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Effective today, the contact details for the Northern Ireland Veterans' Association have changed to the following

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57 Mortimer Street,
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DE24 8FX

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Last survivor of battle cruiser HMS Hood in the Second World

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  • Last survivor of battle cruiser HMS Hood in the Second World

    Last survivor of battle cruiser HMS Hood in the Second World War has died at the age of 85


    06th October 2008



    The last survivor of the sinking of the battle cruiser HMS Hood in the Second World War has died.

    Ted Briggs, 85, from Fareham in Hampshire, passed away at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth on Saturday.

    The sinking of the Hood on May 24, 1941 by the German battleship Bismarck during the Battle of the Denmark Strait shocked Britain.

    The Bismarck's fire hit the ship's magazine, resulting in a catastrophic explosion which tore the ship in half.

    It sank in less than three minutes and only three of HMS Hood's 1,418 crew survived.

    Mr Briggs, a boy signalman aged 18, was sucked under by the sinking ship before being propelled back up to the surface.

    He was soon joined by the two other survivors - midshipman William Dundass, who died in 1965, and able seaman Bob Tilburn, who died in 1995.

    The trio spent three hours in the freezing sea before they were picked up by a Navy ship.

    Television producer Rob White, who knew Mr Briggs well, said: 'He was quite a gentleman and what really struck me was his great modesty.

    'If you said, "you're a hero", he used to say, "I was not a hero, I was a survivor".'

  • #2
    rest in peace sailor.
    wee mac

    Smallest man in NATO. ascendit stilla, numquam vastate duplici

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    • #3
      Rest In Peace.. Mr Briggs..

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      • #4
        I remember reading, like most boys, the terrible story of HMS Hood, many years ago, and being surprised, and shocked, at the few survivors from that sinking. (The surprise changing to horror many years later, after discovering the official blundering that sent a practically un-armoured battle cruiser which was unfit for duty in WW1, against the modern might of the Kriegsmarine).
        What horrors must those guys have lived with for sixty years or so? Were they REALLY the lucky ones?
        RIP. A brave and resolute sailor.

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