On May 24, 1941, the battlecruiser HMS Hood  exploded after being struck by several shells from the German battleship Bismark during the Battle of Denmark Strait. The Hood sank within three minutes with the loss of 1,415 sailors, all but three of her crew; the largest loss of life suffered by any single British warship in the history of the Royal Navy. Today, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the loss of the Hood and the sailors who died aboard her, HRH Princess Anne struck eight bells on the Hood‘s recently retrieved ship’s bell, as descendants of the lost sailors looked on.

How the bell came to be retrieved in time for the ceremony is a story in its own right. In 2012, we posted about how billionaire and philanthropist, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen loaned his 126-meter superyacht Octopus to the Royal Navy to mount an expedition to locate and raise the bell from HMS Hood. The venture succeeded in finding the ship’s bell but was not able to lift it the 2,800 meters from the bottom of the Denmark Strait. In 2015, in an expedition also lead by Paul Allen on his superyacht Octopus,  the bell was successfully retrieved using a custom-built submersible.  n display at the

Following a period of conservation, the bell will go on display at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth.

Conservation of HMS Hood’s Bell

Thanks to Alaric Bond for contributing to this post.