The response to the loss of the Hood was generally, and initially, one of shock, tinged with sadness. The Hood had been thought of as a 'mighty' ship, the pride of the fleet, and capable of beating any ship afloat. To lose her in such an immediate manner was a real surprise. Many, especially in the Royal Navy, had friends or family aboard (or knew someone who did), and mourned for their losses as well.

The Navy was the first to know, with many ships intercepting the message about Hood's sinking sent by Prince of Wales immediately after the Denmark Strait battle. While the RN was aware of Hood's shortcomings with respect to more modern ships, the news came as a considerable shock. Paymaster Lt Keith Evans, serving aboard HMS Hawkins, described his reaction on hearing the news:

On that fateful day, after visiting Capetown and the Seychelles, we were coming alongside Mayden Wharf in Durban when on the tannoy of another ship (I think Dorsetshire) we heard the announcement 'We regret to announce that in action with the German Battleship Bismarck in the Denmark Strait off Greenland, H.M.S. Hood has been sunk, it is feared with considerable loss of life'. All hands on deck seemed to stop what they were doing for about a minute (in fact more likely several seconds). As a former shipmate I just could not comprehend that the Mighty Hood had gone and am not a bit ashamed to say that I began to cry.

Similar reactions were reported by the Reverend Kenneth Thomas, chaplain of Rodney:

It is difficult adequately to describe the gloom that existed; food went untouched in most messes, and many men, especially those who had served in the Hood, went about their work in a daze. For a time one of the chiefs cheered his mess with the suggestion that perhaps the signal had been misread, but that consolation was very quickly removed. The Hood had indeed been lost, together with most of her ship's company.

Some tempered their grief and shock with a desire for revenge, with George Blundell, first lieutenant of Nelson, stating in his diary that 'all I hope and pray for is that we get the Bismarck in revenge. It would be terrible for her to get away. Those poor fellows in Hood - Tony, Tiny Gregson, dear old Grogan, Tubby Crosse'.

Reactions amongst the civilian population were similar. The first civilians to know were the workers at the Admiralty. Gladys Wilkin, working in the Admiralty Signals Department, described her reaction to receiving the signal that Hood had been sunk:

I was shocked, stunned and unhappy. For another reason also. One of the telegraphists with whom I was particularly friendly at this time was a girl we all called 'Len' because her surname was Leonard.Her fiance was a member of the crew of the Hood and when she came back from supper I was unable to tell her of the signal because of its classification. Naturally, she learned eventually when lists of the casualties began coming in.

The news would make it to the wider population at 9pm on the 24th May 1941, when the BBC broadcast an Admiralty communique giving a terse description of the battle. The initial response was disbelief, but this soon moved to sadness, especially in naval towns like Portsmouth:

H.M.S. Hood and its loss became the topic of conversation that permeated everything. I can only describe the atmosphere now when I look back as that of a pall of shock and misery descending on the city and its environs. Every conversation wherever people gathered was constantly punctuated by the word 'Hood'.

As the hunt for the Bismarck progressed, the mood did turn somewhat to vengeance. The hunt was seen in the context of seeking revenge for Hood's loss, as shown well by the titles of the newsreels describing the sinking of the Bismarck; Gaumont British called theirs 'H.M.S. Hood Avenged', while British Movietone gave theirs the title 'Bismarck Sunk: Navy Revenges Hood by Sinking Bismarck'.