-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.

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Peter Henry Weir

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Date of birth: 6th December 1904
Place of birth: Kilrush, County Clare, Ireland
Previous occupation: Schoolboy
Service: Royal Navy
Rank: Telegraphist
Service Number: J101302
Joined Hood: 12th August 1922 (Boy Telegraphist)
Left Hood: 7th May 1925 (Telegraphist)







Biographical Information:

Peter Henry Weir was born in Kilrush, County Clare, Ireland. He ran away to sea at 15 (he claimed to be older than he actually was.) Interestingly, his RN service documents list him as 'Ware', although a later addition also mentions the name 'Weir'. He joined the Royal Navy twice: in May 1920 he joined as a Boy Second Class, only to be discharged a month later as medically unfit. But he rejoined very early the following year, clearly having overcome whatever had ailed him a year earlier. Having enlisted in Devonport, he was trained at H.M.S. Ganges in 1921 as a Boy Telegraphist. before, in 1922, being drafted to H.M.S. Hood, in which he served for nearly three years. After Hood, he served briefly in HMS Vivid barracks and in the elderly battleship HMS Thunderer, which had been converted to a training ship. In 1925 he applied to serve for two years in the Royal Australian Navy, where he served at the training establishment HMAS Cerberus, HMAS Anzac and the elderly ex-RN destroyer HMAS Swordsman.

In 1926, however, Peter bought himself out of the RAN. He married Blanche, an Australian woman, at about this time, and started a construction business in which, in later years, his two sons joined him. With the advent of World War II, however, Peter Weir joined the Royal Australian Navy Fleet Reserve on 23 December 1939 as a Telegraphist. He would serve for 5 years. He was ultimately demobbed on 14 November 1945, after the war had ended.

Peter and his wife passed away in 1977, within about three weeks of each other.



Additional Photos



Peter Weir and his bride, Blanche, on their wedding day.




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)
Marilyn Elizabeth Featon (information, April 2005)
Stephen Weir, grandson, photo and biographical detail October 2023.