Pinned post for Q&A :)

Good to see Drach is finally covering such an unknown ship. 🙂

The British Navy: Our ships need more freeboard! *Builds Hood, with the freeboard of a kayak*

The more I learn about Jellicoe, the more impressed I am. Had it not been for Beatty's political and high society shenanigans I believe we would speak of Fisher and Jellicoe in the same breath, and that we'd have seen capital ships named for him, possibly even an SSBN in the Cold War era. Jellicoe was ace and absolutely knew what he was doing.

"The crews are complaining about low freeboard on our battleships. What should we do?" "Obviously the solution is to build a battlecruiser with even less freeboard so they can feel lucky by comparison."

To be fair with the intel guys about the odd caliber guns. German nominally 11 inch guns were actually 283 mm which weren't rounded in neither metric nor imperial.

Fortunately for himself my father was at the furthest end of the queue for those being drafted onto the Hood. If I remember back some 60 plus years I think he said he was just a few places back from those poor chaps who made up her final wartime complement. 👍🏻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

I live in Victoria , Canada. Just west of Victoria is the military harbour in Esquimalt which has a huge graving dock. When it was built in 1924 it was designed to be able to fit the Hood. It never did hold it but in 1942 it held the Queen Elizabeth when it was being converted to a troop ship. I found a reference to this in a book as being one of the best kept secrets of the war. I showed this to my dad who laughed and said the line ups of people driving out to see the QE clogged all the bridges leading to Esquimalt.

To the men and boys of Hood who did not return. #wewillrememberthem

"It turns out Military intelligence got it wrong" everyone who has been in the military: "wow, what a truly unexpected Turn Of Events"

Every superhero needs an origin story, and this is Hood's. Thanks Drach. :)

In Hood's defense, her demise at Denmark Strait wasn't just due to her design, Bismarck also had some luck on her side.

DK Brown would be proud of you Drach! A very thorough assessment of the trials and tribulations of developing the Hood.

One of most beautiful ships ever made.

In todays world of overhanded back office politics making decisions without consulting those who would be affected, I love how Jellicoe was consulted and immediately threw out 90% of the design they’d just spent over a year working on because half of what they were trying to implement did not meet the needs of the navy at that point. Then proceeds to on the spot lay out design parameters for what would become the greatest battlecruiser design, and what would be in a lot of ways the grandfather of the fast battleship.

Flawed she may have been, but HMS Hood was a handsome ship.

Imagine, there are people out there with no interest in naval warfare. I tell you it is true! I am very gratefull that Drachnifel is there for all the rest of us

As a dedictaed fan of Hood (my uncle was a stocker on her and went down with her in 1941). I was amazed by the amount of detail you were able to give on these proposed battleships and the Admirals. I am amazed at what the designers were able to do without CAD or a speadsheet. Calculating the weight and speed etc.

My Grandfather served on HMS HOOD in 1929 transferred when she went in for a refit and sunk by Bismarck, he new many that went down with her may their souls rest in peace

Wonderful video on Hood. I lived near Mt Hood my whole life and worked on the Mt Hood Railroad along the Hood River (river) In the town of Hood River, within Hood River County of Oregon state. Admittedly hearing the word “hood” really gets my attention and has brought me great interest in HMS Hood. All that said, it’s sorta funny the US ship “Mount Hood” is named after a mountain that itself is named after a British Admiral. Thanks again Drach for the content

Renown and Repulse were probably much more useful than an extra pair of R class even if the resistance class would have been an improved design.

My Grandad worked as an electrician for John Browns and his work on new radar on the Hood finished the night before she left for sea. Any later and he would have been kept onboard and always thought he would have died when she went down.

How many pairs of binoculars did Hood stock for her resident admirals to throw overboard?

This is the exact type of video I enjoy most on your channel. This and the 5 minute guides. The process of designing and commissioning a ship, and the military and political factors that informed it is infinitely interesting

Hi Drachinifel, I have a very large family connection to Hood, not that I have family who served upon Hood or were lost on Hood but my grandfather was a Foreman on her build, not an important foreman but a foreman none the less. I have several copies of her builders photographs taken off the original plates from the University Of Glasgow Industrial Archives. I have also had the honour of seeing her blueprints and taking a copy of which I no longer have due to moving home. Ventus Secundus

HMS Hood is the JFK of warships. Everyone knows there was a second Bismark on the Icy Knoll.

Hood is my favourite ship. Even more so than Warspite. Understandably, you've made my day 🎉

With all the revisions and changes over time, I'm amazed she put to sea at all, or could even float with all that paperwork that went into it.

After over 100 years it is nice to see that the MOD has not change one bit. They always make the right decision but only after exhausting every other possibility. Look at the Type 45s !

Probably worth a visit to Fairfield Heritage Centre, Govan, if you're ever in Glasgow. They've obviously amassed more primary sources than they could ever possibly display in a museum dedicated to shipbuilding.

