Tech Billionaire Finds HMS Hood Bell from Superyacht

Seems like there is an underwater race heating up between tech billionaires… Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen has just announced the recovery of the ships’ bell from the British World War 2-era battle-cruiser HMS Hood. This comes on the heels of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezo’s recovery of an Apollo 11’s F-1 engine.

From PR Newswire:

A research team led by US philanthropist and entrepreneur Paul G. Allen has successfully recovered the bell of the battle-cruiser HMS Hood, sunk in 1941 during World War II. Once restored, the bell will respectfully serve as a tangible and fitting memorial for the 1,415 lives lost when the Bismarck sunk the ship in the North Atlantic.

Excerpts from Wikipedia on the HMS Hood:

HMS Hood (pennant number 51) was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy. Commissioned in 1920, she was named after the 18th-century Admiral Samuel Hood. As one of the largest and, ostensibly, the most powerful warships in the world, Hood was the pride of the Royal Navy and, carrying immense prestige, was known as ‘The Mighty Hood’. When war with Germany was declared, Hood was operating in the area around Iceland, and she spent the next several months hunting between Iceland and the Norwegian Sea for German commerce raiders and blockade runners. In May 1941, she and the battleship Prince of Wales were ordered to intercept the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, which were en route to the Atlantic where they were to attack convoys. On 24 May 1941, early in the Battle of the Denmark Strait, Hood was struck by several German shells, exploded and sank. Due to her perceived invincibility, the loss had a profound effect on the British people.