HMS Hood was the "pride of the Royal Navy." Andrew Norman has captured the great ship's essence in a small book of that name, based mainly on interviews with one of the three survivors of the Hood's sinking, official reports, recollections of men who earlier had served in the battle cruiser, and other original documents. The Hood, completed in 1920, was hailed at the time as the world's "largest, heaviest, and fastest warship." During a seven-minute encounter with the German battleship Bismarck (which was not a "pocket battleship," Mr. Norman) and a heavy cruiser on 24 May 1941, the Hood blew up, killing 1,418 men.
Norman's description of the life and death of the ship is interesting, as is his speculation on what killed her. His book includes many useful drawings and a large number of photos.
During World War 11 the Germans built 23 massive and well-protected "submarine pens" (not all of them completed) along the coasts of France, Norway, and Germany. These huge concrete and steel structures, largely impervious to Allied bombing, provided safe harbor to the Uboats in port. Jak P. Mallmann Showell, who has emerged as the leading contemporary writer on U-boats, has produced a commendable and particularly well-illustrated study of those facilities in Hitler's U-Boat Bases.
Copyright Navy League of the United States Jan 2003
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved
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