Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport
Alexander Hood, 1st Viscount Bridport , KB ( December 2, 1726 - May 3, 1814 ) was an admiral in the British Royal Navy and offspring of the Hood family .
Life
Hood was the second son of Samuel Hood and younger brother of Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood . His father was a vicar in Butleigh, Somerset .
Alexander Hood joined the Royal Navy at the age of 14. In 1746 he was promoted to lieutenant and ten years later, after serving on various ships, to commander . He served for a long time as the flag captain of Admiral Sir Charles Saunders .
Promoted to captain in 1756, he took part in the naval battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759 during the Seven Years' War . In 1761 he captured a French ship of the line with a frigate - from a position that could be described as hopeless . In 1778 he took part in the naval battle at Ouessant (1778). In 1780 he became Rear Admiral and in 1787 Vice Admiral. From 1784 to 1796 he was also a member of the House of Commons. In the naval battle on the 13th Prairial ( English Glorious First of June ) during the First Coalition War , he served under Lord Howe as a squadron leader. He was made a baron for his service during this battle .
In 1795 Hood triumphed over the French under Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse in the sea battle at the Île de Groix . He managed to take three French ships of the line. But Hood, who had broken off the battle prematurely because his ships had come too close to the coast, was accused within the Royal Navy of not having achieved a major victory. From 1795 to 1800 he commanded the canal fleet and led the blockade of Brest . During the great mutiny of Spithead he only succeeded temporarily in persuading the mutineers to give in.
In 1800 he was raised to Viscount Bridport after he had been Baron Bridport, of Cricket St. Thomas , in the Peerage of Ireland since 1794 and in the Peerage of Great Britain since 1796 . The British titles expired when Hood died in 1814 without a male descendant, the Irish barony passed to the grandson of his younger brother on the basis of a special note when it was awarded.
literature
- Bridport, Alexander Hood, Viscount . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 4 : Bishārīn - Calgary . London 1910, p. 560 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
- Helmut Pemsel : World history of seafaring . Volume 6: Command of the Sea II . Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-7083-0026-2 , ISBN 3-7822-0838-2
- Elmar B. Potter, Chester W. Nimitz , Jürgen Rohwer: Seemacht. A history of naval warfare from antiquity to the present . Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-88199-082-8
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mr Alexander Hood in Hansard (English)
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| New title created |
Viscount Bridport 1800-1814 |
Title expired |
| New title created |
Baron Bridport 1794-1814 |
Samuel Hood |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hood, Alexander, 1st Viscount Bridport |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hood, Alexander; Hood, Alexander, 1st Baron Bridport |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British admiral |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 2, 1726 |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 3, 1814 |