Paul Allen’s team had another big win this past weekend when they successfully recovered the bell from the British battleship HMS Hood in the North Atlantic.
The HMS Hood was sunk in 1941 during World War II by the German battleship Bismarck. According to the announcement on the Microsoft co-founder’s site, the bell will be restored and displayed as a memorial to the 1,415 lives lost when the ship went down.
From Allen’s Twitter:
Over the weekend, the team has pulled up one of the most exciting pieces yet — the ship’s bell.
Bell from WWII battle-cruiser Hood recovered! Will be restored & @RoyalNavy to create memorial for 1,415 lost at seahttps://t.co/r8cIJmvMW9
— Paul Allen (@PaulGAllen) August 8, 2015
Recovered on Friday by Allen’s research team aboard the Octopus, the Hood bell was first discovered in 2001, when it was photographed lying apart from the battleship’s hull. In 2012, Allen led an expedition to recover the bell that failed due to weather conditions and technical difficulties, according to his site.
“This year marks the 70th anniversary of the conclusion of World War II, and this effort commemorates the hundreds of brave sailors who were lost at sea,” said Allen on his site. “It is a true honor to undertake the expedition to recover the bell from ‘The Mighty Hood.’ ”
Once restored, the HMS Hood‘s bell will be on display at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth, UK.
It was only a few months ago that Allen announced that his team was working on recovery efforts of the sunken World War II battleship the Musashi, discovered off the coast of the Philippines. The Musashi was one of the largest battleships ever made and went down in one of WWII’s largest naval encounters.
Watch the recovery of the HMS Hood bell below:
