-H.M.S. Hood Crew Information-
H.M.S. Hood Rolls of Honour
Memorials to Men Lost in the sinking

In Remembrance of
Ralph William Trotter

Ralph was born on 28th January 1899 in Hinckley, Leicestershire. He was one of four children (2 girls, 2 boys) born to Nathaniel Joseph Henry Trotter (b 1858 d 1933) and Emma (Mee) Trotter (b 1861 d 9 May 1906).

Ralph joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Second Class in January 1915, just before his sixteenth birthday and not long after the outbreak of the First World War. He specialised as a Telegraphist - a branch which requires above-average intellectual abilities. Ralph served right through World War I and continued in the Service afterwards, being advanced substantively to the rate of Petty Officer Telegraphist in April 1926 while serving in the battleship HMS Warspite.

On 27th January 1939, the day before his fortieth birthday, Ralph completed 22 years' 'man's time' over the age of eighteen and left the Service on pensionable terms. But the clouds of war were gathering once more and, in the week before the Second World War broke out later that year, Ralph was recalled from the reserves. Initially drafted to Victory Barracks in Portsmouth, he was drafted to the ship's company of H.M.S. Hood in May 1940. Ralph was lost in the sinking of the ship in May 1941. He was 42 years old at the time of his loss, one of the oldest men on board.

Ralph's service and influence inspired his nephew, John Henry Trotter, to follow him into the Royal Navy in 1937. John's subsequent service involved him in the continuation of the Battle of the Atlantic on convoy duty in the Western Approaches.

Hood Chapel, Church of St. John the Baptist, Boldre, Hampshire, England

Photos of the memorial

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Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Southsea, Hampshire, England

Photos of the memorial



The part of the memorial in which the Hood casualty names can be found.
(Panels 45 to 61)





Ralph's name is in Column 2 of Panel 52.





Detail of Ralph's name.

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