-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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Charles William Hunt

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Date of birth: 13th March 1900
Place of birth: Leicester, Leicestershire, England
Previous occupation: Fitter
Service: Royal Navy
Rank: Chief Electrical Artificer 1st Class
Service Number: M30472
Joined Hood: 23rd November 1935 (Chief Electrical Artificer 1st Class)
Left Hood: 27th September 1937 (Chief Electrical Artificer 1st Class)







Biographical Information: Charles William Hunt entered the Royal Navy in March 1918 at the age of 18 - rather older than most entrants to the Service. This was because he had already embarked on a career as a fitter - a skilled engineer - which is why he was accepted for training as an artificer, the Royal Navy's cadre of skilled engineering tradesmen. The artificer branch offered a route for fast promotion to chief petty officer rate, which Charles achieved in an acting capacity in 1928, and substantively the following year.

Charles' sub-branch - as an Electrical Engineer - and his service record both suggest that he was a torpedo engineering specialist. He joined the Royal Navy at HMS Vernon, the Royal Navy's Torpedo anti Submarine (TAS) school, in Portsmouth, and returned there several times during his career. These Vernon drafts included time spent in Stokes Bay, near Portsmouth, a torpedo testing range. When drafted to sea, Charles also seems to have spent much time in 'big ships': in addition to Hood, these included three of the Queen Elizabeth class 'super dreadnoughts' - Malaya, Warspite and Queen Elizabeth herself. All of these vessels carried torpedoes.

Charles' draft to HMS Hood lasted some 22 months, from November 1935 to September 1937. This may offer further evidence that he was a torpedo specialist, since Hood's torpedo tubes were removed late in 1937, shortly after Charles left the ship.

Charles was clearly highly rated in the Service: his service record bears a string of 'Superior' professional assessments. He qualified for a naval pension in April 1940, after 22 years' adult service over the age of 18. Nonetheless, with World War II raging, he remained in service right through that war, and that included further 'sea time' in the battleship Queen Elizabeth in 1941. It is likely that he was serving in that ship when she was torpedoed and seriously damaged by Italian 'human torpedoes' in Alexandria harbour late in 1941.

Charles finally left the Royal Navy early in 1946, not long after the end of hostilities.


Additional Photographs
None at this time.


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)
Service Record: ADM363/169(Ancestry)