-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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William Boyd Love Holmes

Photo of
Date of birth: 1898 approximately
Service: Royal Canadian Navy
Rank: Lieutenant Commander
Service Number: O-33920











Biographical Information: William Holmes joined the Royal Canadian Navy in 1916. He excelled at Naval College, being appointed Senior Cadet Captain in his seventh term. As was the norm, he then spent some of his under-training time in ships of the Royal Navy. Unlike some, however, he spent none of his Midshipman time in HMS Hood, but rather in HMS King George V and HMS Malaya. By the time he was appointed to Hood, in the 1930s, he was a Lieutenant Commander specialising in Physical Training.

William Holmes spent only a limited time in World War II involved in the Battle of the Atlantic, instead commanding two successive barracks (as an Acting Captain.) He did, however, command the brand-new Tribal class 'super destroyer' HMCS Iroquois, as she came out of build on Tyneside, England, destined specifically for the RCN.

William Holmes was promoted to the rank of Captain RCN in 1946. He retired from the RCN just two years later. He passed away in 1989.

Details of William Holmes' career are listed below.

Naval Cadet RCN 1916 Royal Naval College of Canada (Senior Cadet Captain) (seventh term) 1916 Midshipman RCN (seniority 25 February 1919) HMS King George V 1919 HMS Malaya 1920 Acting Sub-Lieutenant RCN (seniority 24 June 1921) Sub-Lieutenant RCN (seniority 24 June 1921) HMS Excellent 1922 HMS Wistaria 1922 Lieutenant RCN (seniority 24 May 1923) HMCS Patrician 1923 HMCS Vancouver as First Lieutenant 1928 RN Barracks Portsmouth for Physical Training Officer Specialization 1930 HMS London as Physical Training Officer 1930 Lieutenant-Commander RCN (seniority 24 May 1931) RCN Barracks Halifax RN Staff Course 1931 HMS Hood 1933 HMCS StadaconaAdC (P) 1931 Staff Course 1933 HMS Hood 1935 [?] HMCS Fraser as First Lieutenant 1936 HMCS Skeena as First Lieutenant 1937 HMCS Restigouche in command 1938 Commander RCN (seniority 1 January 1940) HMCS Stone Frigate in command 1940 Acting Captain RCN 1940 HMCS Naden in command 1940 HMCS Avalon in command 1942 Reverted to Commander RCN (seniority 1 January 1940) HMCS Iroquois in command 1942 Acting Captain RCN 1943 Chief of Staff Canadian Joint Staff Washington 1943 Captain RCN (seniority 7 March 1946) HMCS Stadacona as Chief of Staff to Flag Officer Atlantic Coast 1947 Retired 26 March 1948.


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)
Photograph and biographical information supplied by Chris Varley, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.