-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.

James Miller

James Miller was born to James Miller & Mary Graham in Whitby, Yorkshire in January 1908. His father, an Ironstone Miner in Cleveland was killed in a mining accident at the Grinkle Mine when James was only 2. Cruelly his grandfather William Henry Miller had also been killed at the same Mine in 1888.

James worked as a Rivet Heater after leaving Central School, South Bank and joined the Royal Navy in 1924 as a Boy 2nd class at HMS Impregnable which was the Royal Navy Training Facility at Devonport. He was a very slight 16 year old only 5ft and half an inch tall with a 32 inch chest but very fit and very active probably enjoying many of the sporting opportunities which were part of the difficult training. It is believed that as one of the smaller boys in training he was used as the button boy for some of the mast displays both at Devonport and subsequently at HMS Ganges in Suffolk. He joined his first ship HMS Benbow in December 1925 seeing service in the Mediterranian and then on the recently commissioned Aircraft Carrier HMS Eagle. Further Mediterranean tours on HMS Dauntless and HMS Revenge saw him promoted to Telegraphist and while home ported after an extended tour onboard HMS Revenge married to Rachel Williams in June 1931 at Grangetown. He then lived in Codd St, South Bank. His Navy career saw him based in Portsmouth and Rachel moved south from Middlesbrough to join him. James and Rachel had four children, all the children were born in Portsmouth.

He enjoyed an exemplorary naval career specialising as a Telegraphist and rising to the rank of Chief Petty Officer during the difficult years of the Second World War. He also served on HMS Hood, HMS Mohawk, HMS King George V and HMS Duke of York collecting medals recognising service in the Atlantic, Africa, Burma and Italy. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal on 5th August 1941 for his actions while serving in HMS Mohawk after the ship engaged an Italian Convoy off the Tunisian coast. His citation was for coolness, skill and enterprise displayed when an Italian convoy was raided, some enemy ships being sunk. Reports on what was called the Battle of the Tarigo Convoy claim that the British Destroyers Radar enabled them to surprise and destroy the Italian convoy in a night raid. HMS Mohawk was sunk by the Italian destroyer Tarigo as it also sank and unfortunately 43 crew members from the ship lost their lives during the engagement. Survivors were picked up by other Ships in the flotilla with newspaper reports suggesting that James kept afloat for 3 hours before being recovered by HMS Nubian. In an unusual twist, personal jottings by James confirm that having being transferred from the sunk Mohawk to HMS Grimsby he was again sunk only a month later when the sloop was bombed by a German aircraft.

James left the navy in March 1948 and worked at Fort Southwick in Portsmouth until finally retiring in June 1974. He passed away in August 1974.

Click here for details of Hood's whereabouts during his time in the ship.