-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


Ronald Herbert John Clutton

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Date of birth: 11th October 1908
Place of birth: Portsmouth, Hampshire, England
Wife: Eileen May
Service: Royal Navy
Rank: Petty Officer
Service Number: J109840
Joined Hood: Mid 1930s
Left Hood: Early 1940s







Biographical Information: Ronald Clutton, a native of the dockyard city of Portsmouth, joined the Royal Navy as a fifteen-year-old Boy Second Class, at the New Entry Training establishment HMS Ganges, on 15th March 1924. Early in his career, he served successively in two battleships - Queen Elizabeth and Valiant – before further sea service in the cruiser HMS Dauntless. Ronald was six feet four inches tall, and a champion rower - a skill which he put to good use in inter-part and inter-ship competitions.

Access to his service record is incomplete, but he is known to have served in Hood in the mid-to-late 1930s, before leaving the Service as a Petty Officer. He re-entered the RN in September 1939, on the outbreak of hostilities ‘for the duration of the current emergency’ and spent much of the War stationed in HMS Rooke, Gibraltar

Ronald Clutton passed away in Gosport, near his native Portsmouth, early in 1973.



Additional Photos



Ronald Clutton




Ronald Clutton's rowing medals, most awarded during his time in Hood.



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)
ADM 188/86
Rowing trophies awarded whilst in Hood, courtesy of Paul Diprose
Photos courtesy of Paul Diprose, grandson, August 2020.