For Britain, which had not fallen to the altar before the Second World War, it naturally had its proud capital, that is, its powerful naval formation, which was an important tool for maintaining the maritime hegemony of the British Empire without setting the sun. Before the outbreak of World War II, the British Royal Navy remained the world's most powerful maritime power, with a total tonnage of 1.3 million tons, and the main combat ships included 12 battleships, 3 battlecruisers, 6 aircraft carriers, 15 heavy cruisers, 49 light cruisers, 183 destroyers, and 57 submarines.
In this series of warships, the HMS Hood is indeed particularly conspicuous, and this warship has attracted much attention since its completion, and has long been the face and pride of the British Royal Navy, and has repeatedly cruised the world as the ceremonial ship of the Royal Navy.
Construction began in HMS 1916 and she entered service with the Royal Navy in May 1920. The ship is 262.3 meters long, 31.7 meters wide, has a full load displacement of 48,000 tons, and has a maximum design speed of 31 knots. The ship's armament consisted of four twin 381 mm main guns, 12 139 mm secondary guns, in addition to anti-aircraft guns and torpedo launchers.
In the Battle of the Danish Strait in World War II, Hood encountered her lifelong enemy, the German Navy's proud battleship Bismarck, and a fierce conflict broke out between the two sides, in which Hood was hit by the 380 mm main gun of the Bismarck battleship, and the shell penetrated the deck armor of the Hood, and successfully triggered the ammunition of the ship's arsenal. The violent explosion left the Hood with little time to struggle, and in a very short time the hull quickly broke, and most of the officers and men on board died with the ship, and only 3 people survived, including a lieutenant general and a colonel, a total of 1418 people.
The sinking of the Hood completely infuriated the British. As the guardian of the Empire that never sets, the Royal Navy must not lose its face, so the British side quickly began to nervously carry out revenge operations. Three days after the sinking of the Hood, the Royal Navy sent more than 60 warships, led by the battleship King George V, the battleship Rodney, and the aircraft carrier HMS Victory and HMS Ark Royal, were annihilated. Under the siege of aircraft carriers and battleships, the lonely Bismarck finally could not resist and eventually sank in the ocean, and the British Royal Navy finally avenged the sinking of Hood.