Paul Allen recovers bell from HMS Hood

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LONDON — An American philanthropist and investor has recovered a bell from a British battleship that was sunk in the North Atlantic during World War II.

A team led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen retrieved the bell from the HMS Hood, once the largest warship in the world and the Royal Navy's symbolic flagship. The Hood was sunk by the German ship Bismarck in the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland in 1941. All but three of the Hood's 1,418-strong crew perished.

A first attempt in 2012 to recover the bell from the wreck — lying at 2,800 meters (9,186 feet) deep — failed because of poor weather conditions and technical difficulties. Britain's Royal Navy and Allen's website said Monday a second try, using a remotely operated vehicle and working with shipwreck search company Blue Water Recoveries, succeeded on Friday.

The Hood was the largest ship the Royal Navy ever lost in action.

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