The sinking of H.M.S. Hood on Empire Day, 24th May 1941, resulted in the single largest loss of life for the Royal Navy during World War II: 1,415 were lost. There were absolutely no traces of any crewmen, living or dead, save the three survivors, Ted Briggs, William Dundas and Bob Tilburn. There are four main factors that likely contributed to such an overwhelming loss of life. These are presented in chronological order (in as much as that is possible) below:
The Battle with Prinz Eugen and Bismarck
Hood was struck early in the engagement: One or two shells of a salvo believed to have been fired by Prinz Eugen struck Hood's shelter deck (aka "boat deck") somewhere near the main mast. This salvo started a fire which soon spread. As it did so, it fed on notable quantitiues of cordite propellant found in the "ready use" ammunition. Note: "Ready use" ammunition was extra ammunition for the various antiaircraft and duel purpose guns located about Hood's shelter deck. In short, if the crews ran out of bullets, shells, etc., they could easily get more from lightly armoured ready use ammunition lockers located near their gun stations. A number of men assigned to these exposed action stations may have been killed by the detonation of Prinz Eugens high explosive shell(s). A number more were injured or killed when Hood's own antiaircraft ammunition and rockets begain sporadically detonating in the fire. Still more men may have been injured or killed later in the battle when a 15" shells from Bismarck may have passed through the Spotting Top and lower bridge structure (these hits are unconfirmed).
The Fatal Explosion
One fact in Hood's sinking is certain: something ultimately caused her aft 15" magazines to conflagrate or detonate, causing the area of the ship between "Y" turret and just aft of the second funnel to be devastated and/or collapse. The fire was so intense that it likely caused the instant deaths of the majority of the crew in the hull and at upper/aft action stations. After the explosion, it is also possible that Hood's bow may have been swept by fire or damaged by a second, smaller explosion (this is a possibility based upon the findings from the 2001 expedition to the wreck site).
The Collapse/Splitting of the Ship and the Subsequent Rapid Sinking
Hood initially split/twisted and/or collapsed into at least two main sections following the explosion. Though the very end of the stern was intact, its structure from the aft turrets forward was a mass of blasted-out plating and twisted framework. This damage caused the stern to tilt upward and sink almost immediately- so quickly in fact, that anyone surviving the catastrophic explosion (which was highly unlikely) would have had no time to escape. The bow section held out a bit longer- perhaps as much as 3 minutes. Between the damage caused by the main explosion, ensuing internal fires/secondary explosion, power failures, splitting/collapse of the ship, vertigo and the rapidity of the sinking, there was very little time to react, let alone escape the hull. It was a terrible end for those trapped here.
Suction & The Improper Use of Life Saving Gear
Based on testimony from the survivors, Hood generated a substantial amount of suction as she sank. This suction was a likely factor in the deaths of a number of men from the forward part of the ship. It is believed that a number of men may have made it outside, but as they did so, the sea overtook them. They were then trapped under deck heads or pinned to the sinking ship by the suction. As for life saving gear, survivor Ted Briggs said that he wore his life vest under his heavy Burberry cold weather gear. If he did this, it is likely that others in the crew did the same. By having heavy coats and sweaters (not to mention anti-flash gear and gas masks) over life vests, the buoyancy of the swimming men would have been drastically reduced. This lack of buoyancy could have been a contributing factor as to why people could not escape the suction while submerged.
Conclusion
If the situation aboard/around Hood was so catastrophic, how did even three men manage to escape? Purely by chance: they were propelled to the surface by some release of air far below the surface...perhaps from an exploding boiler or from air being forced from the rapidly imploding hull. They were indeed fortunate- had they been only a few feet from their respective positions, perhaps the air bubbles would not have reached them at all. Their luck held after reaching the surface in that each made it to 3 foot square rafts that had broken free from the sinking ship- this kept them out of the freezing water (although being thoroughly wet in the first place, the wind chill must have been excruciating- nearly as bad as the cold water itself). They were also very fortunate that they were rescued before freezing to death- destroyer Electra arrived just as at least two of them were starting to pass out from the effects of hypothermia.
To learn more about the men who died, please visit our Roll of Honour