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SOUTH PORCH AND NORTH (DE FORTIBUS) CHAPEL - The visitor comes into the church through the 13th century porch which is now part of the HMS HOOD memorial (see below). The rest of the memorial can be found directly across the church opposite the doorway at the northwest corner of the North (de Fortibus) Chapel.
HMS HOOD MEMORIAL - The action of HMS Hood and the Bismarck. HMS Hood (Captain R. Kerr CBE RN), flagship of Vice Admiral L. E. Holland CB, was at sea during the afternoon of 23rd May 1941, off the south west corner of Iceland. In company with HMS Prince of Wales, and screened by her destroyers, Antelope, Achates, Anthony, Electra, Echo and Icarus, the force was searching for the German battleship, Bismarck, and her escort, the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. By the time the enemy was sighted at 05.37, the destroyers had already been detached. Fire was opened at 05.53 and Bismarck's fifth salvo was mortal; at 06.00 HMS Hood blew up and sank within two minutes in position 63 degrees 20' N,31 degrees 50' W. She took with her the Admiral and 1,416 officers and men. There were only three survivors. During the long history of the Royal Navy few ships have so held the admiration and affection of the British people as HMS Hood. Generations of officers and men who served in her held her in special honour. When Hood was sunk in Icelandic waters in the early hours of Empire Day, 24th May 1941, the sense of loss, felt not only by the families of those who died, but by the whole nation, was overwhelming.
Among those who died was Vice Admiral L. E. Holland CB, who, with his wife and family, had been a regular worshipper at Boldre for many years. The inner porch doors had been given by them in memory of their son, John, who died in 1936. After the War when it became clear that no official memorial was to be raised to those who died in HMS Hood, Mrs Phyllis Holland planned and carried through the scheme which brought the Hood Commemoration to Boldre.
The porch now holds a framed photograph of Hood; two Vice Admiral's lanterns; a small stained glass window of St. Nicholas, patron saint of sailors, and two long oak benches carved with the ship's badge of a Cornish chough, which also appears in the set of kneelers at the altar rails in the North Chapel and on the runner in the front pew of the north western part of the nave.
The Illuminated Book of Remembrance can be seen in the north west corner of the North Chapel directly opposite the entrance. This book, containing the names of the 1,417 officers and men of HMS Hood, was written and illuminated by Mrs Daisy Alcock, who was also responsible for the Royal Air Force Book of Remembrance in Westminster Abbey.
There is a facsimile copy for reference in the drawer underneath the Book of Remembrance. In 1997, another book, this time listing alphabetically rather than by rank for ease of reference and another cloth-bound copy for everyday use, was donated by Mrs Cutlack as a tangible memorial to her husband who had served in HMS Hood and used to come to the Hood services.
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