-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.

William Connor

William Connor was born in 1883, before almost all other sailors who served in Hood. By the time he joined her at Rosyth he was almost 37 years old, and already had nearly twenty years Royal Navy service. Seventeen of these were in his final rate of Able Seaman. his service prior to joining Hood included action at the Battle of Jutland in the Battleship H.M.S. Erin.

His draft to Hood, which he joined on 15th April 1920 - a month before her commissioning - was his last in the Royal Navy. He served in Hood for her more than three and a half years. His record in the Service ledger gives his youthful employment as journalist and he seems to have retained his love of the written word: papers still held privately in his home county of Cork reveal that following his discharge on pension he became the civilian manager of Hood's bookshop - a role which he held during the Empire Cruise of 1923/24. This would suit an elderly, trustworthy and reliable rating he had a long list of Superior professional assessments to his name. Following his Royal Navy time, William seems to have returned to Queenstown (now Cobh) in his native Ireland. It is clear that he retained his interest in Hood even after his discharge from Service in 1923: his surviving papers include written material up to 1927, including newspaper articles about the ship and a 'potted history' up to 1924 which he himself wrote.