HMS Hood (1891)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Hood (disambiguation).

HMS Hood
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Hood
Namesake	Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood Vice Admiral Sir Samuel Hood
Ordered	1889
Builder	Chatham Dockyard, England
Cost	£926,396
Laid down	17 August 1889
Launched	30 July 1891
Completed	1 June 1893
Commissioned	1 June 1893
Decommissioned	March 1911
Nickname(s)	"'Ood 'Ave Thought It?'
Fate	Sunk as a blockship in Portland harbour, 4 November 1914
Notes	Wreck remains visible at Portland
General characteristics
Class and type	Royal Sovereign-class pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement	14,780 long tons (15,020 t) (normal) 15,588 long tons (15,838 t) (deep load)
Length	410 ft 5 in (125.1 m) (o/a)
Beam	75 ft (22.9 m)
Draught	27 ft 6 in (8.4 m)
Installed power	11,000 shp (8,200 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts 2 coal-fired Humphreys & Tennant 3-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines 8 cylindrical boilers
Speed	17.5 knots (32.4 km/h; 20.1 mph)
Range	4,720 nmi (8,740 km; 5,430 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	712
Armament	2 × 2 BL 13.5-inch guns 10 × 1 QF 6-inch guns 10 × 1 QF 6-pounder guns 12 × 1 QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss guns 6 × 18-inch Torpedo tubes (4 above water, 2 underwater)
Armour	Belt 18 in (457 mm) compound, deck 3 in (76 mm), turret 17 in (432 mm)

The second warship to be named HMS Hood was a modified Royal Sovereign-class pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Royal Navy in the early 1890s, and the last of the eight built. She differed from the other ships of the class in that she had cylindrical gun turrets instead of barbettes, a lower freeboard. She served most of her active career in the Mediterranean Sea, where her low freeboard was less of a disadvantage. Hood was decommissioned and scuttled in 1914 to act as a blockship across the southern entrance of Portland Harbour at the outbreak of World War I.

Design

In their day, the battleships of the Royal Sovereign class were the largest warships ever built. Hood differed significantly from the other Royal Sovereigns in that she had a freeboard of only 11 feet 3 inches (3.43 m) compared to 19 feet 6 inches (5.94 m) of the other members of the class. The Royal Sovereigns had reverted to a higher freeboard after several classes of low-freeboard vessel had been constructed, the last being the Trafalgar class. Low freeboard had been popular for around ten years since it made required less armour and made a smaller target for gunfire to hit, although it had the disadvantage that it reduced seaworthiness.

This low freeboard meant that Hood was very wet in rough weather and her maximum speed reduced rapidly as the wave height increased, making her only suitable for service in the relatively calm 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.

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.

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

In spite of the lower centre of gravity required, the increased displacement to achieve the lower freeboard allowed more weight in or near the keel, allowing the main armament guns and gun crews to be protected by 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 gun "turrets" on ships—rather than having the guns exposed on top of barbettes -- the ancestor of the modern "turret", which is essentially a barbette enclosed by a rotating gunhouse, a very different concept from the older style of turret Hood mounted—as the other members of the class. The heavy, old-fashioned type of turrets added to the amount of weight high up in the ship compared to barbettes and also drove the design toward a lower freeboard.

General characteristics

Hood had an overall length of 410 feet 6 inches (125.1 m), a beam of 75 feet (22.9 m), and a draught of 28 feet 6 inches (8.7 m) at 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.The crew numbered 690 officers and enlisted men.

Propulsion

The ship was powered by two three-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).

Armament

The ship was armed with four 30-calibre BL 13.5-inch Mk I–IV guns in two twin gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure. Each gun was provided with 80 shells per gun. Hood's secondary armament consisted of ten 40-calibre 6-inch Mk I-III guns mounted in 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 as useless in 1904. The ship carried 200 rounds per gun.

Defence against torpedo boats was provided by eight QF 6-pounder guns, although the exact type of gun is not known. Four of these were mounted on the main deck in casemates on the sides of the hull. and suffered from the same problems as the six-inch guns. Hood also mounted a dozen QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss guns mounted in the superstructure and fighting tops.

Armour

Hood's protection used both compound armour and nickel steel armour. Her waterline main belt ranged in thickness between 14 to 18 inches (356 to 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. The upper strake of 4-inch (102 mm) armour was 150 feet (45.7 m) long and protected the ship's side between the rear of the barbettes.

The Royal Sovereign class battleships at first had a tendency to roll heavily in certain conditions; after HMS Resolution rolled badly in heavy seas in 1893, the class was nicknamed the "Rolling Ressies," a name which stuck even though the fitting of bilge keels quickly solved the problem.

Overall, Hood was considered a useful comparison to her near-sisters, as the operational utility of old-style heavy turrets and the resulting required low freeboard could be compared to that of lighter barbettes allowing a higher freeboard aboard otherwise nearly identical ships in terms of machinery, protection, armament, and so forth. The Royal Navy concluded that the advantages of barbettes and higher freeboard they allowed outweighed the drawbacks of heavier, old-style turrets and the lower freeboard requirement they imposed, and future British battleships were designed with barbettes and higher freeboard, with the barbettes protected by armored rotating gunhouses (the modern gun "turret").

