Since a little time has passed, and some other topics have come up, I thought it time to refocus on the issue of
Hood’s shelter deck (also called the “boat deck” by crew). After the drastic changes uncovered following the revelation of Hood’s true underside colour, this shelter deck issue should have the next largest impact on the appearance of Hood models going forward. Most of what is presented here, has been stated previously. This again, is just an attempt to recap and refocus. We welcome any comments or corrections:
RECAP: The aft section of Hood’s shelter/boat deck was planked with teak and the forward half was, for some time, widely believed to have been painted metal (probably due information presented in the AOTS book). Recent photo analysis (initiated by Hood expert Dave Weldon and further researched by EJ Foeth and myself) has indicated that this was not necessarily true: we’ve seen evidence of
widespread corticene/linoleum usage on the forward section for most of Hood’s service life. We’ve also found official verification of corticene usage on this deck in ADM136/13, Hood’s “books.” We’ve also seen photos of a 1927 Norman Ough model that has a brown forward shelter deck (indicative of corticene).
This basic arrangement changed in late 1937 when the deck was widened to cover the 5.5” side batteries. At that point in time, ADM136/13 verifies that Semtex was applied to the forward section of expanded deck, specifically on the working areas for the 4” guns at stations 161-205 port and starboard (see figure 1). The rear area was originally to be covered with teak, but it was not available. Photos indicate that this was covered with corticene. So, for a time, there were just two areas with Semtex and the rest were corticene.
Problem/Issue: From 1940 onward, things are far less clear-cut: First, we’ve heard that there was an order to remove corticene from warships. Second, we were informed that Royal Navy expert Alan Raven noted
“…Photos show that the SHELTER deck; had the corticene removed and relaid with Semtex,this was in line with the practice of the time, re 1940.” Unfortunately, we’ve not seen any mention of this work being carried out aboard Hood in her books or cover. There was only a solitary reference to Semtex in 1937 and a mention of corticene in 1938. There is, to the best of our knowledge, no other surviving official documentation to verify the belief that all corticene was removed. So, the best we can do (until additional official documentation comes to light) is to continue to rely upon a
re-analysis of photos confirmed to be from 1940 or later.
Photo Analysis:Please note that most photos have been cropped and annotated to show the specific areas in question. Attachment:
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Figure 1a – The Original Confirmed Locations of Semtex on Hood’s Shelter/Boat Deck (Side Profile)The image above shows the locations of stations 161-205 (the areas to which semtex was added in December 1937). There are also inserts showing the use of corticene in 1938 and 1939.
Attachment:
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Figure 1b –The Original Locations of Semtex on Hood’s Shelter/Boat Deck (Stations 161-205 Starboard, 1938)This photo shows the starboard side of the forward shelter deck sometime in 1938. In the inset, we see the gun mounted at Station 161S...and the absence of panels and strips shows us that this is after semtex was applied. A view of the wider area (main photo) taken at the same time shows that this was confined to the area immediately around the gun and that corticene still existed outside of the area. We cannot see the deck for station 205, but presumably it would be the same. This verifies that the deck initially had only a small amount of semtex in limited locations. This was not in doubt, but its nice to have visual proof for the time period in question. It shows a progression in the changing of the deck materials.
Attachment:
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Figure 1c –The Original Locations of Semtex on Hood’s Shelter/Boat Deck (Station 205 Starboard, 1938)This photo shows that the decking around station 205S (red arrow) is somewhat "bland" and shows no raised strips. Corticene panels can be seen inboard of the small boat. Again, confirmation that for a time, both materials were definitely in use.
Attachment:
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Figure 2 – 1940/41 Photos of Hood’s Starboard Shelter Deck. The above photo (figure 2) was taken near stations 189/187 in front of the forward starboard ladderway/companionway. Inboard you can see strips separating two contrastingly different deck surfaces. The inboard surfaces is darker and has border strips (indicated by yellow). The outboard area (red arrow) is featureless and light in colour. This is suggestive of corticene inboard and semtex outboard. We are unable to pinpoint the exact date or month of the photo, so we have no way to confirm if this was before or after her 1940 refit.
Attachment:
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Figure 3 - Forward Shelter/Boat Deck, October 1940. Figure 3 shows stations a crewman standing near the forward starboard UP mount with the base of the bridge visible in the background. Because of the angle, the crewman and corresponding field of view, we can’t see transverse strips but one of the fore-aft strips can be clearly seen (red arrow). This roughly aligns with the edges of the engine room vents below the funnels.
Attachment:
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Figure 4 – Port Amidships Boat Deck, Spring 1941Figure 4 shows stations 208-210 on the port side. This corresponds to the area just aft of the disinfector house and amidships searchlight platform. This photo clearly shows
three different deck coverings: Blue indicates teak planking. Yellow is likely corticene (as evidenced by different shade and presence of both fore/aft and transverse strips) and red indicates likely use of semtex (in an area where its usage was documented). We base the date on the fact that in the uncropped original photo the men are posing in front of a 35ft Fast Motor Boat (which was supposedly fitted in 1941).
Attachment:
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Figure 5 – Hood’s Boat Deck, Likely Early 1941Figure 5 shows Hood’s boat deck as seen from the bridge, most likely in early 1941. This is evidenced by the fact that her rear funnel has a patch following damage incurred at Mers El Kebir in July 1940.
UPDATE (13 Dec 2020): The presence of 35ft Fast Motor Boat crutches on the port side indicate this was taken during her 1941refit. In this view, the areas along the sides and under the guns (blue and red arrows) are light in colour. You can see indications of a rectangular deck feature (red arrow), which corresponds to a previous location of corticene (see inset for two 1938 photos that shows similar panel lines...in other, closeup shots not presented here, these lines are clearly corticene retaining strips). The comparison does show, however, that this strip pattern is not the same in 1941. As such, its unclear how much, if any corticene remained in this area. So, this confirms that although the rear deck extensions were, at one point, covered with corticene, they appear to have changed later (perhaps semtex?).
Attachment:
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Figure 6 – Hood’s Boat Deck, 1941 (Enlargement of Figure 5). Figure 6 shows the deck alongside the second funnel base vent (both port and starboard). Its difficult to be certain, but the photo suggests the possibility of strips on the deck in these locations. This could of course also be other features or even image artefacts, but they do match-up with modern analyses of the corticene pattern (most notably EJ Foeth’s model).
UPDATE (13 Dec 2020): I corrected the year to be 1941 (see the reason in the description for figure 5). END OF PART 1. PART 2 FOLLOWS.