Why Hood's destruction shocked both navies

Why was everyone so surprised when HMS Hood exploded?

Her prestige had eclipsed awareness of her battlecruiser vulnerability, and neither side expected such a sudden catastrophic destruction.

The shock began with Hood's symbolic status as the pride of the Royal Navy. Public confidence had obscured the fact that she remained a battlecruiser with vulnerabilities. German witnesses were also horrified because crews firing at an enemy ship do not normally expect the entire vessel to explode before them. The answer joins design memory, national prestige, and the human experience of catastrophic naval loss.