0:00:03 > 0:00:08The River Clyde - Scotland's most iconic waterway.
0:00:08 > 0:00:14Today it's a bustling commercial hub, but 150 years ago,
0:00:14 > 0:00:18this was the beating heart of an industrial revolution.
0:00:20 > 0:00:21And fuelling it were its shipyards.
0:00:27 > 0:00:28I'm David Hayman
0:00:28 > 0:00:31and I grew up surrounded by those yards
0:00:31 > 0:00:34and the magnificent ships that they produced.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38But it's where they went, and what they did
0:00:38 > 0:00:41and the lives they touched, that's always fascinated me.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47In this series I'm going to uncover the secrets of the great ships
0:00:47 > 0:00:52that laid the foundations of today's Commonwealth of Nations.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56It's a journey that's going to take me around the world to tell
0:00:56 > 0:01:01incredible stories and unearth extraordinary characters.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07If you want to know why Britannia ruled the waves
0:01:07 > 0:01:11and where the Commonwealth was born, look no further than here.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31The River Clyde is a place changed beyond all
0:01:31 > 0:01:37recognition from its heyday in the early 20th century,
0:01:37 > 0:01:42when over 40 shipyards were crowded along its river bank,
0:01:42 > 0:01:47and Glasgow was known as the "Second City of the Empire".
0:01:47 > 0:01:50Of all the ships that have been born on the slipways here and launched
0:01:50 > 0:01:55into the Clyde, one of the greatest and most iconic was a warship.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02HMS Hood.
0:02:02 > 0:02:07For more than 20 years, the largest warship in the Royal Navy.
0:02:09 > 0:02:14A source of great pride for her country, with a colossal
0:02:14 > 0:02:17firepower that could blow anything else out of the water.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25If ever there was a symbol of Britain's determination to
0:02:25 > 0:02:29maintain the Empire, it was the "Mighty Hood".
0:02:34 > 0:02:37But just like the Empire she came to represent,
0:02:37 > 0:02:39Hood's days were numbered.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41She was a flawed ship.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44Even before she entered the water, her fate was sealed.
0:02:47 > 0:02:53Hood was the most elegant warship ever conceived...
0:02:53 > 0:02:59but contained within her design were the seeds for her downfall.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01The fascinating story of HMS Hood
0:03:01 > 0:03:07began during World War I, on the 7th of April 1916, when the Admiralty in
0:03:07 > 0:03:13London, in charge of the Royal Navy, approved plans for four new ships.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16They had been designed by the Director
0:03:16 > 0:03:23of Naval Construction, Sir Eustace Tennyson D'Eyncourt.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27But D'Eyncourt's ships would not be known as battleships,
0:03:27 > 0:03:30but as battle cruisers. And with a top speed of 32 knots,
0:03:30 > 0:03:34they combined the firepower of a battleship with speed.
0:03:37 > 0:03:43Hood was to be one of those battle cruisers. She would be
0:03:43 > 0:03:48armed with eight colossal 15-inch naval guns - each capable of
0:03:48 > 0:03:53firing shells weighing almost a tonne over a distance of 17 miles.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58And her speed would derive from 24 boilers
0:03:58 > 0:04:04and geared turbines, generating an incredible 144,000 horsepower.
0:04:10 > 0:04:16The job of turning D'Eyncourt's design into cold, hard steel was
0:04:16 > 0:04:20given to Glasgow's world-famous John Brown's shipyard on the River Clyde.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26Building large warships was a particular
0:04:26 > 0:04:29speciality of the men of John Brown's.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33And Hood, or ship number 460
0:04:33 > 0:04:37as she was known in the yard, would be the largest they'd ever built.
0:04:41 > 0:04:42For every one of their ships,
0:04:42 > 0:04:46John Brown's kept a detailed record of the process of construction.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50And here at the National Records of Scotland,
0:04:50 > 0:04:53precious images of Hood being built have been preserved.
0:04:53 > 0:04:58I'm with archivist Eva Moya, who looks after the collection.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Eva, that's beautiful.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07Now, I've been following and reading about this ship for a long time.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09This is the first time I've seen
0:05:09 > 0:05:12a photograph of her under construction.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15This is a glass-plate negative
0:05:15 > 0:05:19and it shows the ship just before launch.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21I mean, the sheer scale is awesome.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24I mean, look at the way it dwarfs that three-storey building.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31- Any more?- Yes. These are the albums.
0:05:31 > 0:05:36So we'll start with the keel laying.
0:05:36 > 0:05:42And it was done on the 1st of September, 1916.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44The detail is extraordinary, isn't it?
0:05:51 > 0:05:54The construction of Hood began with the laying of the keel,
0:05:54 > 0:05:57the great backbone of the ship.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00And from this moment onwards,
0:06:00 > 0:06:04the photographers returned every few weeks to slipway number three,
0:06:04 > 0:06:08to capture the Hood slowly beginning to take shape.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18At any one time,
0:06:18 > 0:06:22between 1,000 to 3,000 men were at work on Hood,
0:06:22 > 0:06:24from riveters and sheet-metal workers
0:06:24 > 0:06:27to boilermakers and drillers.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32Hood would weigh in at over 42,000 tonnes.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39She would take 3½ years to build.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47Slowly, on slipway number three, Hood began to resemble the warship
0:06:47 > 0:06:49she would become.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55As a boy, you would see these
0:06:55 > 0:06:58ships growing up from behind the buildings.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00It was like this great beast would grow up
0:07:00 > 0:07:03and dominate the whole town, would dominate the town hall
0:07:03 > 0:07:06and dominate the swimming baths, the whole commercial centre
0:07:06 > 0:07:11of Clydebank dominated by these great shapes of mighty ships.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13This must have been awesome in its day.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15Awesome, it seems surreal.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17Then one day you would come along...
0:07:17 > 0:07:19- And it's gone.- ..And it wasn't there any more,
0:07:19 > 0:07:21and suddenly you could see the sky.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33I guess what strikes me,
0:07:33 > 0:07:36looking at these extraordinary photographs, is of course,
0:07:36 > 0:07:42the sheer scale of building the biggest warship of its day.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46But for me what touches me most are these tiny, blurred, almost
0:07:46 > 0:07:51insignificant human figures within this great mountain of steel.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54These were the men that cut and shaped
0:07:54 > 0:07:56and riveted this ship together.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00And the hardship must have been extraordinary.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03I mean, the West of Scotland climate is not the best in the world
0:08:03 > 0:08:06and these men were dealing with cold, hard steel in sometimes
0:08:06 > 0:08:10extremely icy, sub-zero temperatures.
