　「フッド」は、イギリス海軍が第一次世界大戦後に建造した巡洋戦艦です。基準排水量42,000トン、速力31ノット、38.1cm連装砲塔4基を装備した強力な軍艦で、イギリス国民からは「マイティ（強大なる）・フッド」と称されて親しまれました。また、伸びやかで均整の取れた美しい艦容は、ジェーン海軍年鑑編集長オスカー・パークスに「軍艦美の極致」と評され、今日でも多くのファンが存在します。その優秀さゆえに就役後の改装は小規模なものにとどまり、艦容をほぼ変える事なく第二次世界大戦に参加しました。緒戦はアイスランドやフェロー諸島近海で哨戒活動に、1940年以降はサマヴィル提督率いるH部隊の主力として、北アフリカ周辺海域で作戦に従事しました。そして1941年5月24日、ドイツ海軍艦隊とデンマーク海峡で交戦中、戦艦「ビスマルク」の主砲弾の直撃により、被弾後わずか3分で轟沈しました。沈没までのわずかな時間に、同艦が前部主砲を放ったのを「ビスマルク」が確認しています。
　作品は、カタパルト作戦（メルセルケビール港のフランス艦隊がドイツに渡る事を阻止する作戦）時のH部隊旗艦「フッド」を描いたものです。その後方には、旗艦の発砲に従いメルセルケビールへの艦砲射撃を開始する戦艦「ヴァリアント」と戦艦「レゾリューション」が続きます。

The Hood was a battle cruiser built by the Royal Navy after World War I. With a standard displacement of 42,000 tons, a speed of 31 knots, and four 38.1 cm gun turrets, she was a powerful warship and was affectionately known as the "Mighty Hood" by the British public. Her beautifully proportioned and elongated appearance was described by Oscar Parks, editor-in-chief of the Jane's Fighting Ships, as "the ultimate in warship beauty," and she still has many admirers today. Because of her excellence, her post-commissioning refit was limited to a small scale, and she participated in World War II with virtually no changes to her appearance. In the early stages of World War II, she was engaged in patrol operations in the waters around Iceland and the Faroe Islands, and after 1940, as the mainstay of Force H, led by Admiral Somerville, she was engaged in operations in the waters around North Africa. Then, on May 24, 1941, during an engagement with the German naval fleet in the Denmark Strait, she was hit by a direct hit from the main gun shell of the battleship Bismarck and plunged to the bottom only three minutes after being hit. The Bismarck confirmed that the ship had discharged its forward main gun in the short time before the sinking.
This work depicts the Hood, the flagship of Force H during Operation Catapult (an operation to prevent the French fleet in the port of Mers-el-Kébir from crossing over to Germany). Behind her are the battleships Valiant and Resolution, which follow the flagship's firing and begin firing their guns at Mers-el-Kébir.