The German Heavy Cruiser Prinz Eugen escorted the Battleship Bismarck. Upon the fire from Hood, Bismarck and Prinz Eugen countered immediately, with the latter causing a severe fire on Hoods upper deck. High set plunging shots from Bismarck penetrated deep into the Hoods hull, causing an internal explosion that ripped her apart, sinking into the depths of the North Atlantic in an instant.
There were only three survivors who were rescued from the water. This poignant historical account of HMS Hood was one that had been passed to me many times whilst I served in the Royal Navy. Nevertheless, after my first meeting with the Spiritual Medium, Steve Tomlinson of Nottingham the impact of this great and extremely sad naval wartime tragedy was to be brought home to me personally. The answer to why my Father-in-Law always said: “I never talk about my own time at sea; I lost some many of my friends”. Steve Tomlinson graphically imparted a detailed account about HMS Hood that was unknown to my wife; one that only a small group of his close family knew about. A message from the "World of Light" proof of survival of physical death!
An ironic footnote is that after being taken off HMS Hood and spending a short time in a naval transit camp. Fred joined HMS Rodney, who herself was involved in the sinking of the Bismarck on 27th March 1941. The real tragedy of any conflict of war is that ultimately we are all lose in one way or another.
HMS Hood - Poem
Many years ago I heard this verse whilst aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle. I know the sailor who sang it, has long since entered into light. The song was sung to the tune of the Christmas Carol ‘Silent Night’. The Austrian priest Father Josef Mohr wrote the original lyrics of the song ‘Stille Nacht’ in Germany and Austrian Headmaster Franz Xaver Gruber, composed the melody, that is generally sung today, it differs slightly from Gruber’s original. Today, the lyrics are in the public domain.
The irony for this poem about HMS Hood is to be sung to the tune of "Silent Night", after you consider, the verse was taken from the German “Stille Nacht”. When one takes into account the conflict of war, which brought this terrible saga of human suffering together, a tragic event that affected so many people, from both countries and around the world. Perhaps gentle words can unite, where powerful actions divide.
H.M.S. Hood
When H.M.S. Hood went down in the deep
That was the news that made mothers weep
For the sons who had fought for a country so proud
Were down there below with the sea as their shroud
They are sleeping in heavenly peace, sleeping in heavenly peace.
Then came George V, the Prince of Wales too
They took in hand what the Hood had to do
The Suffolk, the Norfolk, the Cossack as well,
Along with the Rodney shelled Bismarck to hell.
They sank that ship, oh, we are glad; but for our lads we feel sad
So mothers and wives and sweethearts, be proud
Though your dear lads have the sea as their shroud
They were fighting for freedom, let us never forget
The freedom they fought for will be won yet
They are sleeping in heavenly peace, sleeping in heavenly peace.