0:08:10 > 0:08:15But I guess, apart from a wage packet,
0:08:15 > 0:08:17what made it all worthwhile was seeing
0:08:17 > 0:08:21the product of your labours take shape before your very eyes.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26Of all the different jobs in the shipyard,
0:08:26 > 0:08:30one of the most iconic was that of the riveter.
0:08:30 > 0:08:31For, like all ships of her day,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34Hood was not welded together, but riveted.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39Piece-by-piece.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41Using several million rivets.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49To find out how rivets, these chunky metal pins, were
0:08:49 > 0:08:52the secret to stitching together the many
0:08:52 > 0:08:55thousands of tonnes of steel that made Hood, I'm meeting former
0:08:55 > 0:09:00John Brown's shipyard worker, Tom McKendrick.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02Tom, what have we got here?
0:09:02 > 0:09:05Well, this is a mock-up of this section here,
0:09:05 > 0:09:10which relates to this wee rectangle on the end of the Hood,
0:09:10 > 0:09:12on the aft end, just above the rudder.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14And what it is, is a butt strap,
0:09:14 > 0:09:17and a butt strap was where two plates were laid edge-to-edge
0:09:17 > 0:09:21and a strap was placed over the top
0:09:21 > 0:09:23and they're riveted together like this.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27Now, this gives this whole area enormous strength, because really,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30when you think about it, you've got four rivets in that wee area
0:09:30 > 0:09:34there, pulling together all these sides, and that joining to that.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37Now, the interesting thing about riveting
0:09:37 > 0:09:40and riveting ships is that people,
0:09:40 > 0:09:44particularly people who sailed in them, actually preferred a riveted ship,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47because if this thing, you think of this thing crashing through
0:09:47 > 0:09:51waves, going through heavy seas, they actually called it breathing.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54When a boat was allowed to expand and contract that wee bit
0:09:54 > 0:09:57with the rivets, and you've probably maybe seen in old films and stuff
0:09:57 > 0:10:01like that, when you hear the creaks of decks and things, and riveting
0:10:01 > 0:10:07was an immensely strong and powerful way of joining sections together.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10- Right, so we're about to have a go at riveting, are we?- We are indeed.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12THEY LAUGH
0:10:12 > 0:10:14You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din. Right, let's go.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18When I was a teenage boy,
0:10:18 > 0:10:22I worked in a steelyard as an apprentice template maker.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24But I never got to do any riveting,
0:10:24 > 0:10:26so this is my first time.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31To start with, the rivet is heated to a temperature
0:10:31 > 0:10:36of around 1,000 degrees Celsius, causing the rivet to expand.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44Thanks, Andrew.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47- Ready?- Go!
0:10:47 > 0:10:49Using a pneumatic rivet gun,
0:10:49 > 0:10:53the end of the rivet is then flattened into shape.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57As the rivet cools, it shrinks,
0:10:57 > 0:11:00making the two ends of the rivet pull together,
0:11:00 > 0:11:06fastening the plates and creating a watertight seal.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12- Great, absolutely! - We must be born-again riveters.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17And this is how Hood was assembled.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21Thousands upon thousands of metal sections, riveted together.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27It was a job with little care for health and safety.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31Rivets, glowing red-hot, would be thrown through the air.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37The riveters working on Hood would have got through many
0:11:37 > 0:11:39hundreds of rivets every day.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50And at the end of the working day, men called timekeepers inspected
0:11:50 > 0:11:54the new rivets and totted up how much the riveters were to be paid.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00When you look at pictures of the Hood, what in actual fact
0:12:00 > 0:12:03you're looking at is black and white photographs, but it was actually
0:12:03 > 0:12:07an array of rainbow colours because every timekeeper had a pot of
0:12:07 > 0:12:12marking paint, and to identify their own work, they had their own colour.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15So you had from light blue through to deep orange,
0:12:15 > 0:12:17you had purples, red and greens.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19Every man had his mark.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21And if you look very closely at pictures of the Hood,
0:12:21 > 0:12:27you'll find it's absolutely festooned by symbols and markings.
0:12:27 > 0:12:28Fascinating!
0:12:28 > 0:12:30So you see a black and white photograph,
0:12:30 > 0:12:32but every rivet was counted.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34So they would come along and say, "How many rivets did you
0:12:34 > 0:12:36"put in the day, John?
0:12:36 > 0:12:40"The boys and I put in 142." And he would - one, two, three, four, five - count the rivets.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42- And every man had their own symbol?- That's it.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45It was marked off and then your pay was calculated using this,
0:12:45 > 0:12:47the Every Farthing Ready Reckoner.
0:12:47 > 0:12:54So you could say, "OK we put in.. let me see... 1¾ pence.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56"We put in 200 rivets.
0:12:56 > 0:13:02"That means, as pay, we're due £1.9.2 in old money."
0:13:03 > 0:13:07Good Lord. I remember my first wages were seven shillings and ninepence.
0:13:07 > 0:13:08TOM LAUGHS
0:13:08 > 0:13:10As an apprentice.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14What's that? It's less than 50p, 35p, probably.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20John Brown's had expected Hood to take just over two years to build.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23But behind the scenes,
0:13:23 > 0:13:27Hood's construction had been beset by problems...
0:13:27 > 0:13:29and through no fault of the workers.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36All along, the Admiralty in London had been having second thoughts
0:13:36 > 0:13:39about D'Eyncourt's design for Hood.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43And it's not hard to see why.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47Since the Admiralty had approved his designs, something had happened
0:13:47 > 0:13:53that had severe implications for HMS Hood - the Battle of Jutland.
0:13:55 > 0:14:02On 31st May, 1916, in rough seas off the coast of Denmark, the Royal Navy
0:14:02 > 0:14:08had engaged the German High Seas Fleet in one almighty battle.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12With more than 200 combat ships involved,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15the Battle of Jutland remains one of the largest ever
0:14:15 > 0:14:19battles in the history of naval warfare.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Both sides claimed victory.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27But what was worrying for Hood was the loss of three
0:14:27 > 0:14:32battle cruisers, the Queen Mary, Indefatigable and Invincible.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36All three of the battle cruisers had been destroyed by shells
0:14:36 > 0:14:41plunging through their decks, causing their magazines to explode.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48Could the same happen to Hood?