Operational history

HMS Hood was laid down at Chatham Dockyard on 12 August 1889. She was launched on 30 July 1891, the Viscountess Hood christening her. She completed her sea trials in May 1893 and was completed on 1 June 1893.

The ship was initially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. She had an inauspicious beginning, being in commission only six days when she sprang a leak in her forward compartments on 7 June 1893 as a result of faulty riveting and excessive strain on the hull when she had been on the blocks. Repairs were complete in two days, and on 9 June 1893 she returned to service. The Duke of Edinburgh inspected her ceremonially, after which she departed from Chatham Dockyard on 12 June 1893. She was inspected officially by Vice Admiral Sir Algernon C. F. Heneage, Commander in Chief at the Nore, on 17 June 1893. She left Sheerness for the Mediterranean on 18 June 1893, stopping at Gibraltar to coal from 26 June to 29 June 1893.

Hood arrived at Malta on 3 July 1893 to take up her Mediterranean Fleet duties, relieving battleship HMS Colossus. In 1897 and 1898, Hood served as part of the International Squadron blockading Crete and maintaining order during the Greco-Turkish uprising there. Her Mediterranean Fleet service ended in April 1900, when she returned to the United Kingdom without relief in the Mediterranean and paid off into reserve at Chatham Dockyard on 29 April 1900.

On 12 December 1900, Hood recommissioned to relieve battleship HMS Thunderer as port guard ship at Pembroke Dock.

HMS Hood in the Mediterranean in 1901.

By the end of March 1901, Hood had transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet for a second period of service there. She participated in combined exercises of the Mediterranean Fleet, Channel Fleet, and Cruiser Squadron off the coasts of Cephalonia and Morea that began on 29 September 1902. Two days before the exercises ended, Hood damaged her rudder on the seabed while leaving Angostili Harbor on 4 October 1902. She went first to Malta for temporary repairs, then on to England for permanent repairs at Chatham Dockyard, steering by the use of her twin screws rather than her broken rudder for the entire way. She paid off at Chatham on 5 December 1902 to begin those repairs. Upon their completion, she transferred to Devonport for a refit.

Her refit completed, Hood commissioned at Devonport on 25 June 1903 to relieve battleship HMS Collingwood in the Channel Fleet. As a unit of "Fleet B1," she took part in combined exercises of the Channel Fleet, Mediterranean Fleet, and Home Fleet in annual maneuvers off the coast of Portugal from 5 August 1903 to 9 August 1903. On 28 September 1904, battleship HMS Russell relieved Hood of her Channel Fleet duties. Hood commissioned into reserve at Devonport on 3 January 1905, where she remained in reserve until February 1907.

In April 1909, Hood was refitted and partially stripped at Devonport, after which she began service as a receiving ship at Queenstown, Ireland. In September 1910, she recommissioned to continue this service and to serve as flagship of the Senior Naval Officer, Coast of Ireland. On 2 April 1911 she was in Cork Harbour for the 1911 Census.

In late 1911, she was towed to Portsmouth and placed on the disposal list. From 1911 to 1914, she was employed as a target for underwater protection experiments, and in 1913 and 1914 was used in highly secret tests of anti-torpedo bulges, proving their utility for use on Royal Navy capital ships. Subsequently she was photographed in dry dock at Portsmouth by the crew of Naval Airship No. 18 in June 1914, before being placed on the Sale List in August 1914.

Fate

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

After World War I began in August 1914, concerns arose over gaps in the defences of Portland harbour. 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 of the harbour. The intention had been for her to gradually settle on the seabed with her seacocks open but she took so long to sink that the tide turned and she started to be pulled out of position, and consequently explosives were quickly used to blow a hole in her hull. She broke her back and came to rest with her keel awash; the wreck lies upside down, a common position for sunken battleships because of the weight of the turrets, at 50°34.10′N 2°25.22′W.

Her wreck became known as "Old Hole in the Wall" and was popular with scuba divers until diving there was banned at the beginning of January 2004 for safety reasons.

Despite her 1914 scuttling, the Royal Navy included Hood on its sale list in both 1916 and 1917.

References

• Brown, David K. (2003). The Grand Fleet: Warship Design and Development 1906–1922 (reprint of the 1999 ed.). London: Caxton Editions. ISBN 1-84067-531-4.
• Burt, R. A. (1988). British Battleships 1889–1904. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-061-0.
• Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M., eds. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
• Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1984). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
• Parkes, Oscar (1990). British Battleships (reprint of the 1957 edition ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-075-4. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
• Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.

External links

• Maritimequest HMS Hood Photo Gallery
• http://css.engineering.uiowa.edu/fluidslab/pdfs/57-020/stability.pdf
• http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/navy/docs/swos/dca/stg4-01.html