Microsoft founder Paul Allen plans to loan his superyacht to the Royal Navy, free of charge, after the Olympics.
The Navy will use Octopus to retrieve the bell from battlecruiser HMS Hood, which sank during World War II in the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland.
A spokesman for Allen’s private investment firm Vulcan Capital told the New York Post that the billionaire is loaning the superyacht free of charge so that the Navy can “present the bell to the British people”.
HMS Hood, photo by An Honorable German
It’s hoped the bell will be displayed as a memorial to the 1,415 people who died when she sank in 1941.
“This is a huge collaborative effort,” the spokesman said, “and one we believe will result in a fitting memorial to the ship and the many men lost at sea.”
Octopus is currently berthed at Canary Wharf, where she’s expected to stay for the duration of the Olympics.