0:14:50 > 0:14:53The battle cruiser combined the size
0:14:53 > 0:14:56and fighting-power of a battleship with speed.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00But its speed came at a cost.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02To save on weight,
0:15:02 > 0:15:04the protective armour on the decks,
0:15:04 > 0:15:08and also the sides of the ship, was significantly reduced,
0:15:08 > 0:15:11making them vulnerable.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14It had been thought that speed alone would allow the battle cruiser
0:15:14 > 0:15:19to escape danger and avoid heavy enemy fire.
0:15:19 > 0:15:26Jutland had shown the whole concept of the battle cruiser to be flawed.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33And so it was that in the months after Jutland, as work on Hood
0:15:33 > 0:15:37began at John Brown's, D'Eyncourt set about the urgent task
0:15:37 > 0:15:43of revising Hood's design to improve her armour protection.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47Of the 700 or so ships built by John Brown's,
0:15:47 > 0:15:50many of the plans have survived the passage of time
0:15:50 > 0:15:54and are today preserved in the archives of Glasgow University,
0:15:54 > 0:15:59including some of the precious plans for Hood.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06I've come here with maritime historian Ian Johnston to look
0:16:06 > 0:16:09at a particular plan which shows just some of the changes
0:16:09 > 0:16:13that D'Eyncourt had to make to Hood's design.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19This is a steelwork drawing, David, which is intended to identify
0:16:19 > 0:16:24every individual plate that made up the hull of HMS Hood.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27But what's really interesting about this drawing
0:16:27 > 0:16:32is the fact that in red there's been quite a lot of over-working on it
0:16:32 > 0:16:33and recalculation.
0:16:33 > 0:16:38What D'Eyncourt did was to thicken the armour in all
0:16:38 > 0:16:40the vital and crucial places for that ship,
0:16:40 > 0:16:44to try and ensure her survivability in action.
0:16:44 > 0:16:50So what he did was look at the ship again and add another 5,000 tonnes
0:16:50 > 0:16:55of weight of armour onto the existing design of the ship.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59And this drawing here is interesting because this looks like
0:16:59 > 0:17:02it's a drawing that's part way through that process,
0:17:02 > 0:17:08because it shows the structure of the ship, the frames and the plating
0:17:08 > 0:17:14of the shell being stiffened to support this additional 5,000 tonnes of weight.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18The thickest armour on the sides of Hood
0:17:18 > 0:17:22was increased from nine inches to 12.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25And crucially, the protective plating on Hood's decks was
0:17:25 > 0:17:29also increased, particularly around the ship's magazines.
0:17:31 > 0:17:35To retrofit 5,000 tonnes of extra armour to the existing
0:17:35 > 0:17:39design of Hood was an almost impossible task.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43D'Eyncourt was doing everything he could to improve the ship's protection.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50Did D'Eyncourt achieve his aim of strengthening Hood?
0:17:50 > 0:17:52I think part of the answer to that, David,
0:17:52 > 0:17:55lies in the drawings we're looking at here.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58And these are for battle cruisers that D'Eyncourt designed
0:17:58 > 0:18:02immediately after Hood was completed.
0:18:02 > 0:18:07And in this particular scenario, he had a completely clean sheet.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11And he designed ships which were completely different from Hood.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13They didn't look like Hood,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16but most importantly, they were armoured quite differently.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19In what way? Can you explain the differences to me?
0:18:19 > 0:18:23Well, for the first time, an armoured deck appears
0:18:23 > 0:18:28as one concentrated thickness of armour. In this case, nine inches
0:18:28 > 0:18:31and eight inches over the vitals of this ship.
0:18:31 > 0:18:36Unlike Hood, which had protective plating on various decks,
0:18:36 > 0:18:41this ship had one thickness of very heavy armour over the vitals.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43So this is probably what D'Eyncourt
0:18:43 > 0:18:46would have wished to have done with Hood.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49But he couldn't because the design was in existence
0:18:49 > 0:18:52and she was already under construction.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58Hood would be far better protected that the battle cruisers
0:18:58 > 0:19:00that had been sunk at the Battle of Jutland.
0:19:01 > 0:19:06Her side armour was now up to the standards of a battleship.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10But the protection on her decks remained weak.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12Unlike the warships of the future,
0:19:12 > 0:19:15Hood would not be fitted with an armoured deck.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19It had been intended that three other battle cruisers,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22identical to Hood, would also be built.
0:19:22 > 0:19:29But these plans were now quietly shelved. Hood would be unique.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34She would come to be admired as one of the most elegant warships ever designed.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39It would be many years before Hood's vulnerabilities would be exposed.
0:19:53 > 0:19:59On the 22nd of August 1918, Hood was ready to be launched.
0:19:59 > 0:20:05And D'Eyncourt was there to witness the momentous occasion.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12Picture it, if you will.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15The largest and most powerful warship the world had ever seen,
0:20:15 > 0:20:20sitting on one of these slipways here in John Brown's.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24The champagne bottle would smash against the side.
0:20:24 > 0:20:30And then slowly, this mountain of steel would slide down the slipway,
0:20:30 > 0:20:34picking up speed as her stern hit the water.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37But at the same time, held back by hundreds of tonnes
0:20:37 > 0:20:40of huge drag chains to control her speed.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48Now, for those who witnessed it,
0:20:48 > 0:20:50it must have been a truly awe-inspiring,
0:20:50 > 0:20:52if not even terrifying sight.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04The final stages of Hood's construction at John Brown's
0:21:04 > 0:21:08took place in the fitting-out basin.
0:21:08 > 0:21:13This is where Hood's colossal naval guns, each weighing 100 tonnes,
0:21:13 > 0:21:16were installed.
0:21:16 > 0:21:22And then, in the early afternoon of the 9th of January, 1920,
0:21:22 > 0:21:25six tugs pulled Hood out of John Brown's
0:21:25 > 0:21:29and she began her maiden voyage down the River Clyde, out to sea.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34Hood had cost over £6 million to build,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38the equivalent of almost £2 billion at today's prices.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44She was the most expensive warship in the world.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48As Hood sailed into her home port here in Plymouth,
0:21:48 > 0:21:52her sheer size and elegance must have been truly impressive.
0:21:52 > 0:21:57Her colossal 15-inch naval guns gave her phenomenal firepower
0:21:57 > 0:22:00for a ship of war.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04But like the Spitfire that was to come after her,
0:22:04 > 0:22:06she was certainly a thing of beauty.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16D'Eyncourt had delivered what he'd promised.
