R/C Naval Combat

Mikey,

That's what I'd read too. The German crews thought they'd met their most dangerous opponent . The Royal Navy was well aware of the deficiencies in Hood's armour distribution but it wasn't public knowledge. Hood actually had lots of armour but it was not distributed in optimum fashion.

A detailed ballistic analysis by M. Jurens in a 1980s 'Warship International' article suggested the fatal hit more likely went through the thin upper side armour strake than  the main deck. The range had closed enough that plunging fire was no longer a big danger, which was why Admiral Holland had just ordered the 20 degree turn to port to unmask the aft turrets.

Bob

Chris,

I saw a computer generated recreation of the Hood vs Bismarck battle on the History Channel. If I remember correctly, it was reported that the deck was penetrated. However, there is no physical evidence that the fatal shot went through the deck. The only definite deck hit was one early in the action from Prinz Eugen. That one started a major fire in the ready use ammo lockers for the 4" guns and Unrotated Projectiles (AA rockets).

I have the book published by the company that discovered and surveyed Hood's wreck, using ROVs. The hull is in 3 widely separated large sections plus many thousands of smaller pieces in two huge debris fields. The bow is lying on its port side with extensive implosion damage visible on the starboard side. The stern is upright at about 45 degrees to the bottom with the rudder set for a 20 degree turn to port. The deck planking is intact from where it curved against the aft part of Y turret's barbette to the stern, but about 50' of the hull beneath the planking is missing with obvious explosion damage to the forward part of the stern remnant. Large sections of plating were blown outward and curve aft.

The biggest hull section is from amidships but it's lying upside down with most of the deck hidden in sediment in a huge impact crater. That section starts at A turret but ends far ahead of where the fatal hit would have occurred. At least a couple of hundred feet of hull is missing between the end of the amidships remnant and the stern remnant. That huge section of hull was completely  obliterated by the magazine explosion. 

Because of that the surveyors wrote that it was impossible to determine where the fatal hit landed, or whether it went through the deck or upper hull side. No physical evidence of the actual impact site remains. All of this is discussed in detail on the HMS Hood Association's website. Well worth a visit.

Bob