Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu

A silver presentation miniature oar, HMS Hood, the blade inscribed ‘W.O.s GIGS “HOOD”, 1935’, the blade engraved with the names ‘BENNETT, BUCKNALL, BROOKER, TOMES, MARTIN, DRISCOLL, FIELDING’, with maker’s mark “NA&AFI” for NAVY, ARMY & AIR FORCE INSTITUTE, hallmarked for Birmingham 1934, length 20.5cm. £80-£120

HMS Hood was a modified Royal Sovereign-class pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Royal Navy, early 1890s, the pride of the British Navy and revered as the world’s most powerful warship for more than 20 years.

In 1935, HMS Hood was in Home waters and in the Mediterranean on various exercises visiting Gibraltar, Portsmouth, Port and Scapa Flow. In July she was part of the Silver Jubilee Fleet Review and later in August took part in Navy Week at Portsmouth. Competitions between Navy ships was a frequent occurrence when vessels gathered in port.

On 24 May 1941, in the Battle of the Denmark Strait, HMS Hood was struck by German shells from the Bismarck, Germany’s largest battleship. HMS Hood exploded and sank within three minutes, with the loss of all but three of her crew of 1418 men. These deaths constituted the Royal Navy’s greatest single ship loss of the Second World War.