0:22:16 > 0:22:21Here was a ship capable of a top speed of 32 knots.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27A giant among ships. A potent weapon of war.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32Revered around the world as the largest
0:22:32 > 0:22:34and most powerful warship afloat.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42Men signed up just for the chance to serve on Hood.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45She was a big draw for recruitment for the Royal Navy.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55I've come to London to meet two men
0:22:55 > 0:22:57who served on Hood in the late 1930s.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04We're on board HMS Belfast, one of the best preserved warships
0:23:04 > 0:23:06from the Second World War,
0:23:06 > 0:23:10to take them back to their time on the mighty Hood,
0:23:10 > 0:23:14when they part of Hood's crew of around 1,300 men.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19Alec Kellaway worked as a stoker in Hood's engine rooms.
0:23:19 > 0:23:24And Keith Evans was a junior officer.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27Can you express your feelings of being posted
0:23:27 > 0:23:31onto such a beautiful, iconic and important ship as HMS Hood?
0:23:31 > 0:23:34It must have been thrilling for a young man.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37Oh, it definitely was. Especially for me, my first ship.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40It was great.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44When I walked up the gangway and I thought...marvel!
0:23:44 > 0:23:48Like all other boys of my age,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51we were drafted to mainly big ships.
0:23:51 > 0:23:56And I came out to the Mediterranean to join the Hood
0:23:56 > 0:24:00and I saw this enormous vessel there and I thought, "Good God.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03"I'm going to be lost. I shall never find my way around."
0:24:03 > 0:24:08And when I got on board, I was made extremely welcome by the lieutenant,
0:24:08 > 0:24:12who was what's known as a snotty's nurse,
0:24:12 > 0:24:16usually a lieutenant commander who was responsible for
0:24:16 > 0:24:21the behaviour and general wellbeing of midshipmen under training.
0:24:21 > 0:24:27I think actually I was very proud to join the Hood.
0:24:27 > 0:24:28A lot of people said,
0:24:28 > 0:24:31"Oh, you lucky so-and-so, you're going on the Hood."
0:24:31 > 0:24:35Hood was renowned as one of the lovely ships to serve.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38I suppose one didn't realise...
0:24:38 > 0:24:42I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I will say, most of the time!
0:24:44 > 0:24:48There was plenty of work to keep all the sailors on Hood occupied.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50At six o'clock every morning,
0:24:50 > 0:24:53the massive quarterdeck had to be scrubbed clean.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00And several times a year, the crew had to repaint Hood.
0:25:00 > 0:25:05A job that required a colossal four tonnes of paint.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08But it wasn't all work and no play.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12Under the great guns of Hood, boxing matches were just one of many
0:25:12 > 0:25:15regular sporting events to keep the men entertained.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20And of course, there was the daily issue of grog.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24An eighth of a pint of rum mixed with two parts of water.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28One of the many traditions in the King's Navy.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35I slept in a hammock, which is the most comfortable way of sleeping.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38When the ship rolls, you roll with it.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42When the ship's pitching, it's not so nice.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46Which Hood did quite a lot of that, pitching.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49And sometimes you would find that the quarterdeck was underwater
0:25:49 > 0:25:52and wonder whether it was going to come up again.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56This is part of a rough sea, coming in onto the quarterdeck.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02She'd hit water, right in the bows, and it would run right down
0:26:02 > 0:26:06through the side of the ship then come straight in on the quarterdeck.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09When she was going in seas,
0:26:09 > 0:26:13she would lift like that, you were walking up hill.
0:26:13 > 0:26:19And then the next she's going down. You're running downhill.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23You didn't get much of side movements.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26More that type of movement.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31You were walking along the passage and all of a sudden...
0:26:37 > 0:26:40Hood would be nicknamed "Britain's Biggest Submarine,"
0:26:40 > 0:26:43a result of the 5,000 tonnes of extra armour
0:26:43 > 0:26:45weighing her down in the water.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52But inside it was another story.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56For the officers, there were luxuries unmatched
0:26:56 > 0:26:59by any other warship in the Royal Navy.
0:26:59 > 0:27:04And living quarters for the men were spacious, compared to other ships.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10Hood had everything you might find in a small village.
0:27:10 > 0:27:15Just producing enough food to feed the crew was an immense task.
0:27:17 > 0:27:22One of the most impressive sights was Hood's enormous engine rooms.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24And this is where Alec worked.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28Now, Alec, describe to me what your job would be,
0:27:28 > 0:27:30when you were down here in the engine room,
0:27:30 > 0:27:32what would you actually be doing?
0:27:32 > 0:27:38My job down here if we were at sea, I would be checking these gauges
0:27:38 > 0:27:42to make certain everything was all right, and if anything
0:27:42 > 0:27:45went wrong, I would report to the artificer,
0:27:45 > 0:27:48who was in charge of the engine room,
0:27:48 > 0:27:51and he would then come down and see what the problem was.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53But that was the main thing.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00Running at her maximum speed, Hood consumed a colossal amount of fuel.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04Over 70 tonnes of oil per hour.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08In fact, for every gallon of oil consumed,
0:28:08 > 0:28:10the ship moved forward just nine feet!
0:28:12 > 0:28:16Despite this, Hood would become one of the most well-travelled
0:28:16 > 0:28:18warships in the world.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22Following the end of the First World War,
0:28:22 > 0:28:26the British Empire covered almost a quarter of land around the globe.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32And on the 27th of November, 1923,
0:28:32 > 0:28:38HMS Hood set out from Plymouth on an epic voyage.
0:28:41 > 0:28:44It would become known as the "Empire Cruise".
0:28:44 > 0:28:47A journey of over 38,000 miles around the world,
0:28:47 > 0:28:50visiting almost all parts of the Empire.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52And it would make Hood famous.
0:28:53 > 0:28:58In this round-the-world trip, Hood was joined by six other warships.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03Together they were known as the "Special Service Squadron".
0:29:05 > 0:29:08And their mission was to "show the flag".
0:29:10 > 0:29:13Literally, sailing to all the major ports of the Empire,
0:29:13 > 0:29:17from Cape Town to Zanzibar, to fly the flag of Britain
0:29:17 > 0:29:20and show Britain's power to the world.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25It was a job that Hood and her crew excelled at.
