WI: HMS Hood Manages To Limp Back to Port After Tangling With Bismarck

[Coulsdon Eagle]

I think the photograph may be miscaptioned. Other descriptions have the smoke from the left being from the remains of Hood with PoW being on the right. Given that the British squadron would be moving from left to right from the Prinz Eugen's perspective, and PoW had to swerve overtaking Hood's wreck, so ending up ahead of Hood. However the pall at the right looks more like a dispersed explosion than funnel smoke. but that could also be the results of gunsmoke from PoW.

 

[Crowbar Six]

It's possible the negative got flipped? Wouldn't be the first time that's happened.

 

[DougM]

This topic is off the deep end.
Hood ISNT a Battle Cruiser but Iowa is?
And some did in fact call is exactly that

If the side that overwehlmingly won that battle in OTL didn't suffer its most significant casualty, what would have changed?

At this time this topic seams to have become pointless as the fan base has taken over and thier point of view is so radically different then everyone else’s that this is no longer a real discussion.

 

[HeavyMetal]

This topic is off the deep end.
Hood ISNT a Battle Cruiser but Iowa is?

If hell existed I would be going there for this, but wasn't Hood really a submersible?

 

[Captain Seafort]

Hood ISNT a Battle Cruiser but Iowa is?

Hood and Iowa are both on, or very close to, the line, so either of them could fall on either side depending on how exactly you're defining battleships and battlecruisers. It would be more suprising if everyone in the thread agreed that either of them were one or the other.

 

[StevoJH]

Can we talk about "the "Fully Armoured Battlecruiser" yet?

Because I'm pretty sure that's what the RN classified the KGV and Vanguard as....

 

[freelander]

Your other grandfather was indeed very lucky. Especially, if he was on board the Repulse while she was part of Force Z.

Yes he was very lucky both of my grandfathers were full time Navy .

 

[Belisarius II]

Can we talk about "the "Fully Armoured Battlecruiser" yet?

Because I'm pretty sure that's what the RN classified the KGV and Vanguard as....

Ships like Iowa, KGV, Vanguard, SD & NC Classes, as well as Bismarck, are Fast Battleships. Hood was a battlecruiser just bigger than Renown and the BCs of WWI. She didn't have the armor to stand up to battleships. The German BCs of WWI were slower but better protected than their RN counterparts but still less protected than contemporary battleships. The Scharnhorst's are often called BC but were much better armored than Hood. Even the 11" guns on the Scharnhorst's could've made Swiss Cheese of the Hood at 16,200 yards. They were high velocity flat trajectory guns with good penetration capabilities. Hood had a good punch but had a glass jaw.

 

[Belisarius II]

I like the version of history where the USS Texas was on a Neutrality Patrol in exactly the same area except 12 hours earlier, if Bismarck had bumped her and decided to engage, then she would not only have potentially taken some damage (I suspect Texas may well have taken a utter hammering if she had survived) and could have triggered the US's entry into the war.

But if Texas had radioed a Raider report followed by a "I am under fire by German Warship" the RN may well have been able to get a strike off earlier and she would have picked up some damage from both Texas and the Arks air group.

Under orders from the president to enforce the Neutrality Zone the Texas and her escorts would attack the Bismarck. That might well result in the Texas being sunk or seriously damaged while getting some licks in on Bismarck.

 

[StevoJH]

Ships like Iowa, KGV, Vanguard, SD & NC Classes, as well as Bismarck, are Fast Battleships. Hood was a battlecruiser just bigger than Renown and the BCs of WWI. She didn't have the armor to stand up to battleships. The German BCs of WWI were slower but better protected than their RN counterparts but still less protected than contemporary battleships. The Scharnhorst's are often called BC but were much better armored than Hood. Even the 11" guns on the Scharnhorst's could've made Swiss Cheese of the Hood at 16,200 yards. They were high velocity flat trajectory guns with good penetration capabilities. Hood had a good punch but had a glass jaw.

Hood had basically the same protection as a Queen Elizabeth class (a contemporary battleship class), she just didn't get a mid life rebuild.

 

[StevoJH]

Under orders from the president to enforce the Neutrality Zone the Texas and her escorts would attack the Bismarck. That might well result in the Texas being sunk or seriously damaged while getting some licks in on Bismarck.

Not necessarily.

The USCG cutter that spotted Bismarck didn't commit suicide by opening fire, and the Bismarck didn't open fire on it.

 

[Belisarius II]

Not necessarily.

The USCG cutter that spotted Bismarck didn't commit suicide by opening fire, and the Bismarck didn't open fire on it.

The Texas wouldn't have been steaming alone. She might have had 1 or 2 cruisers and a up to 6 destroyers with her. Bismarck was much faster so she would most likely break off contact as soon as she identified the ship as a battleship with escorts.

 

[politicalnomad]

A video on potential HMS Hood refits by Drchinifel , my favourite Naval You tuber -

- 46 minutes

Drachinifel's thoughts on the loss of the Hood -

- 42 minutes

I didn't know he existed. Wow is he good. That said, although the Hood videos are great, I think this takes the ice cream cake for putting a smile on my face.

 

[ivanotter]

Back to the OP:

If Hood has been serisously damaged (as OP suggests), but not sinking, wee need to look at Bismarck.

there are really only two realistic outcomes:
1) Bismarck also receives some damage.
Draw: nobody can claim victory

2) Bismarck is not hit in any serious way and sails away:
Still a draw as Hood is still floating

Bismarck trying to press any advantage if Hood is not sinking and PoW is still there is not realistic.

The one with Hood sinking Bismarck alone is too much rubbish to consider.
A BC design 30 years old with design flaws sinking the most modern ship? space bats on the loose.

Does it do anything for any strategic shift in the Atlantic? Can't see that. Will Tirpitz and Bismarck join hands for a raid? probably not if Bismarck has been hit.

My opinion: a draw . Nothing will change

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

The one with Hood sinking Bismarck alone is too much rubbish to consider.
A BC design 30 years old with design flaws sinking the most modern ship? space bats on the loose.

Bismarck wasn't an especially modern design compared to what the other Battleship navies were building at the time.