When the Hood was commissioned in 1920, she was the largest warship in the world. Many found her to be an unusually beautiful warship. As World War I had ended when she was ready, her first missions could perhaps best be described as British gunboat diplomacy. In 1923 she commenced a circumnavigation to confirm the ties between Britain and the Commonwealth. After leaving Plymouth in November, she appeared at Sierra Leone and Cape Town and continued to Zanzibar in East Africa. Thereafter she crossed the Indian Ocean for a goodwill visit at Ceylon and Singapore. Every stop was characterised by lavish parties and sports events, where the Hood’s cricket and football teams played against local teams. After the visit to Singapore, where she raised a warning finger at Japanese imperialist aspirations, the battlecruiser set course for Australia. She moored at Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart and Sidney. Wellington and Auckland in New Zealand followed, whereupon the Australian and New Zealand governments were so impressed that Australia placed orders for two cruisers and New Zealand bought one of the cruisers that accompanied the Hood. The battlecruiser continued over the Pacific, visiting Fiji, Samoa, Hawaii and San Francisco, before negotiating the Panama Canal. Once she had reached the Atlantic again, she set course for Jamaica and Canada. Finally, she crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Britain on 9 September 1924, completing a voyage lasting almost a year.²¹⁶

Most of the time the Hood was in commission was characterized by peace, there were still troubling episodes. In 1931 she was involved in a mutiny at Invergordon, when her crew refused to work after being told that their wages would be cut. These reductions in pay were far-reaching, but so ill-conceived that they were soon reconsidered. The episode tarnished the otherwise immaculate reputation of the battlecruiser. Two years after the events at Invergordon, Commander Rory O’Connor assumed command of the Hood and he worked hard to remove the lingering effects of the mutiny. O’Connor made considerable efforts to reduce the gulf between officers and seamen and introduced regulations promoting mutual work towards a common objective. The results were encouraging. ‘She became a so-called happy ship,’ recalled seaman Ron Paterson, who served with the battlecruiser at that time. ‘Everybody made their best, everybody assumed responsibility. The officers were excellent and were there to help.’²¹⁷

In 1935, one of the first steps towards large scale war was taken, as the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini launched an attack on Ethiopia. The Hood was employed to deter Italian aggression, but to no avail. Her next mission came after the civil war in Spain had begun. The Hood was used to escort British merchant ships defying Franco’s blockade of the Loyalist ports. During this period, it became increasingly clear that the Hood, after almost two decades of service, needed extensive rebuilding and modernizing, requiring quite some time in a shipyard. In particular, her armour protection was called into question. The Hood had been designed before the Battle of Jutland and not all of the lessons learned from that battle had been applied to her. In particular, a significant portion of the Battle of Jutland had been fought at such ranges that shells might hit the deck armour at very steep angles. Much thicker deck armour was needed to prevent them from reaching vital parts of the ship. Up to the mid-1930s, the weak deck armour was of little import, as no action against enemy battleships was likely in the foreseeable future. However, as war in Europe loomed, the Hood’s deck armour became a much more serious problem. However, she was needed in commission, and the modernization of other Royal Navy ships took priority.

The first year at war gave the Hood little chance to fire her guns at German warships. Most of her time was spent patrolling or on escort duty. When France was defeated by Germany in June 1940, the Hood was dispatched to Admiral Somerville’s Force H, based on Gibraltar. As the admiral’s flagship, the Hood was given the unenviable task of attacking French naval units in Oran, where more then 1,000 former allies were killed. This was the Hood’s first battle, initiated under very favourable circumstances. Engaging the Bismarck would be something quite different.

From January to March 1941, the Hood received some attention. Her machinery was overhauled and gunnery radar was fitted. Captain Glennie relinquished command of the battlecruiser, to receive a new assignment in the Mediterranean. He was replaced by Captain Ralph Kerr. After the refit, the Hood was again sent out to search and patrol, in particular during the last stage of Operation Berlin.²¹⁸

While several capital ships of the Royal Navy had participated in major naval battles, it seemed that the Hood would never get the chance to do what she had been designed for. When the loudspeakers announced that the Hood was about to weigh anchor and sail from Scapa Flow, Briggs and his comrades had wondered, tempered by previous experiences, if they were finally to see ‘the real action,’ or if it was yet another of all these endless, cold and wet patrols?

The first part of the voyage seemed to confirm their fears. But on the evening of 22 May, a message arrived that changed everything. It was Briggs himself who had to run to the bridge with it. He gave it to Holland’s signal officer, who quickly read it and then loudly said: ‘The Bismarck and Prinz Eugen have put to sea. Continue to, and watch the area southwest of Iceland.’ Ted Briggs returned to his comrades. He felt hungry, yet did not want to eat.²¹⁹ The chase was on.