by Paul Cadogan
1/700 HMS Hood, 1941 (Tamiya)
This diorama depicts the Hood at a very specific point in her battle with Bismarck & Prinz Eugen - 5:57 AM - three minutes to disaster. She has just completed a turn to port which has enabled her aft turrets to bear on the target - which at this point appears to still have been Prinz Eugen. She has already been hit by Prinz Eugen's second salvo and so is on fire on the port side aft beside the mainmast. and has just been straddled by a salvo from Bismarck, with one shell passing through her spotting top forward without exploding resulting in the smallest of the splashes.
The spotting top hit is based on the testimony from Hood's survivors who describe bodies falling from aloft after one of Bismarck's salvos landed. Such a hit, depriving Hood of her Type 284 gunnery radar which may have played a big role in her bracketing Prinz Eugen with her 3rd and 4th salvos, possibly killing her chief gunnery officer and spotting personnel with the clearest view might partly explain why her shooting subsequently went off target (Prinz Eugen) and she failed to switch fire to Bismarck before she blew up three minutes later.
May 24, 2011 marks the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of the Denmark Strait. This is a tribute to all those who fought and the almost 3600 who died during the Bismarck chase.
