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'''HMS ''Hood''''' was a [[battlecruiser]] in service to the [[United Kingdom]]'s [[Royal Navy]] in the period between the World Wars, known as the pride of the fleet and a sailing ambassador world-wide.  Her loss to the German battleship ''Bismarck'' in 1941 shocked the nation.

'''HMS ''Hood''''' was a [[battlecruiser]] in service to the [[United Kingdom]]'s [[Royal Navy]] in the period between the World Wars, known as the pride of the fleet and a sailing ambassador world-wide.  Her loss to the German battleship ''Bismarck'' in 1941 shocked the nation.

   

   

HMS ''Hood'', a 42,100-ton battlecruiser built at Clydebank, [[Scotland]], was completed in March 1920. For more than two decades, she was the world's largest warship and, with her long, low hull and finely balanced silhouette, was to many the embodiment of "big-gun" era seapower. During her travels in European waters and far away, ''Hood'' actively represented Great Britain throughout her career. Her first cruise, in 1920, was to [[Scandanavian|Scandanavia]]. The next year she went down to [[Gibraltar]] and [[Spain]] and in 1922 visited [[Brazil]] and the [[West Indies]]. After a brief call on [[Denmark]] and [[Norway]] in 1923, ''Hood'' was flagship on a eleven-month cruise around the world, accompanied by the smaller battlecruiser ''Repulse'' and a number of light cruisers. In 1925, she called on [[Lisbon]] to help commemorate [[Portugal]]'s contributions to navigation and exploration.

HMS ''Hood'', a 42,100-ton battlecruiser built at Clydebank, [[Scotland]], was completed in March 1920. For more than two decades, she was the world's largest warship and, with her long, low hull and finely balanced silhouette, was to many the embodiment of "big-gun" era seapower. During her travels in European waters and far away, ''Hood'' actively represented Great Britain throughout her career. Her first cruise, in 1920, was to [[Scandinavia]]. The next year she went down to [[Gibraltar]] and [[Spain]] and in 1922 visited [[Brazil]] and the [[West Indies]]. After a brief call on [[Denmark]] and [[Norway]] in 1923, ''Hood'' was flagship on a eleven-month cruise around the world, accompanied by the smaller battlecruiser ''Repulse'' and a number of light cruisers. In 1925, she called on [[Lisbon]] to help commemorate [[Portugal]]'s contributions to navigation and exploration.

For ten years after 1925, ''Hood'' was assigned to the Royal Navy's Home and Atlantic Fleets, operating primarily around [[Europe]], with a visit to the West Indies in 1932. She served with the Mediterranean Fleet in 1936–39, protecting British interests during the [[Spanish Civil War]]. Back with the Home Fleet after mid-1939, ''Hood'' operated in the North Atlantic and North Sea through the first part of [[World War II]] and received minor damage in a German air attack on 26 September 1939, an event that demonstrated the relative ineffectiveness of contemporary anti-aircraft gunfire. In June and July 1940, the battlecruiser was in the Mediterranean area. She was flagship during the [[Battle of Mers-el-Kebir]] on July 3, the most dramatic and destructive of several incidents in which the British Navy seized, interned, destroyed or attempted to destroy the warships of their recent ally, [[France]]. These acts were undertaken on Government orders to allay fears that the [[French Navy]] might fall into German hands.

For ten years after 1925, ''Hood'' was assigned to the Royal Navy's Home and Atlantic Fleets, operating primarily around [[Europe]], with a visit to the West Indies in 1932. She served with the Mediterranean Fleet in 1936–39, protecting British interests during the [[Spanish Civil War]]. Back with the Home Fleet after mid-1939, ''Hood'' operated in the North Atlantic and North Sea through the first part of [[World War II]] and received minor damage in a German air attack on 26 September 1939, an event that demonstrated the relative ineffectiveness of contemporary anti-aircraft gunfire. In June and July 1940, the battlecruiser was in the Mediterranean area. She was flagship during the [[Battle of Mers-el-Kebir]] on July 3, the most dramatic and destructive of several incidents in which the British Navy seized, interned, destroyed or attempted to destroy the warships of their recent ally, [[France]]. These acts were undertaken on Government orders to allay fears that the [[French Navy]] might fall into German hands.