Random collection of images bought over the years; copy of a previous post with all images now at high resolution plus a few new ones.
HMS Hood transiting the Panama canal, 7th of July 2925
1932 (HMS Renown in the background)
1932 (HMS Renown in the background)
1932
Not dated, but the aircraft equipment was only present from 1929 to 1933.
HMS Hood at sea with her quarterdeck awash, one of the reasons here quarter deck aircraft equipment was removed in 1933 (gun blast succeptibility being another). Hood’s freeboard was initially called for to be high and uninterrupted with her secondary armament placed high above the waterline. In the final design the stepped freeboard did not meet this demands but was not lower than her contemporaries. However, with her increase in armor following lessons learned at Jutland her stern draft was 2ft more than designed, without any major modifications on her outer hull (rebulging) her draft increasing over years and with Hood sinking in about a foot at high speed too meant her final freeboard was too low and the quarterdeck was frequently flooded, earning her the nickname of being the largest submarine in the fleet. One wonders how much the stability requirements and heavy weights of the superfiring aft turrets pushed the quardeck down and how much design freedom a single tripple turret would offer (a 3×3 15” was considered).
Remnants can be seen on top of X-turret on a platform removed in 193 1 (temporary mockup), kept until her loss (last part of this platform was later truncated).
October 1936
Gibraltar, 4th of October 1938. Note the neutrality markers on B-turret used during the Spanish civil war patrols (Red/White/Blue forward to aft). See wiki: International_response_to_the_Spanish_Civil_War.
1939. I think this is the nicest photo postcard I ever bought.
1939
Image appears to be taken moments after the previous shot (Note crew on B-turret,near X-turret and near the whalers).
HMS Hood in her final appearance with the (covered) UP launchers visible on B-turret (and in the rear visible on the shelter deck), as well as the type 284 gunnery radar on top of the director control tower.
25th of March 1941. Note the roundel painted on top of A-turret; first appearance as a neutrality marker during the Spanish civil war (1937-1938), but not removed after. Colour unknown.
1940. Footage from 1940-1941 showing anything in detail is really rare. This one show the aft disinfector house between the forward searchlights and is a typical example of the crew paradox: the shot was taken to capture people living and working aboard HMS Hood, but they are also blocking the view to the ship.
1940. A well-known shot of the main deck; we now know Semtex was applied on the ‘wings’ of the boat deck explaining its light one.
1941.
1940, Forth bridge in the background