That IS a good question, especially given that the Jutland report incriminating the stacking of cordite and abandonment of safety procedures was nixed by Jellicoe when he became First Sea Lord at the Admiralty. I believe that Barham was carrying extra ammo and charges outside of magazine protection when she blew up after capsizing, which could have contributed to that explosion. Whether or not that was the case with Hood will never be known (unless it's in some still "most secret" document that won't see the light of day for another 30 years!).steffen19k wrote:I think a better question would be whether or not Hood's gun crews were bypassing the flash protection features and procedures to speed up time between salvos. Its been a documented case of British capital ships, dating all the way back to the loss of 3 battlecruisers at Dogger Bank.
But that does not efface the fact that it was Bismarck's and only Bismarck's shells that were falling around Hood when she exploded, and it was Bismarck's shells that possessed the penetrating power to punch through Hood's armour and reach a magazine.