0:29:26 > 0:29:30As the largest, most elegant warship in the world, she stole the show.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35But the greatest reception awaited Hood in Australia.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44These were the extraordinary scenes in Melbourne.
0:29:44 > 0:29:47It was the first time that Australians had had a chance
0:29:47 > 0:29:50to see the Mighty Hood, about which they had heard so much.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56And when Hood arrived in Sydney,
0:29:56 > 0:29:59she was besieged by crowds just as large.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04To find out more about the Hood's historic visit,
0:30:04 > 0:30:06I've come to Sydney Harbour
0:30:06 > 0:30:10to meet Commander Shane Moore of the Royal Australian Navy.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15The ships were in harbour for about ten days
0:30:15 > 0:30:18and they created such a huge stir.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22400,000 Sydney-siders either watched them
0:30:22 > 0:30:26come into the harbour or visited Hood alone during ten days.
0:30:26 > 0:30:31And at that time, roughly, what was the population of Sydney?
0:30:31 > 0:30:35Nearly 900,000 or a million, something around there.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38So about 40% of the population of Sydney saw Hood.
0:30:38 > 0:30:40It must have been an extraordinary spectacle.
0:30:40 > 0:30:44Oh, it certainly was. The crews of the Special Service Squadron
0:30:44 > 0:30:49to Australia, and in fact around the world, was a very high profile
0:30:49 > 0:30:54public relations event where showing the flag of the Royal Navy,
0:30:54 > 0:30:59once more using the Hood as the epitome of sea power.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05After her visit to Australia, Hood next hit the headlines
0:31:05 > 0:31:07when she reached the famous Panama Canal.
0:31:07 > 0:31:13No ship of Hood's size had ever attempted to pass through the canal.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17And thousands turned out to see if she would make it.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25"The little man of unassuming airs in a grey suit just
0:31:25 > 0:31:28"waved a hand to one of the mules and whispered down a voice pipe,
0:31:28 > 0:31:33"'Half ahead starboard.' The lookout hovers with the flag,
0:31:33 > 0:31:37"ready to drop it if we touch. There is barely an inch."
0:31:40 > 0:31:45The Empire Cruise had been an epic journey and it had not come cheap.
0:31:45 > 0:31:50The fuel bill alone had cost over £330,000,
0:31:50 > 0:31:53the equivalent of £17 million today.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58And yet, the Admiralty judged it a success.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02Over three quarters of a million people
0:32:02 > 0:32:05had visited Hood during her trip.
0:32:05 > 0:32:06She had done the Empire proud.
0:32:09 > 0:32:15But the Empire Cruise was more than just an expensive flag-waving exercise.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18There was menace in the message.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21Hood was telling the Empire and the rest of the world
0:32:21 > 0:32:23that Britain was still Great.
0:32:23 > 0:32:27And if you wanted to pick a fight, that's what you were up against.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29Hood would spend the remainder of the 1920s
0:32:29 > 0:32:33and early '30s on peacetime duties,
0:32:33 > 0:32:38but Hood had been built for a purpose - as a ship of war.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42The days of "showing the flag" would soon be over.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55Don't be alarmed if you hear of men being called up
0:32:55 > 0:32:59to man anti-aircraft defences or ships.
0:32:59 > 0:33:03These are only precautionary measures
0:33:03 > 0:33:06such as a Government must take in times like this.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18In August 1939, Hood was sent North to Orkney
0:33:18 > 0:33:23to the expanse of sea known as Scapa Flow.
0:33:36 > 0:33:41It's hard to imagine now, but when Hood sailed here in 1939
0:33:41 > 0:33:45into her new home, this, Scapa Flow,
0:33:45 > 0:33:48was Britain's biggest naval base.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51She would have been surrounded by the Home Fleet,
0:33:51 > 0:33:54over 40 ships in all, which would have entailed a complement
0:33:54 > 0:33:57of thousands and thousands of men.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00And then, onshore around these islands,
0:34:00 > 0:34:03there would have been the supply mechanisms, the supply routes,
0:34:03 > 0:34:07telecommunications, your food, your water, your oil, your armaments.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11Everything that was needed to feed this massive fleet.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14This was a place that was preparing for war.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21Located off the North Coast of Scotland, Scapa Flow offered
0:34:21 > 0:34:24easy access to the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29This was the reason it had been chosen by the Admiralty
0:34:29 > 0:34:33as the main naval base for all the warships of the Home Fleet
0:34:33 > 0:34:38from which to patrol the seas and keep the German Navy at bay.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45For me, Scapa Flow has a special connection.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47This is where my father served
0:34:47 > 0:34:50when he was a gunner instructor in the Fleet Air Arm.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57And Scapa Flow was now Hood's new home.
0:35:01 > 0:35:03To learn about Hood's time here,
0:35:03 > 0:35:06I'm meeting local historian Jude Callister.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13So when Hood arrived, where would she be berthed?
0:35:13 > 0:35:18She was anchored off to the north here,
0:35:18 > 0:35:22and where you can see the two buoys out there,
0:35:22 > 0:35:24the one on the left there, she would have been anchored
0:35:24 > 0:35:28in that approximate position, and we've been able to deduce that
0:35:28 > 0:35:31from photographs and from the defence map of the time.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34So how did they get the supplies out to Hood,
0:35:34 > 0:35:35how did they refuel her?
0:35:35 > 0:35:40Refuelling was done by a fleet oiler that would come in.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43Tankers would bring oil in which would be pumped
0:35:43 > 0:35:46into the storage tanks and then there were a number of oilers
0:35:46 > 0:35:50that would then load up from these tanks and go out to the big ships.
0:35:50 > 0:35:54Likewise, they'd get their supplies of food, drinking water,
0:35:54 > 0:35:57from small ships, and the big capital ships like Hood
0:35:57 > 0:36:01would have one or two drifters attached to them
0:36:01 > 0:36:04that would be ferrying supplies backwards and forwards,
0:36:04 > 0:36:08and indeed would bring the men ashore for rest and recreation.
0:36:08 > 0:36:10And what kind of recreation was available to them
0:36:10 > 0:36:12in this small township?
