-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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Harry Havelock Hall

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Date of birth: 24th May 1902
Place of birth: Gateshead, County Durham, England
Previous occupation: Motor body builder
Service: Royal Navy
Rank: Able Seaman
Service Number: J84454
Joined Hood: 15th April 1920 (Boy First Class)
Left Hood: 13th Jun 1922 (Able Seaman)







Biographical Information: Harry Havelock Hall spent most of his childhood in Derbyshire, where his father was a coalminer. He was born in Gateshead in 1902, where his father worked briefly as an insurance salesman.

As a teenager, Harry left home and worked building the bodies of motor cars in Northumberland. It is from there, at the age of 15, in February 1918, that he travelled south to Devonport to join the Royal Navy. A few weeks before the end of World War 1 he was drafted to the aircraft carrier, HMS Vindictive, which took part in the British campaign in the Baltic through 1919. On 18th April 1920, shortly before his 18th birthday, he joined the first ship's company of HMS Hood, as a Boy 1st Class. He served in Hood until 15 June 1922, being advanced twice in that time, first to Ordinary Seaman and then to Able Seaman.

Harry had good memories of his time in Hood: he would tell his children about the time he was invited to tea with the King of Denmark, and that he learnt to swim in the Mediterranean. A whistle would be blown, and the crew ordered overboard into the sea. Small boats were on patrol to ensure no one got into serious difficulties.

Harry enlisted for 12 years from his 18th birthday. In 1930 he married Milicent Lander, looking very fine in his naval uniform. After Harry had completed his service in the RN, the family settled in Nottingham where, from 1935, he worked for the Post Office as a postman, a job he did until retirement. He was briefly recalled to Navy service in November 1941: he remained on shore helping new recruits with uniform. His family remembers him being away from home for a few months.

Harry passed away in Nottingham on 3rd June 1969, just after his 67th birthday.




Additional Photos



Harry and Milicent Hall on their wedding day, 29th July 1930.




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)
Biography and photos from Susan Smith, granddaughter, March 2021