# Why was HMS Hood special? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 16, 2023, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626 "2023-06-16T14:00:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/81 "2024-11-01T13:56:54Z")
> [@Capn\_Carl](#): > > There are several ways they could punch through her side armor, though. As said, the hydrodynamics of the hull left the rear magazines vulnerable to more horizontal trajectories thru the main belt there. [[See top pic in this article](https://www.hmshood.org.uk/hoodtoday/2001expedition/hood/encrypt.htm): not linkable alas] ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/82 "2024-11-01T18:02:34Z")
The ship had been due for a major reconstruction in 1940, including replacement of the propulsion plant, which would have left her resembling a modified _Renown_, but the war situation meant she could not be spared. The secondary armament in particular had no HA capability, and was regarded as so much dead weight by 1941. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/83 "2024-11-01T20:58:30Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > …The secondary armament in particular had no HA capability… I hate secondary armaments with no sense of humor. ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/84 "2024-11-01T23:04:54Z")
Totally agree, but I believe she had a refit after the 26 knot assessment. IIRC, she did 28 knots chasing _Strasbourg_ and sustained 28 knots to intercept _Bismarck._ ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/85 "2024-11-02T02:05:37Z")
The problem is, ships are expensive so naval combat is usually fought using more old ships than new ones. When the _Bismarck_ broke out the RN had just 2 new battleships and about a dozen old ones. Most of them were too slow. The 2 _Renown_ class battlecruisers were fast enough but not sufficiently armored to face _Bismarck_. The task force needed more than just _Prince of Wales_, and _Hood_ was still among the most powerful ships in the world and was fast enough to keep up. IMHO it was wise to deploy her, but she shouldn’t have been in the lead; the more heavily armored _PofW_ should have led. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/86 "2024-11-02T16:10:49Z")
Yeah. the nature of warfare is you bring what you have, plan for the worst, and hope for the best. And work like hell to manufacture as much luck and advantage as possible. Lots of armchair warriors are good at assuming your side always has the qualitative edge. IRL often that’s not true. The early days of WWII were a shambles for the Allied side on land, sea, and in the air due to obsolete equipment, not much of it, and a peacetime leadership cadre. There were individual local exceptions here and there, but that was the _gestalt_ big picture. A couple years later the tides had turned on all those limitations. But fighting on your back foot is the usual way this stuff starts, since the aggressor has the advantage of timing on starting the war itself, if not the timing of many subsequent battles. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2024, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/87 "2024-11-03T22:56:17Z")
I thought there was not much that could be done to help the Hood. Her powerplant sure. But the armor and weapons I thought were a problem because she already had a low freeboard which meant she was not well suited to the North Sea’s rough weather. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/88 "2024-11-05T03:21:01Z")
> [@Capn\_Carl](#): > > . When the _Bismarck_ broke out the RN had just 2 new battleships and about a dozen old ones. Most of them were too slow. As if to illustrate the point, Germany, of course, had only one battleship at all at the time, and it didn’t last two weeks into its first mission. Battleships were HUGE industrial projects, effectively like constructing a fairly large skyscraper but you have to make the skyscraper float and still withstand torpedo attacks. It was economically certain that countries, having invested God-awful sums of money in these gigantic things, would try to keep them running a long time. You couldn’t afford not to. The battleships sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor were all 20-30 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/89 "2024-11-05T11:41:08Z")
If you look at the rebuild given to _Renown_ you can see a blueprint for _Hood_’s. The new power plant would be smaller and lighter, which frees up tonnage to increase the deck armor. Removing the 5.5” secondary armament (not AA capable) and the 4” heavy AA frees up tonnage for a dual-purpose 4.5” or 5.25” secondary armament. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/90 "2025-10-14T03:29:11Z")
Bumped. [A large c. 1925 photo of the British warship is coming up for auction.](https://live.thomastonauction.com/auction-lot/panoramic-photograph-of-the-hms-hood-in-the-firth_c2943e2f59) ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/91 "2025-10-14T03:34:04Z")
They made a Hood-sized mistake: the put the photo online. Now we all have access to a digital copy. Who needs the original? ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/92 "2025-10-14T10:12:34Z")
It’s a nice picture of a beautiful ship. I’d hang it in our living room, but I want to stay married. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/93 "2025-10-14T14:36:52Z")
Very pretty. And very clean lean lines. The lack of anti-aircraft guns, the lack of comm & radar antennas all give it a look of pure big-bore offense. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/94 "2025-10-14T20:09:40Z")
I’m not a fan. I admire the pre-dreadnaughts for the weirdness and wackiness, and I love the post-Washington Naval Treaty fast battleships - the Yamato is probably the most beautiful warship ever built - but the 1910s-1920s battleships and battlecruisers have always felt kind of crude and clunky to me. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/95 "2025-10-14T20:16:51Z")
Definitely Hood had a vintage-specific look. To my eye not quite modern, but not crudely primitive either. Simple and elemental. And agree about Yamato and maybe Bismarck and Iowa as best evars. All in the early days before the superstructure turned into a rats’ nest of antennas. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/96 "2025-10-14T21:25:52Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I’m not a fan. I admire the pre-dreadnaughts for the weirdness and wackiness, and I love the post-Washington Naval Treaty fast battleships - the Yamato is probably the most beautiful warship ever built - but the 1910s-1920s battleships and battlecruisers have always felt kind of crude and clunky to me. I’d say the Japanese ones with their “pagoda” masts definitely take the cake in the ugly competition: [![](https://navalhistoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Fuso-2.jpg) ](https://navalhistoria.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Fuso-2.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/97 "2025-10-14T21:29:35Z")
There’s a thin line between beautiful and grotesque, sometimes. Your example is on the latter side; this, though, is perfection: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Yamato1945.png) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Yamato1945.png) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/98 "2025-10-14T21:57:24Z")
I don’t think that picture was taken in the Firth of Forth, the geology is wrong for the area. I’m not convinced it was taken anywhere around the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/99 "2025-10-15T02:29:14Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > this, though, is perfection Bah - too thick around the middle, like me. Kongo is cleaner: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/Kongo1944.png/1920px-Kongo1944.png) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/Kongo1944.png/1920px-Kongo1944.png) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2025, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626/100 "2025-10-15T05:51:09Z")
Some of us like ships with some meat on their bones. Besides, look at the placement of their superstructures. _Yamato_ look like a sportscar; _Kongo_ looks like a tugboat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-hms-hood-special/985626.md?page=6)