-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


Albert John Hester

Photo of
Date of birth: 6th May 1912
Place of birth: Guildford, Surrey, England
Previous occupation: Butcher
Service: Royal Marines
Rank: Marine
Service Number: CH/X 662
Joined Hood: 1936
Left Hood: 1937







Biographical Information: Albert was born in Guildford, Surrey on 06 May 1912. He joined the Marines at age 17 in Oct 1929. He married his wife Joan the following year.

During the course of his career, he served in the following ships:Enterprise (Oct 1931-June 1934)
Valiant (Aug 1934-July 1935)
Ramillies (Jul 1935-Jun 1936)
Hood (Sep 1936-Nov 1937)
Ajax (Aug 1939-Jun 1942)
Victorious (Sep 1942-Jan 1944)
During his service he was involved with the Battle of the River Plate and Crete.) He went on to serve for a total of 24 years.

He worked for the Cunard line after the war, but later emigrated to Canada, where he worked for CN.

Albert passed away on 22 September 1998.

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)
Certificate of Service courtesy of Kelly Karpowicz, 2014