He pronounced Govan correct! With only a minor pause for thought! Well done Drach!

I love how the ship was so long that it jutted into the town

The model in "The Clyde Room" at Glasgow Museum of Transport, is the largest there, it's enormous.

I really enjoyed this one. HMS Hood needed an in depth dive of her design history; fascinating.

As a fifth generation shipbuilder from Clydebank, I'd like to thank you for putting this together and highlighting the incredible work in Hood's design and construction.

My Dad was always obsessed with the Hood. His favourite movie as a kid was the Sink the Bismarck!, so I love all of this. Also interesting note, Admiral Horace Hood, a descendent of the Admiral Hood that the ship was named after, died at Jutland.

Thanks Drach HMS Hood was the largest warship for decades and certainly one of the most beautiful ships ever built. It is a tragedy she never got the reconstruction she deserved, if she had I think Bismarck's voyage would have ended in much sooner

Aka “How the sausage is made”. Was really into this question, and this video answered it!

The way Drach narrates this video on how this ship came to be is awesome. However hearing how the powers to be came to the design and construction has to be the most British thing i have ever heard. But interesting none the less.

Drach, I kinda doubt anyone else has expressed interest, but I'd love videos on the First World War UC I, UC II, and UC III class minelayer submarines. You know, in your spare time. :-)

Thank you for this. Until now I never understood the history of the development of HMS Hood, as it was very involved. The photos are the icing on the cake. Watching them build it at keel level. The pic. of them lowering what appeared to be the lower turbine housing of one of the main engines into place was very interesting at least to me. Thank you again for saving and making accessible these almost forgotten images for us, I know it's not easy.. Bravo! On my way now to watch your sinking of HMS Hood video again....

Excellent work Drach - I’ve always had a soft spot for Hood.

It would have been interesting to have asked Admiral Jellicoe what his impressions of an Iowa would have been. What he liked and perhaps what he might not have liked about her.

Design A: exists Jellicoe: I'm about to end this man's whole career

Alaska, Hood, where is our next Deep Draughtsman's Guide?

I've never heard any mention in any forum of HMS Hood's namesake, Admiral Samuel Hood.

IMO Adm. Jellicoe's reputation was unfairly besmirched as a result of the battle of Jutland with that glory-hound Adm. Beatty getting credit he didn't deserve.

Yeah ... I look at such a big, powerful ship - and it's so hard to believe it was utterly destroyed. .

I think Drach chose this ship because he can pronounce all the ship names.

Wonderful piece as usual Drach. Thanks from Australia, sorry I didn't catch you down under (no pun intended).

Probably one of the best looking warships of that era. Great video, thanks Drachinifel

Jellicoe was much more concerned about the Battlecruiser force-and that was just the admiral in charge of them. Also ah yes another intel report dramatically overstating the power of the opponents causing something quite a ot nastier than what was going to be built(although the Mackensen was pretty nasty on paper as it was pretty much a German Kongo class).

Thanks for doing a video on explaining how the Hood was developed. Most historians miss this in their works. Watching this video was such a blast, and it utterly obliterated any Hood related knowledge gaps.

Thank you for these great construction pictures

The previous Hood videos are up there with my all time favorite Drac content. Keeping all that in mind makes the design & construction of Hood fascinating. 👍

Superb set of photos there, thank you.

The numbet of well-considered objections or changes that Adm Jellicoe asked for gives a lot of insight into how technically in tune he was with ship design and battle dynamics. Knowing little about him, he just became very impressive in my mind!!!

I find these design videos to be just as exciting and informative as the ones on battles.

Excellent, thank you. What this video shows is how Dreadnought design and development was still in its infancy in 1914, and there was no concensus about the way forward.

I like how they started the design with the idea to make a ship that wouldn't cover it's crew in water, and ended up making Hood, a ship often called "The Royal Navy's Largest Submarine" due to how wet her crew was.

A beautiful ship sadly lost in battle and also a beautiful shipfu. 10/10 Best tea drinker

The Hood was such a nice ship, shame about the design flaw of not taking bow wave dip into account when locating ammunition.

Drachinfel, in your opinion, might having the build revised to put the magazines below the shell rooms, have prevented the sinking of HMS Hood or at least slowed it down.

Q turrets were a somewhat dubious endowment anyway... statistically as they were generally near dead centre and the enemy salvo was targeted at dead centre Q turrets would be more likely on broadsides to take roof hits.. and in practice this happened .. again and again..

I still think the Royal Navy would have done better to build all 4 of Admiral-class than bother with the Revenges.

Jellicoe is the hero here.

*"Elegance isn't just for show"*

Nice to see Hood covered. Honestly, all I ever knew about Hood was she was sunk by Bismarck.

I play world of warships legends and have been for 4 years strong , I own the hood ,Nelson, vanguard ,warspite, Cossack , late war Belfast ,London, Cheshire,Exeter just to name a few 😊

It is very interesting to see it in dock under construction, absulutely massive it was. Such a beauty too.

