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’Britain at War’ Magazine, PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincolnshire, PE9 1NA

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LETTER OF THE MONTH

HMS Hood – First-hand Account

A photo taken from the Prinz Eugen showing a bow-down Bismarck in May 1941. (VIA GEOFFREY SPENCER)

Following the comprehensive account of the sinking of the battleship Bismarck in the latest issue, readers may be interested in a first-hand account of the action in the Denmark Strait and the loss of the battlecruiser HMS Hood from Flt Lt Richard J Vaughn, the captain of a shadowing Sunderland flyingboat of 201 Squadron (L5798 ‘ZM-Z’) operating from Iceland. His report stated: “At 05:37hrs on May 24 1941, a County Class cruiser was sighted steering a course of 240° at an estimated speed of 28 knots, and at the same time gunfire was seen well ahead. As we closed, two columns, each of two ships in line ahead, were steering on parallel courses at an estimated range of 12 miles between columns.

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