Ronald Leslie Meek

Date of birth: 25th October 1900
Place of birth: Plymouth, Devon, Devon
Previous occupation: Schoolboy
Service: Royal Navy
Rank: Engine Room Artificer 4th Class (Acting)
Service Number: M22014
Joined Hood: 7th February 1921
Left Hood: 6th January 1922







Biographical Information: Ronald Leslie Meek - known as Les - joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Artificer on 28 July 1916, at the age of 15. During his time in Hood (relatively brief - less than a year) he was advanced from ERA5 to Acting ERA4. His service record shows that he stayed in the RN to complete a full career, reaching the rank of Chief ERA. He held this rate when he was drafted to HMS Prince of Wales in January 1941. He was present, therefore, at the Battle of the Denmark Strait, when Hood was sunk, and although he was in the engine room during the battle he had made a point, the previous day, of going onto the upper deck to see his former ship. Les remained in Prince of Wales until she herself was sunk by the Japanese in December that year. Rescued by the destroyer HMS Express, he was evacuated from Singapore before its fall, only to suffer another sinking in Hunt-class destroyer HMS Penylan less than a year later. Les left the RN in November 1945, having served in both World Wars and all the time in between. He died in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, in the second quarter of 1979, and is buried in Ludlow.

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