Joseph R wrote:
I hadn't ever seen that video before! however, being already familiar with the 1937 review the funny thing was that just as I found myself wondering if the Soviet Battleship Marat would make an appearance, given that I knew
he was there - a few seconds later am seeing the vista of crazy chimneys and sickle bow.. how amazing - I never thought I would get to see all this in colour. What a rare and unusual historical record.. thank you for posting it. Mighty HOOD definitely wasn't looking terrible either
but may I ask what it meant by 7B's? I've not heard that one before..
It was one of Hood's more popular nicknames used by the crew in the late 1930s until her end (possibly earlier, but I'm not sure):
"Britain's Biggest Bullsh1ttingest B@st@rd Built By Brown." There are, of course, variations in wording (some using less coarse language) which result in fewer words being employed (therefore she was sometimes "5Bs" or "6Bs."
That was one of a number of names for the old girl. Some were cleaner, some were worse (and those I will not repeat, LOL). As someone mentioned in an earlier post, the crews of ships often had their own special names for their vessels, but woe unto those outsiders who dared use them, LOL!
Speaking of "BS," the Yin to Hood's Yang, Bismarck, had her name shortened to "BS" in original German reports I've helped transcribe. Lots of BS floating about, LOL!