HMS Hood

The British pre-dreadnought battleship, HMS Hood was commissioned in 1889, a state-of-the art vehicle of war, heavily armed and heavily armoured.  She symbolised the power and might of the Royal Navy and boasted to the world of the prowess of the nation that created her.  Yet within the short space of 15 years, there would be a quantum leap forward in battleship design that would render her obsolete and unfit to fight in the Great War of 1914-18.  In 1906, with the construction of HMS Dreadnought, a new class of battleship was brought into service which was so far ahead of all those that went before her, 'pre-dreadnoughts', that almost overnight they were all rendered obsolete.

As a result, HMS Hood was taken out of frontline duties in 1905 and put on reserve duties.  Then in November 1914 she was sunk as a blockship across the southern entrance to Portland harbour to prevent U-boats getting into the harbour to attack allied shipping as well as stopping U-boats taking pot shots from outside the harbour itself.

Nearly 90 years later, the War long ago ended, she still sits in her defensive position guarding the entrance to the harbour and rising up to just a few metres from the surface.  For more details on the history and dives on the HMS Hood, see  Dive England's Greatest Shipwrecks.