A BID is to be made to recover the bell of the battle cruiser HMS Hood, which was sunk in 1941.
If recovered successfully, the bell will be a memorial to the ship and the 1415 men who died when it was sunk by the battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic.
Hood is the largest Royal Navy vessel ever sunk, with the biggest loss of life on any single British warship. Only three men survived.
The Ministry of Defence said US philanthropist Paul G Allen had offered to recover the bell for free.
The Microsoft co-founder's yacht Octopus, equipped with a remotely operated vehicle, will be used for the operation, which will be supported by shipwreck investigation specialists, Blue Water Recoveries Ltd.
A previous expedition by the company found and photographed the bell, an MoD spokesman said. It is on the seabed well away from the ship's hull, which will not be disturbed by the recovery operation.
If the recovery mission succeeds, the bell will be put on show by the National Museums of the Royal Navy (NMRN), and form a major feature of a new hall at the Royal Navy Museum in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. HMS Hood was based in Portsmouth.
Rear Admiral Philip Wilcocks is president of the HMS Hood Association, which includes men who served on the ship before its last mission, and relatives of those lost.
He said: "There is no headstone among the flowers for those who perish at sea. For those who lost their lives in HMS Hood, the recovery of her bell and its subsequent place of honour in the museum will mean that, well after the remains of Hood have gone, future generations will be able to gaze upon her bell and remember with gratitude and thanks the heroism, courage and personal sacrifice of Hood's ship's company."
Professor Dominic Tweddle, director general of the NMRN, said: "It will be an honour and privilege to display the bell from HMS Hood. Our new galleries, opening in April 2014, will recall and commemorate the heroism, duty and sacrifice of the people of the Royal Navy in the 20th and 21st centuries. Hood's bell encapsulates the whole of that story."
The HMS Hood was found in 2001, 2800 metres down in the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland. It is designated under the Protection of the Military Remains Act 1986, but the Government has licensed recovery of the bell.
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