The last remaining survivor of the sinking of a Second World War warship was guest of honour at a special church service commemorating the 60th anniversary of the tragedy.

Ted Briggs, 78, from Fareham, was one of only three servicemen who escaped HMS Hood with their lives when it was shelled by the Bismarck in the North Atlantic.

About 400 people attended the hour-long service in Boldre Church, in the New Forest.

More than 1,400 crew were killed in the disaster in May 1941 while the three survivors almost died from hypothermia after clinging to rafts for nearly four hours.

Ted told the Daily Echo: "It all happened so quickly. She went down in three minutes. We were in the water for three-and-a-half hours. It was so cold."

Commander Tony Pearse, who organised the church service, said: "It went very well indeed. It was packed with over 400 people.

"I got the Royal Navy involved and they put up a marquee. The Navy was officially represented. It was a very moving occasion."

So many people turned up at the service that a closed-circuit television was linked up so that the guests in the marquee could still see the ceremony.

Yesterday it was announced that a multi-million-pound expedition was to hunt for the final resting place of HMS Hood.

Meanwhile, more than 100 veterans met at London's Imperial War Museum to mark the pursuit and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck.

The battleship was launched in 1939 and was the most formidable warship of her time, armed with eight 15-inch and 12 5.9-inch guns.

She was destroyed on May 27, 1941, after an eight-day chase in the Atlantic, removing a major threat to Britain's vital Atlantic lifeline.

There were just 115 survivors from a crew of 2,200.

The gathering is thought to be the last of its kind as many of the ships' associations are being disbanded.

One guest was Lieutenant-Commander John Armstrong, a member of the crew of an antiquated Maryland bomber which was first to bring news that the Bismarck and her consort, the Prinz Eugen, had broken out into the Atlantic.

Lieutenant-Commander Geoffrey Brooke, author of Alarm Starboard, brought shell splinters from the Bismarck that landed on the deck of the battleship Prince of Wales in which he was serving, and Dennis Packham, a look-out on the cruiser Suffolk, was also expected.

Heinz Steeg, one of only a handful of living Bismarck survivors, was set to travel from Germany to attend the reunion.

Two buglers from the Band of the Royal Marines sounded the Last Post in memory of those who lost their lives in the action.