0:36:12 > 0:36:15Well, they had everything here to keep them entertained,
0:36:15 > 0:36:20and I mean, entertaining the fleet was very important, because boredom
0:36:20 > 0:36:25was a big enemy, so the rusting red building that you can see
0:36:25 > 0:36:30down on the shoreline there, that was the World War I torpedo store,
0:36:30 > 0:36:34but in World War II, they turned it into a cinema and a recreation centre
0:36:34 > 0:36:38and that showed all the latest films.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41It could seat about 1,800 men at a time.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43Wow. That's some size of cinema.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47But there were thousands of people here, 12,000 based at Lyness,
0:36:47 > 0:36:51plus the crews of the ships coming ashore. Local people talk about
0:36:51 > 0:36:56the road between the wharf and the cinema being a complete sea
0:36:56 > 0:36:59of blue uniforms, no space to walk or drive.
0:36:59 > 0:37:01That was when a crew came ashore.
0:37:04 > 0:37:08With Hood now at Scapa Flow, the Home Fleet was assembled.
0:37:11 > 0:37:15The sailors anxiously waited for the expected announcement,
0:37:15 > 0:37:17the outbreak of war.
0:37:21 > 0:37:26And on Sunday the 3rd of September, 1939, this is exactly what happened.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30A few weeks after she arrived in Scapa, Hood received the news.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33Britain was now at war with Germany.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36So after almost 20 years of peaceful service,
0:37:36 > 0:37:40Hood would finally get the chance to engage an enemy in battle.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51For the second time in the lives of most of us,
0:37:51 > 0:37:55we are at war.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02With war declared, Hood now spent most of her time on patrol in
0:38:02 > 0:38:08the seas around Iceland and Norway, on the lookout for German warships.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12Returning to Scapa Flow every few days to refuel.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15But Hood had little sight of the enemy.
0:38:17 > 0:38:18At this time,
0:38:18 > 0:38:22the German warships were keeping their distance from the Home Fleet.
0:38:23 > 0:38:29Whilst on land, their armies were advancing.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33I speak to you for the first time as Prime Minister
0:38:33 > 0:38:37in a solemn hour for the life of our country,
0:38:37 > 0:38:44of our Empire, of our allies, and, above all, of the cause of freedom.
0:38:46 > 0:38:50A tremendous battle is raging in France and Flanders.
0:38:52 > 0:38:56The Germans, by a remarkable combination of air bombing
0:38:56 > 0:38:58and heavily armoured tanks,
0:38:58 > 0:39:03have broken through the French defences north of the Maginot Line,
0:39:03 > 0:39:09and strong columns of their armoured vehicles are ravaging the open
0:39:09 > 0:39:13country, which for the first day or two was without defenders.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17For days and nights, ships of all kinds have plied to and fro
0:39:17 > 0:39:21across the Channel under the fierce onslaught of the enemy's bombers.
0:39:21 > 0:39:23Utterly regardless of the perils to bring out
0:39:23 > 0:39:25as many as possible of the trapped BEF.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31The tide of the war had turned against Britain.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33Dunkirk had been evacuated
0:39:33 > 0:39:36and most of Europe was overrun by Hitler's army.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40Only a narrow stretch of water separated Britain from France
0:39:40 > 0:39:43and the rapidly approaching German forces.
0:39:44 > 0:39:48France had agreed an armistice with Germany
0:39:48 > 0:39:51and its forces were no longer engaged in hostilities.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54Churchill was worried that if the powerful French fleet
0:39:54 > 0:39:56fell into the hands of Hitler,
0:39:56 > 0:40:00this could alter the whole course of the war.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04So, in June 1940, Hood was reassigned from the Home Fleet
0:40:04 > 0:40:07at Scapa Flow to be the flagship of Force H
0:40:07 > 0:40:11on a secret mission to prevent this from happening.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18The action would unfold off the North coast of Algeria
0:40:18 > 0:40:21at the French naval port of Mers-el-Kebir.
0:40:23 > 0:40:28It was here that many of the ships of the French fleet were anchored,
0:40:28 > 0:40:31including six destroyers and four battleships.
0:40:31 > 0:40:35As part of Force H, Hood was under the command
0:40:35 > 0:40:38of Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville.
0:40:38 > 0:40:43His mission was to put the French warships beyond the reach
0:40:43 > 0:40:46of the enemy, if necessary by force.
0:40:48 > 0:40:52When Somerville's Force H arrived, on the 3rd of July 1940,
0:40:52 > 0:40:56they began by presenting the French with an ultimatum.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01I'm meeting historical researcher Jean Cevaer.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04He tells me that in their ultimatum the British offered
0:41:04 > 0:41:06the French four choices.
0:41:06 > 0:41:11So, there were four options, one of them
0:41:11 > 0:41:15was to scuttle the fleet in Mers-el-Kebir.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19The other one was to go to
0:41:19 > 0:41:25the West Indies, where already part of the French fleet was located.
0:41:25 > 0:41:30The third one was, of course, to join the British fleet,
0:41:30 > 0:41:38the British Navy, and the fourth one was to keep the boats
0:41:38 > 0:41:43in Mers-el-Kebir but decommission them completely.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47What happened next would prove to be one of the most controversial
0:41:47 > 0:41:51episodes in the history of the Royal Navy.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54Britain and France were allies.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58They had fought side by side in the First World War.
0:41:58 > 0:42:02Yet, Churchill had given Somerville explicit instructions that
0:42:02 > 0:42:05if negotiations failed, as a last resort,
0:42:05 > 0:42:07he was to sink the French fleet.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11With none of the four options accepted by the French,
0:42:11 > 0:42:13at precisely 5:54pm,
0:42:13 > 0:42:18more than three hours after the expiry of his original ultimatum,
0:42:18 > 0:42:23Somerville gave the order for Hood and Force H to open fire.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40The onslaught lasted just nine minutes.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44It was Hood's first major battle.
0:42:46 > 0:42:50But the tragedy was that she was firing her guns on ships and crews
0:42:50 > 0:42:53that just weeks before had been friends and allies.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03Somerville himself did not really want
0:43:03 > 0:43:06to shoot on their friends from the French Navy.
0:43:08 > 0:43:13Of course, I assume that most of the sailors on board the Hood
0:43:13 > 0:43:17were also struck by a feeling of guilt,
0:43:17 > 0:43:23firing on people who were friends a couple of weeks before.
0:43:23 > 0:43:28And of course, this is where the question that we ask ourselves,
0:43:28 > 0:43:35what is the weight of duty in a situation like that?
0:43:35 > 0:43:40So obviously, for military people, the weight of duty
0:43:40 > 0:43:44exceeds every other feeling you might have.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53"We all feel thoroughly dirty and ashamed that the first time
0:43:53 > 0:43:56"we should have been in action was an affair like this."
