-H.M.S. Hood Crew Information-
H.M.S. Crew List

It is estimated that as many as 18,000 men served aboard the 'Mighty Hood' during the operational portion of her 21 year career. Unfortunately, there is no surviving official single listing of ALL men who served in her. Here you will find our attempt at creating such a listing. We are using the few, fragmentary crew lists known to exist, Navy Lists, various official reports, public records, and most importantly of all, inputs from the families of former crew.

Chainbar divider


John Bell Anderson

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Date of birth: 6th August 1903
Place of birth: Camberwell, London
Previous occupation: Message Boy
Service: Royal Navy
Rank: Able Seaman
Service Number: J94021
Joined Hood First time: 1st April 1920 (Boy 1st Class)
Left Hood First time: 6th January 1922 (Able Seaman)
Joined Hood Second time: 15th May 1923 (Able Seaman)
Left Hood Second time: 6th January 1926 (Able Seaman)





Biographical Information: John Bell Anderson, known as Jack, was born in London but lived in Belfast as a boy. He joined the Royal Navy on the last day of 1918, at the age of fifteen, as a Boy Second Class. On his eighteenth birthday he signed on for twelve years mans time. He was drafted to Hood for the first time on 10 April 1920, and by the time he left on 6 January 1922 he had been advanced twice - first to Ordinary Seaman and then to Able Seaman. It was Johns good fortune to be drafted to Hood a second time on 15 May 1922 and to remain on board until 6 January 1926 which meant that he was onboard during the Empire Cruise of 1923-4. That experience must have stayed in his mind, because his great-nephew Tim Evans recalls John talking about the cruise when he was an old man. Jack elected to leave the Service as a Leading Seaman at the end of his twelve-year engagement, on 5 August 1933, the day before his 30th birthday.




History of ships served in and ratings held:


Date FromDate toShipRatingSource
31st December 191813th June 1919ImpregnableBoy 2nd ClassADM188/8365
14th June 191913th October 1919ImpregnableBoy 1st ClassADM188/8365
14th October 191930th November 1919PowerfulBoy 1st ClassADM188/8365
1st December 191915th January 1920ImpregnableBoy 1st ClassADM188/8365
16th January 19204th March 1920LionBoy 1st ClassADM188/8365
5th March 192031st March 1920Crescent (Hood)Boy 1st ClassADM188/8365
1st April 19205th February 1921HoodBoy 1st ClassADM188/8365
6th February 19212nd August 1921HoodOrdinary SeamanADM188/8365
3rd August 19216th January 1922HoodAble SeamanADM188/8365
7th January 192224th February 1923Vivid IAble SeamanADM188/8365
25th February 192317th April 1923DefianceAble SeamanADM188/8365
18th April 192314th May 1923Vivid IAble SeamanADM188/8365
15th May 19236th January 1926HoodAble SeamanADM188/8365
7th January 192627th September 1926DefianceAble SeamanADM188/8365
28th September 19261st November 1926Vivid IAble SeamanADM188/8365
2nd November 192618th March 1929DurbanAble SeamanADM188/8365
19th March 19296th December 1929DefianceAble SeamanADM363/373
7th December 19296th January 1930Vivid I-IIIAble SeamanADM363/373
7th January 193022nd June 1930RodneyAble SeamanADM363/373
23rd June 19305th September 1930RodneyActing Leading SeamanADM363/373
6th September 19308th September 1930Vivid I-IActing Leading SeamanADM363/373
9th September 193028th October 1930DefianceActing Leading SeamanADM363/373
29th October 193010th November 1930Vivid I-IActing Leading SeamanADM363/373
11th November 193022nd June 1931Vivid II-IV (Walker)Acting Leading SeamanADM363/373
23rd June 193131st December 1931Vivid II-IV (Walker)Leading SeamanADM363/373
1st January 193210th January 1933Vivid I-IV (Warwick)Leading SeamanADM363/373
11th January 19334th May 1933DefianceLeading SeamanADM363/373
5th May 19335th August 1933DorsetshireLeading SeamanADM363/373


Additional Photographs
None at this time.




Memorials
No known memorials



Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
'Register of Deaths of Naval Ratings' (data extracted by Director of Naval Personnel (Disclosure Cell), Navy Command HQ, 2009)
Great-nephew Tim Evans 2018.
The Empire Cruise by VC Scott O'Connor