-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.

Chainbar divider


William John Lock

Photo of
Date of birth: 31st August 1899
Place of birth: Devonport, Devon, England
Previous occupation: Assistant to the driver of a stationary engine.
Service: Royal Navy
Rank: Able Seaman
Service Number: J54144









Biographical Information: William John Lock was a Devonport man born and bred, so it is not surprising that he joined the Royal Navy at an early opportunity: he joined the training hulk HMS Impregnable, anchored in the Hamoaze, on 9th June 1916 as a Boy 2nd Class. On 24th May 1917 he was drafted to the battleship HMS Orion of the Second Battle Squadron, as a Boy 1st Class. Orion was present at the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet. By the time he joined Hood, a Devonport-based ship, on 31st December 1927 he was an Able Seaman. His time in Hood lasted until he was drafted to the barracks depot ship HMS Vivid on 1st May 1929. Almost all his shipmates would have left then too, as Hood entered Portsmouth dockyard hands for her major mid-life refit, emerging two years later as a Portsmouth ship.

William served the full 22 years 'Man's time' to qualify for a pension, and he left the service, as a Petty Officer, on 30th August 1939. However, this was just a matter of days before the declaration of the Second World War on 3rd September, and William immediately 'signed on' for further service the very next day: his 40th birthday, 31st August.

Unlike many senior sailors who signed on for hostilities William was drafted to sea, to the heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk. By an ironic twist of fate, Norfolk participated in the Battle of the Denmark Strait on 24th May 1941, so William was present at the loss of his former ship, Hood.

William Lock continued to serve in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, and was rated Chief Petty Officer (Temporary) in 1944. In later life, he remained very proud to have served in both Orion and Hood, and he kept photos of both these ships on his bedroom wall to the end of his life.


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)