Sir Horace Hood KCB, DSO, MVO killed at Jutland
on 31st May 1916."

The outline of the wreck of Hood can be seen between the breakwaters of Portland Harbour.

Notes

  1. ^ Modern naval gun turrets are essentially a barbette enclosed by a rotating gunhouse, a very different concept from the older style of turret that Hood mounted.[4]
  2. ^ The completely enclosed armoured shields around the turrets were known as barbettes for some years after their introduction, but they weren´t barbettes as we know them today

Footnotes

  1. ^ Silverstone, p. 239
  2. ^ Burt, pp. 62, 87
  3. ^ Parkes, pp. 354–55; Burt, p. 85
  4. ^ a b Burt, p. 85
  5. ^ Chesneau & Kolesnik, p. 33; Burt, p. 85
  6. ^ Brown, p. 124
  7. ^ a b Parkes, p. 364
  8. ^ Burt, p. 87
  9. ^ Burt, p. 63
  10. ^ Burt, pp. 63, 69, 85
  11. ^ Burt, pp. 63, 87
  12. ^ Burt, p. 74
  13. ^ Parkes, pp. 363–364
  14. ^ a b c d Burt, p. 89
  15. ^ McTiernan, p. 13.
  16. ^ McTiernan, pp. 13–23.
  17. ^ McTiernan, pp. 35–39.
  18. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36722. London. 22 March 1902. p. 14.
  19. ^ a b c Burt, p. 90
  20. ^ Census of Ireland, 1911, National Archive of Ireland
  21. British National Archives
    .
  22. ^ Gardiner & Gray, p. 7
  23. ^ "Recovery of H.M.S. Hood's Bell". The Official Website of the H.M.S. Hood Association. 6 May 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  24. ^ "Conserved HMS Hood Bell Rings Out 75th Anniversary of Largest Ever Royal Navy Loss". National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 14 August 2018.

References

External links

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50°34′09″N 2°25′16″W / 50.56917°N 2.42111°W / 50.56917; -2.42111

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