This is extremely rare colour footage of the battle-cruiser HMS Hood and its crew at sea in 1939. Two years later, the ship and some of the men in this footage were at the bottom of the Denmark Strait after a fateful encounter with Hitler's flagship, Bismarck. Eighty years ago today, the mighty Hood was sunk with the loss of 1,415 lives - just three men survived - as she and brand-new battleship HMS Prince of Wales attempted to stop the Bismarck and cruiser Prinz Eugen raiding Britain's supply l

HMS Hood was the largest warship in the world when it was commissioned in 1920 and held this title for 20 years. At over 860 feet long and with a displacement of more than 42,000 tons, it was a symbol of British imperial power throughout the interwar period. A symbol of power: Nicknamed "The Mighty Hood," the battlecruiser was a prominent symbol of the Royal Navy and its strength around the world. A unique class: It was the only ship of the Admiral-class battlecruisers to be completed, as the ot