Admiral-class battlecruiser

HMS Hood as she was in 1921
Class overview
Name	Admiral class
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Courageous class
Succeeded by	G3 battlecruiser (cancelled)
Built	1916–1920
In service	1920–1941
In commission	1920–1941
Planned	4
Completed	1
Cancelled	3
Lost	1
General characteristics (as of 20 August 1917)
Type	Battlecruiser
Displacement	45,470 long tons (46,200 t) (deep load)
Length	860 ft (262.1 m)
Beam	104 ft (31.7 m)
Draught	31 ft 6 in (9.6 m)
Installed power	24 Yarrow boilers 144,000 shp (107,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 shafts; 4 geared steam turbines
Speed	32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph)
Range	7,500 nmi (13,900 km; 8,600 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement	820
Armament	4 × twin 15 in (380 mm) guns 16 × single 5.5 in (140 mm) guns 4 × single 4 in (102 mm) AA guns 10 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour	Belt: 5–12 in (127–305 mm) Decks: 1–5 in (25–127 mm) Barbettes: 12 in (305 mm) Turrets: 11–15 in (279–381 mm) Conning tower: 9–11 in (229–279 mm) Torpedo bulkheads: 0.75–1.5 in (19–38 mm)

The Admiral-class battlecruisers were to have been a class of four British Royal Navy battlecruisers built near the end of World War I. Their design began as an improved version of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, but it was recast as a battlecruiser after Admiral John Jellicoe, commander of the Grand Fleet, pointed out that there was no real need for more battleships, but that a number of German battlecruisers had been laid down that were superior to the bulk of the Grand Fleet's battlecruisers and the design was revised to counter these. The class was to have consisted of HMS Hood, Anson, Howe, and Rodney — all names of famous admirals — but the latter three ships were suspended as the material and labour required to complete them was needed for higher-priority merchantmen and escort vessels. Their designs were updated to incorporate the lessons from the Battle of Jutland, but the Admiralty eventually decided that it was better to begin again with a clean-slate design so they were cancelled in 1919. No more battlecruisers would be built due to the arms limitations agreements of the interbellum.

Hood, however, was sufficiently advanced in construction that she was completed in 1920 and immediately became flagship of the Battlecruiser Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet. She served as the flagship of the Special Service Squadron during its round-the-world cruise in 1923–1924. Hood was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in 1936 and spent much of the next few years on Non-Intervention Patrols during the Spanish Civil War, returning to the United Kingdom before the beginning of World War II and the Battlecruiser Squadron of the Home Fleet.

Hood spent most of the early part of the war patrolling against German commerce raiders and escorting convoys. Flagship of Force H, based at Gibraltar, she bombarded French ships during the attack on Mers-el-Kébir. In May 1941 Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales were ordered to intercept the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen as they attempted to break out into the North Atlantic. In the subsequent Battle of the Denmark Strait, the aft magazines of Hood exploded, sinking her within five minutes of opening fire.