The bell was lifted from the wreck of the British ship HMS Hood - video

The billionaire and co-founder of Microsoft – Paul Allen, led another expedition. This time the researchers managed to retrieve from the sea depths the bell from the wreck of the legendary British ship HMS “Hood”. The vessel was sunk during World War II in the North Atlantic. Now the bell will go into the hands of conservators, and then it will be made available to the wider public.

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The task the members of Allen’s research team set themselves was quite a challenge. The wreck of HMS Hood lies at a depth of 2,800 metres! The only sensible way to carry out the entire operation was to send a specially adapted unmanned ROV to the bottom.

In 2012. Paul Allen lent his vessel to a British expedition that wanted to raise the bell of HMS “Hood”. Unfortunately the expedition failed due to strong currents and poor visibility.

“It is a real honour to be able to undertake an expedition to recover the ship’s bell from The Mighty Hood (‘Mighty Hood’ was the nickname used to describe the ship during its service – ed)” – concluded Paul Allen

Now that the bell is above ground, it will be opened to the public. After the necessary restoration work, which is estimated to take around 12 months, it will go as an exhibit in the collection of the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth.

The expedition was conducted from the deck of Allen’s vessel “Octopus”. It is a luxury yacht well suited to deep-sea exploration and generously equipped for all underwater activities.

HMS Hood was sunk on 24 May 1941 after a series of hits by the legendary German battleship Bismarck. “The Hood was the largest British ship at the time and her sinking was also symbolic. The loss of 1,415 sailors is the largest loss of a single ship in the history of the Royal Navy.

“The recovery of the ship’s bell will ensure that these 1,415 fallen sailors, as well as the ship itself, will never fall into oblivion and will always be remembered by a grateful nation,” said First Sea Lord Admiral Sir George Zambellas

Not surprisingly, the battle-damaged German ship was pursued relentlessly by the Allies, who threw all units in the region into battle. The British achieved their goal just three days later on May 27, when the German battleship was finally sunk.

Source: dailymail.co.uk