Why is the Ships Bell from HMS HOOD in Sinclair Seamens Church Belfast?
I believe people are confusing ships. Despite what you read in many guides etc, this is the ship’s bell not from the HMS Hood, the famous battle cruiser sunk by the Bismarck in 1941, but from her predecessor, the Sovereign-class battleship built in the 1890s and sunk as a blockship in Portland harbour in 1914. Wikipedia has an excellent history of the battleship http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hood_(1… That HMS Hood spent her final days in service as an administrative vessel in what is now known as Cork. I can only imagine before it was towed to Portsmouth for disposal in 1911, the bell was removed and taken to the church in Belfast. It would fit with other items in the church from the same period. As to why a ship’s bell, a pulpit shaped like a ship’s prow etc is there, well the church was built and designed with a sea faring community and congregation in mind. It is not surprising that perhaps they wanted to b
