There have been many fine books, movies, and television shows about the legendary HMS Hood . No work has ever offered the level of in-depth research combined with such a fine narrative as in The End of Glory . The great battlecruiser HMS Hood was the ship that flew the flag across the world in the 1930s during the twilight years of the British Empire. In 1941 she was destroyed in seconds by the battleship Bismarck , a catastrophe that dumbfounded the British public. For the officers and crew who manned her for twenty ...
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There have been many fine books, movies, and television shows about the legendary HMS Hood . No work has ever offered the level of in-depth research combined with such a fine narrative as in The End of Glory . The great battlecruiser HMS Hood was the ship that flew the flag across the world in the 1930s during the twilight years of the British Empire. In 1941 she was destroyed in seconds by the battleship Bismarck , a catastrophe that dumbfounded the British public. For the officers and crew who manned her for twenty years, she was a home. This new book, through official documents as well as the personal accounts and memories of more than 150 crewmen, offers a vivid image of the difficult life on a warship in peacetime and in war.
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Seller's Description:
New in New jacket. 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches. pp. 246. Brand new. Pristine, unmarked. 24 pages of photographs. // Shipped carefully packed in a sturdy box.
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Very good in Very good jacket. x, 246 pages. Includes Illustrations, Preface, Author's Note, Abbreviations, Roll of Honour, Further Reading, and Index. Bruce Taylor was educated at the Universities of Manchester and Oxford where he received a doctorate in Modern History in 1996. The author offers a detailed insight into the life and career of a great warship as seen and recalled by those who made her what she was. The Hood remains the most celebrated symbol of British sea power since Nelson's Victory. On her rested much of the pride and hope of the British people for their Navy in its darkest hour. Her sinking had a profound and lasting impact on the morale of both. In the years since that moment, the relative decline of Britain and her Navy and the many unresolved questions surrounding the loss of the Hood have added even more poignancy and symbolism to her destruction. How the Hood reached that exalted status over twenty years of war and peace is explored in this book, where possible in the words of those who knew her best. There have been many fine books written on HMS Hood, the glory of the Royal Navy, while television and cinema have also taken the subject to their heart. No book, however, has ever offered the combination of in-depth research and thrilling narrative to be found in The End of Glory. For twenty years Hood symbolized the Royal Navy during the twilight years of the British Empire before, in 1941, being destroyed in seconds by the battleship Bismarck, a catastrophe that shattered the morale the British public. For those who manned her, however, she was both a home and a fighting platform, and this new book, through official documents as well as the personal accounts and reminiscences of more than 150 crewmen, offers a vivid image of the face of naval life and the face of naval battle. A brilliant behind-the scenes exposé of a warship in peace and war, it not only paints an intimate picture of everyday life but deals with any number of controversial issues such as the Invergordon mutiny, escapades ashore and afloat, the Christmas mutiny of 1940 and the terrible conditions onboard in war. This coverage, based on so many original sources, makes for a truly compelling story which neither historian, enthusiast nor general reader will find easy to put down. HMS Hood (pennant number 51) was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy. Commissioned in 1920, she was named after the 18th-century Admiral Samuel Hood. One of four Admiral-class battlecruisers ordered in mid-1916, Hood had design limitations, though her design was revised after the Battle of Jutland and improved while she was under construction. For this reason, she was the only ship of her class to be completed. Despite the appearance of new and more modern ship designs over time, Hood remained the largest warship in the world for 20 years after her commissioning, and her prestige was reflected in her nickname, "The Mighty Hood". Hood was involved in several showing-the-flag exercises between her commissioning in 1920 and the outbreak of war in 1939, including training exercises in the Mediterranean Sea and a circumnavigation of the globe with the Special Service Squadron in 1923 and 1924. She was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet following the outbreak of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. When the Spanish Civil War broke out, Hood was officially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet until she had to return to Britain in 1939 for an overhaul. By this time, advances in naval gunnery had reduced Hood's usefulness. She was scheduled to undergo a major rebuild in 1941 to correct these issues, but the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 forced the ship into service without the upgrades. When war with Germany was declared, Hood was operating in the area around Iceland, and she spent the next several months hunting for German commerce raiders and blockade runners between Iceland and the Norwegian Sea. After a brief overhaul of her propulsion system, she...
