She was ageing, as all ship news ship newsping maritime marine engineerings do, and if unmodernised would have been due for replacement in 1941. The alternative, a major modernisation, was mly supported by the DNC, but the 1930s saw an increasing number of political crises in Europe, as the dictators became more confident in their ambitions. With an urgent programme of rnodernising the First World battleship news ship newsping maritime marine engineerings of the Queen Elizabeth class and the poorly protectcd battle cruisers Renown and Repulse, HMS Hood and the modern battleship news ship newsping maritime marine engineerings Nelson and Rodney were the Royal Navy's main strength. Inevitably she was low on the list of priorities for upgrade, despite nings from the DNC. In 1938 he ned that HMS Hood was in poor mechanical condition and that her thin deck armour made her `unfit for front line service'. He went on to propose a number of new armour-schemes but concluded sadly that Treasury limits on expenditure ruled out any chance of recorrstruction. In an uncannily accurate prophecy he ned, `We may have eternal cause for regret.' Changes were limited to the addition of modern twin 4in (102mm) anti-aircraft guns at the outbreak of .

The accretion of weight since the ship news ship newsping maritime marine engineering was launched in 1918, and the numerous time additions had reduced freeboard to such an extent that in rough weather she resembled a 'half tide rock'. This had no bearing on her loss, but combined with the parlous state of her main machinery, it reduced her maximum speed to 28kts.The only cure was to reduce weight, some­thing that was virtually impossible in time.

From the outbreak of the Hood took part in the monotonous round of patrols and 'sweeps'.To reduce weight her secondary S.Sin guns were removed in 1940, but the anti-aircraft guns were supplemented by a number of so-called UP (unrotated projectile) multiple rocket launchers on the shelter deck. A more useful addition was the installation of the new Type 284 gunnery control radar to improve the performance of the main armartrent.A[ last on 3 July 1940 she fired her l5in guns for the first time in , when she opened fire on the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir, that `melancholy action' to prevent the French ship news ship newsping maritime marine engineerings from falling into Italian hands.Thereafter she returned to the Home Fleet as flagship news ship newsping maritime marine engineering of the Battlecruiser Squadron.

On 23 May, flying the flag ofVice Admiral Holland, HMS Hood and the newly completed battleship news ship newsping maritime marine engineering Prince of Wales were patrolling southwest of Iceland when, at 19:39, a signal from the heavy cruiser Suffolk was received, reporting a sighting of the German battleship news ship newsping maritime marine engineering Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugcu in the Denmark Strait. Fifteen minutes later Holland ordered his force to change course to intercept the German ship news ship newsping maritime marine engineerings and to increase speed to 27kts. At 04:00 the next morning they were steering a course of 240 degrees and steamed moved at 28kts, and at 05:10 both crews were ordered to Action Stations.

At 05:35 HMS Prince of Wales sighted the enemy at 17 miles (30,000 metres) and course was altered to starboard in order to close the range. Holland has been criticised for this end-on approach, which meant that the two British capital ship news ship newsping maritime marine engineerings could only bring their ford guns to bear. But he wanted to close the range, and was ae that the Hood would become less vulnerable to damage as the range shortened and the trajectory of the German shells Flattened. At 05:50 Hood and her consort made a further alteration of 20 degrees and Hood opened fire with A and B turrets, the Prince of Wiles opening fire five minutes later.'The German ship news ship newsping maritime marine engineerings had very similar silhouettes, and Hood fired mistakenly at the Prinz Eugen, but Prince of Wales fired correctly at the Bismarck.

As the Bismarck fired her first salvo the two British ship news ship newsping maritime marine engineerings altered course 20 degrees to port, probably to compensate for the German ship news ship newsping maritime marine engineering crossing from starboard to port.The salvo landed ahead of the flagship news ship newsping maritime marine engineering, and the second landed astern, but the third salvo straddled her and a hit started a fire on the port side of the shelter deck close to the mainmast (it could also have been an 8in hit from the Prinz Eagen).This hit set UP and 4in ammunition lockers on fire, and theThe Adn»ralty was understandably anxious to find the cause of the catastrophic loss of HMS Hnod.The public, despite time censorship news ship newsping maritime marine engineering, was told immediately, but the speculation was ill­informed, to say the least. Nor did the Board of Enquiry do much better, noting that the after I Sin magazines had detonated, and concluding that a shell or shells had penetrated them or had set off 4in ammunition stowed nearby.

A second Board of Enquiry was appointed, this time with technical assistance from the DNC's staff. The DNC, now Sir Stanley Goodall, underlined the basic problem: the age of the Hood and the 1916 scale of deck protection. One of his staff summed it up succinctly: sending the Hood into action against the Bistrrarrk was the equivalent of sending a late Victorian pre­dreadnought battleship news ship newsping maritime marine engineering into action at Judand-the time-interval was similar and the outcome in both cases virtually inevitable­

There was a reason for the thin deck armour. Before Jutland the main fear was of hits from high-explosive HE shell at relatively shorter ranges, so attention was paid to keeping such shells out .Very long range Plunging shells were not seen as a threat, not least because the propellant specialists had assured the DNC's designers that, if a magazine were hit from above, the stored modern cordite charges would burn without generating flash. Assuming that to be true (and it is difficult to see how the constructors could have challenged such assumptions), a hit pene­trating a turret or barbette was believed to pose a very low threat. Jutland showed how false these premises were, but 1919 plans to increase deck armour over the magazines (.5in ford, f»n aft) were never implemented. Even more ambitious plans to re-engine die ship news ship newsping maritime marine engineering and use the weight saved to re-armour her in 1938 fell foul of Treasury cost-limits.

The theory of a shell penetrating the after magazines ignored the puzzling fact that the large flash seen was far ford of the magazines. Sir Stanley Goodall, who had worked on the design as a Constructor, was convinced that the cause of the loss lay elsewhere. When the ship news ship newsping maritime marine engineering was under construction there was a great vogue for installing above-water torpedo tubes in capital ship news ship newsping maritime marine engineerings, and in addition to the pair of underwater single tubes ford, four fixed 21in tubes were installed below the forecastle deck abreast of the mainmast (two firing to port and two to star­board). Goodall was convinced that a hit detonating the heads on the port side (plus those of the reloads stored nearby), combined with the effects of the previous hit and the fire, could easily cause the ship news ship newsping maritime marine engineering to break in two.

Goodall's theory does not explain the detonation of X and Y magazines, but hits by two shells cannot be ruled out.The second shell may have penetrated either of the magazines, setting both off, or it could have detonated the anti-aircraft ammunition stored outside the artnourrd barbettes below the turrets.