A NORTH-EAST man who was the last survivor of the stricken battle cruiser HMS Hood in the Second World War has died.

Ted Briggs, who was born in Redcar, east Cleveland, died on Saturday, aged 85.

He was one of only three of its crew which survived when the vessel was sunk by the German battleship Bismarck on May 24, 1941.

Mr Briggs was born on March 1, 1923, and it was in the summer of 1935 that as a 12-year-old, he first saw the HMS Hood when the pride of the Royal Navy anchored off Redcar.

He signed up for the Royal Navy as soon as he was old enough and he was later posted to the very ship which had inspired his naval career.

In his book, Flagship Hood, Mr Briggs said: “I stood on the beach for some considerable time, drinking in the beauty, grace and immaculate strength of her.”

After being assigned to the HMS Hood, he said: “It never once occurred to me that she might be sunk. As far as I was concerned, she was invincible.

And everybody on board shared this view.”

Today, the Hood lies rusting on the ocean bed beneath the Denmark Straits, off the coast of Iceland.

Mr Briggs, along with William Dundas and Bob Tilburn, survived by clinging on to small rafts for four hours while singing Roll Out the Barrel in order to stay awake.

He served 35 years in the Royal Navy, reaching the rank of lieutenant. He was awarded an MBE in 1973, and until his retirement in 1988 worked as a furnished letting manager for an estate agent in Fareham, in Hampshire.

Mr Briggs married twice.

He is survived by his second wife, Clare.