 Hood spent most of the early part of the war patrolling against German commerce raiders and escorting convoys . Flagship of Force H , based at Gibraltar , she bombarded French ships during the attack on Mers @-@ el @-@ Kébir . In May 1941 Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales were ordered to intercept the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen as they attempted to break out into the North Atlantic . In the subsequent Battle of the Denmark Strait , the aft magazines of Hood exploded , sinking her within five minutes of opening fire . 