0:44:00 > 0:44:02Admiral Sir James Somerville.
0:44:06 > 0:44:121,297 French sailors had been killed.
0:44:17 > 0:44:22The extraordinary events that took place at Mers-el-Kebir
0:44:22 > 0:44:27clearly showed the powerful destructive firepower of HMS Hood.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32And also made a statement that the flag-waving days
0:44:32 > 0:44:35of the Empire Cruise were long gone.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38Hood now had blood on her hands.
0:44:44 > 0:44:48In January 1941, whilst the war continued,
0:44:48 > 0:44:51Hood returned to Scotland,
0:44:51 > 0:44:55to the Rosyth dockyard on the Firth of Forth.
0:44:56 > 0:45:02It was a place Hood had been before, 21 years earlier,
0:45:02 > 0:45:05after leaving the shipbuilders, John Brown's.
0:45:08 > 0:45:10Hood was still Britain's largest warship,
0:45:10 > 0:45:13but she was now showing her age.
0:45:15 > 0:45:21Her engines had been damaged during the action at Mers-el-Kebir
0:45:21 > 0:45:24and needed to be repaired.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27Maritime historian Ian Johnston is with me again
0:45:27 > 0:45:32to explain the work that was carried out.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37First of all, David, this is a huge dry dock,
0:45:37 > 0:45:40but it's fair to say it would have been almost filled
0:45:40 > 0:45:42from end to end with Hood.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45She was so big, she was such a large ship.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48So part of the reason for her coming here was to open up the turbines
0:45:48 > 0:45:52and have a look at them and see what repair work could be done.
0:45:52 > 0:45:54And was it fairly extensive?
0:45:54 > 0:45:56I think one of the turbines had been stripped.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59In fact, men from John Brown's came across
0:45:59 > 0:46:03and they re-bladed the turbine and closed it back up again.
0:46:03 > 0:46:06But there would be other things that would be done.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09There'd be a whole series of running repairs would be required,
0:46:09 > 0:46:12because the ship had seem some heavy action and very heavy service.
0:46:12 > 0:46:17But around this time, the Admiralty in London received reports
0:46:17 > 0:46:21of a German battleship undergoing trials in the Baltic.
0:46:22 > 0:46:24The Bismarck.
0:46:26 > 0:46:30Launched at the Blohm und Voss shipyard in Hamburg,
0:46:30 > 0:46:34she was the largest and most powerful warship in Hitler's navy.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38Here was a warship to rival Hood.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42Did she have equivalent firepower?
0:46:42 > 0:46:44She did. I mean, on paper, she's very similar.
0:46:44 > 0:46:48I mean, she had eight 15-inch guns in her main armament.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51That's what Hood had. She had a similar speed to Hood.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54But, yes, altogether, a pretty formidable ship.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57And a very formidable opponent for HMS Hood.
0:47:00 > 0:47:04The Hood and the Bismarck may have been equally matched
0:47:04 > 0:47:06when it came to their firepower.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10But unlike the Bismarck, Hood still had no armoured deck.
0:47:10 > 0:47:14She had been built over 21 years earlier.
0:47:14 > 0:47:19The Bismarck was a state-of-the-art modern battleship.
0:47:19 > 0:47:24When the Mighty Hood left Rosyth naval dockyard after her final refit
0:47:24 > 0:47:29and sailed under the magnificent Forth Railway Bridge,
0:47:29 > 0:47:31I guess the men and women who waved her goodbye
0:47:31 > 0:47:34had no idea at all that it would be the last time
0:47:34 > 0:47:37they would ever see Britain's great battle cruiser.
0:47:37 > 0:47:41But sure enough, within a matter of weeks, two of the biggest
0:47:41 > 0:47:44warships in the world, Hood and Bismarck,
0:47:44 > 0:47:46would be locked in battle.
0:47:48 > 0:47:52As the flagship of the Home Fleet's battle cruiser squadron,
0:47:52 > 0:47:56Hood was charged with defending the shipping convoys which carried vital
0:47:56 > 0:48:00supplies from North America across the Atlantic Ocean to Britain.
0:48:02 > 0:48:06Without this crucial lifeline, Britain could not continue the war.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10And it was through defending these convoys that Hood would meet
0:48:10 > 0:48:14her nemesis, the Bismarck.
0:48:14 > 0:48:18The battle between these two giant warships would unfold
0:48:18 > 0:48:19in the Denmark Strait,
0:48:19 > 0:48:23the stretch of sea between Greenland and Iceland.
0:48:23 > 0:48:28And just a few hundred miles from the shipping convoys in the North Atlantic.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31On the 21st of May 1941,
0:48:31 > 0:48:36an RAF reconnaissance plane spotted the Bismarck in a fjord
0:48:36 > 0:48:38on the Norwegian coast,
0:48:38 > 0:48:43apparently on her way out to sea on her first mission.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49Hood and the ships of the Home Fleet were dispatched to intercept
0:48:49 > 0:48:53the Bismarck before she could attack the shipping convoys.
0:48:57 > 0:48:58For only the second time,
0:48:58 > 0:49:02the Hood and her crew would be engaged in a major battle.
0:49:02 > 0:49:06Defending Britain and the Empire that she had come to symbolise.
0:49:12 > 0:49:16Few images survive to tell the tale of what would be an epic battle.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22This photo taken from the British warship Prince of Wales
0:49:22 > 0:49:25shows Hood on her way to the Denmark Strait.
0:49:26 > 0:49:31It is the last known photo of Hood before she engaged the enemy.
0:49:34 > 0:49:37The only images of the battle that survive
0:49:37 > 0:49:39were taken by a German war reporter.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42They show the Bismarck firing her guns at Hood
0:49:42 > 0:49:44and the Prince of Wales.
0:49:47 > 0:49:49And shells from the Hood falling nearby.
0:49:53 > 0:49:59The British and German warships were separated by around ten miles of sea
0:49:59 > 0:50:03but the Bismarck soon found her target.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08This footage shows the final moments of Hood,
0:50:08 > 0:50:14after taking a direct hit from the Bismarck, appearing to explode.
0:50:17 > 0:50:19A grey cloud of dark, dense smoke
0:50:19 > 0:50:23reaching more than 300m into the air.
0:50:26 > 0:50:33At 06:37, the wireless station at Scapa Flow received the message:
0:50:33 > 0:50:39"HMS Hood sunk. Proceed to survivors."
