by Andrew Norman
Hardback (6.3×9.5 inches). 190 pages. 2026.
Subtitle: Three Minutes to Save The Ship
In WWII, the German battleship Bismarck sank the British battlecruiser HMS Hood in an eight-minute gun duel. That’s the conventional wisdom, although theories about what caused the explosion that sank the ship continue to this day. That only three HMS Hood crew survived to live to tell the tale adds to the uncertainty. Although the Prologue asserts the book is about daily life aboard the ship and not a battle account, the bulk of the book offers an encapsulation of the battle in an almost minute-by-minute chronology.
That said, after all the tech specs of design, construction, and upgrade, I rather enjoyed the daily life chapters. The 1923-1924 world tour ports of call that traveled 38,152 miles, supplemented by memories and additional facts made for enjoyable summaries. WWII service began with mostly patrolling and convoy protection until May 24, 1941, when she was sunk.
Besides a battle recap, analysis about how the ship sank receives input from a number of theories: Bismarck 15-inch shell, Prinz Eugen 8-inch shell, torpedo, and so on. I don’t want to ruin the conclusion, but naval architecture comes into play as does the British cordite shell propellant and Winston Churchill. I will note that the HMS Prince of Wales was lucky not to join the HMS Hood: a 15-inch shell struck below the armored belt and failed to detonate (p86).
One typo: Footnote 1 (p165) is listed as “XXXXX”.
The book contains 26 black and white photos, three black and white maps, and 11 black and white illustrations.
I don’t know how much of this 2026 book duplicates Norman’s 2009 book HMS Hood: Pride of the Royal Navy, but on its own The Loss of the HMS Hood offers a relatively quick take on the history of the ship via workmanlike prose and some nice analysis.
Enjoyed it.
— Reviewed by Russ Lockwood
