-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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Ronald Victor Slade

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Date of birth: 20th July 1911
Place of birth: Cowes, Isle of Wight, Isle of Wight
Previous occupation: Baker's roundsboy
Service: Royal Navy
Rank: Able Seaman
Service Number: JX129836
Joined Hood: 10th October 1936
Left Hood: 29th November 1940







Biographical Information: Ronald Victor Slade was a native of Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, just across the Solent from the dockyard city of Portsmouth. Ronald joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Second Class on 5th May 1927, not long before his 16th birthday.

Ronald joined HMS Hood as an Able Seaman on 10th October 1936 and spent over four years on board, which included the tragic action against French ships at Mers el Kébir, in North Africa. Ronald was drafted off Hood on 29th November 1940, some six months before Hood’s loss.

Ronald saw much further action in World War II in the cruiser HMS Manchester, including Russian convoys and culminating in the scuttling of Manchester off North Africa during the famous Malta convoy ‘Operation Pedestal’. There followed 15 months as a prisoner of war of the Vichy French until Allied victory in North Africa restored his freedom in late 1942. Ronald then saw further sea service in the battleship HMS King George V. He remained in the Royal Navy after the War, eventually transferring to being a Leading Electrical Mate. He was discharged to pension on 19th January 1953.

As a civilian, Ronald kept his domicile in the Isle of Wight, and found employment with hovercraft builders Saunders Roe. He died in his home town of Cowes in 1982.



Additional Photos



Ronald Slade in an HMS Hood ship's team in 1938. Ronald is fourth from the left, back row.



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)
Photos Penny Graves, granddaughter, 2019, and Mike Grimes.