-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


Charles Fletcher

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Date of birth: 2 September 1889.
Place of birth: Manchester, Lancashire, England
Previous occupation: Carter
Service: Royal Marines
Rank: Colour Sergeant
Service Number: Register number 611.
Joined Hood: 31st December 1924
Left Hood: 31st March 1926







Biographical Information: Charles Fletcher enlisted into the Royal Marines Light Infantry in 1907 at the age of 17 years 4 months 28 days. His first seagoing draft was to the pre-Dreadnought battleship HMS Ocean, in May 1908. By the time he joined HMS Hood in December 1924 he was a Colour Sergeant, and he served onboard in this rank until March 1926. He was promoted to Company Sergeant Major shortly after. Charles was discharged to pension on 1 September 1928. He then re enlisted in the RM police, where he rose from constable to inspector from 1931 to 1943. From this point, on he worked in the accounts department of the Royal Marines until his final retirement in the early 1960's. His entire working life had been spent in the service of the Royal Marines, in one form or another. Following his RM time, Charles and his wife Elsie, to whom he was married for more than 50 years, moved north to Yorkshire. He died in June 1968, at the age of 78.


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 certificates kindly scanned and supplied by Mr Paul Hindle of South Australia, a relative.