Very interesting research! What amazes me about battleship design. Is that once the all big gun battleship was built. Thinking about them became as thick as the ships main side armor. Also as swift as the ponderous pace of the machinery used to train the massive guns! Super dreadnoughts were big slow moving targets. Making them rather easy to hit. Armor was supposed to provide protection. Only the ship has to float, so the weight of armor is strictly limited. Meaning that the armor has to be carefully placed on the ship. So the destruction of HMS Hood was a classic example of why she was already obsolete when her hull was launched. The reason for this was simple enough. Big slow moving easy to hit targets. The speed of Hood, and similar fast battleships was an attempt to adress the issue. But with the large 40,000 ton displacement hull, Hood was the largest target to date. These ships were just too big. The fact was well demonstrated when hits from Prinze Eugen and Bismarck hit Hood's deck above the armor protection. Hood exploded rather violently. Hood's destruction was shortly followed by that of Bismarck. Leaving Prinze Eugen to return to port alone. Heavy Cruisers thus became the defacto battleships serving on the front lines. So the big vulnerable battleships could be saved from destruction. Only the front lines was what a battleship was built to excel in battle. The big guns and heavy armor providing an expected advantage. One that failed to materialize. As the twentieth century marched on. The operating speed of warships kept increasing. Making big slow super dreadnoughts unable to keep up. The giant guns were powerful, capable of inflicting massive damage. If they hit the target. Only the low rate of fire coupled with the ponderous pace of train. Made hitting small, fast agile targets rather difficult. The lighter guns used in the cruisers were better suited for battle. Even if many 8" guns didn't shoot much faster. They could be trained on target more quickly. Moreover cruisers were faster to build and far less expensive to replace. Big battleship guns got most of their use bombarding shore targets. Most naval battles involved small fast targets like aircraft. It's often been said that the aircraft carrier that made battleships obsolete. Only battleships had already been obsolete. Once the accuracy of naval gunfire substantially improved and the speed of most warships became greater than 30 knots. Allowing for numerous hits on any big slow moving target. As the loss of Hood demonstrated. Hits where there is no armor, can quickly be catastrophic.

Those constant changes to Hood's design during construction must have driven the shipyard engineers and workers crazy! Do you have any information on how much the changes delayed her completion and her cost?

283mm is a fractional inch size: 11-9/64" Mind you, I've never heard of a previous naval gun intentionally made to 64ths, but when working with smaller mechanical objects, these fractional sizes are not unheard-of. A very comprehensive modern set of drill bits or collets for example, might have 64th sizes.

Utterly fascinating, thank you!

Very interesting insights into the design process. The actual build process still fascinates.

Im going to be honest Dogfights Hunt for the Bismarck, is where I found and ultimately fell in love with Hood, such a beautiful ship. And please tell me, im not the only one who sees a face in Hoods bridge.

"Rule The Waves". Well played, WoW. Well played.

Hood wasn't commissioned as a class of one, but as a class of her own.

Drach, thank you for this video.

This was the first rum ration that I have finished. I enjoy this sort of history without so much time in the library. I have been a fan of "Hood" and the Nelrods since I was in high school in the late 60s. Question: What effect would the fifteen-inch guns of the "Vanguard" meant to the Royal Marines and Commandos in the Falkland's, had she still been available?

Fantastic video as always Drach! Please keep it up!

It was a beautiful ship.

I would like to see a video on the various types of sterns. Was there a reason that some ships had curved sterns, pointed sterns and flat sterns?

Absolutely brilliant video on Hood. I am a big fan of Naval Battles myself and it all started of me getting interested in the Denmark Strait. Brilliant video just like the vid where you showed a theory on Hood's final voyage

What an awesome video! Thank you so much.

I need to find more videos about this wonderful ship. I’ve never heard of her before but she sounds pretty cool.😂

"Rum Ration" is really funny. Thanks, Drach.

Thank you, Drachinifel.

Collage level expert dissertations. TY. Consistently authoritative and excellent presentations.

Great work as usual

She was one of a kind 😊

Hi Drachinifel. Love your stuff and wish I had time to watch it. This episode reminded me that I’d love to know why there was so much obsession with fitting torpedo tubes on Battleships? This puzzled me for years and it would be great to hear why they wanted to potentially compromise safety by having extra holes in the hill or extra explosives on deck, for a weapon we rarely if ever hear of battleships actually using. Maybe one for a q&a episode, or an episode on battleship auxiliary systems?

well done, one of my favorites

Very informative. Sad ending to a magnificent ship.

Currently on vacation on the North Sea coast, just woke up and there is the right video from Drach ✌️

I like this add of the design process and additional construction documentation.

Next video: HMS Warspite-The Only True Legend 😂

Fascinating!

Great stuff, as always.

Absolutely! He’s usually deep diving into Excelsior class Star ships.