-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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John Edward Thomas

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Date of birth: 24th January 1899
Place of birth: Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Wife: Nellie Russell
Service: Royal Navy.
Rank: Able Seaman
Service Number: JX.165815
Joined Hood: 7th January 1926 (Able Seaman)
Left Hood: 27th August 1928 (Able Seaman)







Biographical Information: Born in Liverpool in 1899, John Edward Thomas joined the Royal Navy as a 'Boy, Second Class' on 18th September 1915. On his 18th birthday, while serving in HMS Temeraire, he became an Ordinary Seaman, advancing rapidly to Able Seaman just nine months later.

John joined HMS Hood on 7th January 1926, having already had some 'big ship' time under his belt in the battlecruiser HMS Glorious and the battleship HMS Ramillies. He spent some 32 months in Hood - one of the longest drafts of his career. He left the Royal Navy less than six months later, on 23rd January 1929, at the end of his 12-year engagement

With a Royal Fleet Reserve liability, however, he was mobilised in 1939, and served right through the Second World War. Although these drafts were mostly in shore billets, he participated in the destroyer attack on the Bismarck when serving in the Tribal Class destroyer HMS Zulu in 1941. By the time he was discharged a second time, in 1946, he was 47 years old.

John served in both World Wars, and survived both. Sadly, his son Bertie did not: he was killed in action in Germany in 1945. Nor did John Edward Thomas live long after the end of World War II: he died of tuberculosis in 1948. Since his death was deemed attributable to his naval service, his family received an honour scroll from the King (see below.)



Additional Photos



John Edward Thomas (R) with an unnamed friend.




John and his wife Nellie.




John and Nellie, in a less formal setting.




John serving at HMS Stag, Ismailia, Egypt, in 1942 or 1943.




John with his children Bertie, Sid and Irene.




Honour Scroll of John Edward Thomas.



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)
Mr Graham Thomas, grandson. Photographic evidence and biographical detail, 2021.