0:50:40 > 0:50:44A British officer on a nearby warship
0:50:44 > 0:50:47later made these sketches of the terrible scene he'd witnessed.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51Hood had sustained several direct hits.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55But the colossal explosion which sunk her had been caused
0:50:55 > 0:50:58by a shell from the Bismarck plunging through
0:50:58 > 0:51:02her thinly protected decks, detonating her magazines.
0:51:02 > 0:51:04Just as D'Eyncourt had feared.
0:51:05 > 0:51:09"I can almost picture the terrible scene between decks
0:51:09 > 0:51:11"when that fatal shell struck.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15"The gigantic sheets of golden cordite flame sweeping through
0:51:15 > 0:51:20"the narrow corridors and passages, incinerating everything in its path.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24"The terrific hot blast, the bursting open of the armoured hull
0:51:24 > 0:51:28"under the colossal pressure, and, finally,
0:51:28 > 0:51:32"the merciful avalanche of the cold sea, cleansing the charred
0:51:32 > 0:51:38"and riven wreck. On more than one occasion I have dreamed this scene."
0:51:46 > 0:51:50The Mighty Hood. She took three and a half years to build,
0:51:50 > 0:51:54served her country for 20 years, and had been sunk in minutes.
0:51:54 > 0:52:01And with her, the lives of 1,415 officers and men.
0:52:03 > 0:52:07They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
0:52:13 > 0:52:21At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39Every year, a service is held at this small church
0:52:39 > 0:52:40in Boldre in Hampshire
0:52:40 > 0:52:46to commemorate the men who lost their lives when Hood was sunk.
0:52:46 > 0:52:51Reading the Act of Remembrance was Rear Admiral Philip Wilcocks,
0:52:51 > 0:52:55President of the HMS Hood Association.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58The loss of that ship had
0:52:58 > 0:53:02a tremendous impact upon the nation.
0:53:02 > 0:53:06She was the iconic figure for the Royal Navy, for our country,
0:53:06 > 0:53:09for the Empire.
0:53:09 > 0:53:11Is it true she was, that there was nothing left
0:53:11 > 0:53:14on the surface within two or three minutes?
0:53:14 > 0:53:15Did she literally sink that fast?
0:53:15 > 0:53:18She sank within five minutes of the explosion.
0:53:18 > 0:53:23And there were only three survivors. It was intense.
0:53:23 > 0:53:30And when you go, when I went and sat above the sea bed,
0:53:30 > 0:53:32two miles above the wreckage last year,
0:53:32 > 0:53:36we saw on the ROV the scale of the devastation.
0:53:36 > 0:53:40You can understand why she went down so quickly.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44And it was the back end of the ship from the after turret
0:53:44 > 0:53:50through to the boiler rooms went up in one huge, cataclysmic explosion.
0:53:52 > 0:53:53And one can only imagine,
0:53:53 > 0:53:56here we are at a service, remembering those who died,
0:53:56 > 0:54:01but you have to put your mind in their position,
0:54:01 > 0:54:05sailors buried deep inside armour, can't get out,
0:54:05 > 0:54:08as that ship plunges to the sea bed.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12What must have been going through their minds when that happened?
0:54:12 > 0:54:16- And it's not just Hood, it's just every ship.- Every ship.
0:54:16 > 0:54:21When we were going through the decision or not to recover
0:54:21 > 0:54:24her bell last year, I came across a phrase.
0:54:24 > 0:54:28There are no gravestones on which there are flowers for those
0:54:28 > 0:54:30who perish at sea.
0:54:30 > 0:54:33Their memorial are the waters which wash our shores.
0:54:38 > 0:54:43The loss of Hood was a devastating blow to Britain and her navy.
0:54:43 > 0:54:47But it would also mark something else.
0:54:47 > 0:54:48The passing of an era.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51The end of an empire.
0:54:51 > 0:54:54And the dawn of a new world.
0:54:54 > 0:54:57Following the end of the Second World War,
0:54:57 > 0:55:02the shape of the British Empire began changing drastically.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05India gained independence in 1947.
0:55:05 > 0:55:10I have a message from His Majesty the King to deliver to you today.
0:55:10 > 0:55:14On this historic day, when India takes her place
0:55:14 > 0:55:16as a free and independent dominion
0:55:16 > 0:55:19in the British Commonwealth of Nations,
0:55:19 > 0:55:23I send you all my greetings and heartfelt wishes.
0:55:23 > 0:55:28The new state of Pakistan was created and a wave of decolonisation
0:55:28 > 0:55:34followed, which saw colonies become independent and sovereign states.
0:55:34 > 0:55:40The old world of Empire around which Hood had once made her epic voyage
0:55:40 > 0:55:42was being left behind.
0:55:42 > 0:55:46The Commonwealth of Nations as we know it today was born.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49An association of countries spanning six continents
0:55:49 > 0:55:51and oceans of the world.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02For the shipyards on the Clyde, the end of war brought many
0:56:02 > 0:56:05orders to replenish the world's merchant fleets.
0:56:08 > 0:56:12Ships that rose like mountains of steel on the slipways of the Clyde.
0:56:15 > 0:56:17Shipbuilding's greatest workshop.
0:56:29 > 0:56:33And John Brown's would go on to build some of its finest creations,
0:56:33 > 0:56:38culminating in the magnificent passenger liner, the QE2.
0:57:06 > 0:57:10For me, the greatest tragedy is not the loss of a warship
0:57:10 > 0:57:15and certainly not the loss of Empire that Hood came to symbolise,
0:57:15 > 0:57:20but the fact that the great River Clyde, which once had 40 shipyards
0:57:20 > 0:57:23lining its banks, employing 100,000 men, which at their peak
0:57:23 > 0:57:26produced 20% of the world's shipping,
0:57:26 > 0:57:31is sadly reduced to only one major shipbuilding yard,
0:57:31 > 0:57:34and that only builds warships.
0:57:36 > 0:57:39So we're left with the echoes and the ghosts
0:57:39 > 0:57:41and the rubble of those heady days.
0:57:41 > 0:57:45But the legacy of those extraordinary men and their skill
0:57:45 > 0:57:49and determination and sheer hard graft
0:57:49 > 0:57:51must surely live on in the memory
0:57:51 > 0:57:54of some of the greatest ships the world has ever seen.
0:57:58 > 0:58:02May God bless her and all who sail in her.