HMS Hood:

In Remembrance
In Remembrance

Here we have added photos that have been sent to us and photos we have found on the net in the public domain from the Second World War.
In Remembrance has no connection to Soldiers off the street but we thought it would serve as a remembrance for us all.
If you have any old photos please send them with a small write up and we will publish them for you.
E-Mail: remembrance@soldiersoffthestreet.com
In Remembrance
In Remembrance
HMS Hood

Here are two very good clips:
Sinking of the HMS Hood.
HMS Hood sinking & survivor Ted Briggs.

Click on thumbnail to see full size photo:



This is the RM Detachment who traditionally manned one of the main armament turrets on a large ship. This was taken on the Hood in 1924. The two officers sitting centre in second row are, one the left the WO, and on the right a General List officer, a Major or a Captain R.M.

A Whalers crew, this time composed of Royal Marine Bandsmen with their naval boss, possibly the senior boats officer or even the first lieutenant.

Just how do you position a crew of over 1400 men into one picture? - take two pictures I would think. I don't think there are over a thousand men here, do you? The picture gives you some idea of the beam and height of the ship above 1 deck {upper deck}. Look for the ships trophies {the silver-ware} under and in the middle of 'A' Turret immediately aft of the ship's life-buoy. Picture taken in Grand Harbour Malta.

The WO's of the ship. Warrant officers wore thin stripes (quarter inch) and Commissioned Warrant Officers wore a thick stripe (half inch) - one such officer is clearly shown standing on the right hand side of the picture. Here there are 20, but at the time of Hood's destruction there were 16, 9 WO's and 7 CWO's. Fitting for such a huge gun ship, she had 4 Gunnery CWO's and 1 Ordnance CWO's, plus 1 Telegraphist CWO, 1 Schoolmaster CWO. The 9 WO's were 1 Boatswain, 1 Signalman, I Supply, 1 Electrical, 1 Ordnance, 1 RM Bandmaster, and 3 Engineers.


Lots of 15-inch shells on deck ready to be placed below into the magazine. The place is Malta, which in blue suits, means the autumn to spring months.

The starboard battery which was Royal Marine territory. Here we see 'Royals' relaxing - one reading and one writing, with a group centre stage. Note the slung hammock which is occupied {possibly by a watchkeeper} with the hammock lashing dangling from the head end. The battery gun, a 5.5-inch single barrel, can be seen over to the left of the picture with the Marine writing or reading leaning on the front face of the turret

Notice the long line of sailors stretching aft. They are being used to heave-in the paravane which is a device, looking rather like a torpedo, which is towed behind the ship connect by a wire. The wire is designed to cut free any secured {below the surface out of sight} mine thereby allowing it to show itself on the surface where it can be destroyed from the ship. Note that the crew are wearing their No3 blue suit which was a working rig in the 30's - No2 suit was for DUTY and No1's for ceremonial and for liberty ashore.

The peace and quiet of a lovely Mediterranean day is shattered by the HOOD's 15-inch guns firing at a battle practice target in 1937/38. Note that she is not cleared for action (guardrails etc) and that the all important return to Malta (socialising etc) is not overlooked because the awning stanchions are still rigged.


Hood entering Portsmouth Harbour and passing the Portsmouth Hard.

This is an anti-aircraft pom pom gun mounting being lowered for fitting into the Hood whilst at Malta in 1938. The gun fired 40mm shells and complimented the high angle [HA] firing of the twin 4-inch guns

Looks catestrophic but it isnt. January 1938 combined fleet exercise. Destroyers hiding HOOD from the enemy with a combined smoke screen.

Time to say goodbye. Captain Pridham leaving the HOOD in 1938 after being in command for two years. This is a ships whaler (crew of 6). It looks as though the stroke oarsman is an officer (certainly fore and aft rig) and the Captain, sitting in the sternsheets, is wearing a black bowler hat and civilian attire.


This is S2, another 5.5-inch obsolete [at least for HOOD's needs] gun being offl loaded from the ship (in the background) onto the jetty. It was replaced with a quick firing double barrel 4.5-inch gun capable of high angle and low angle target destruction.

HMS HOOD in the Gulf of Lyons Mediterranean 1937/38. The sea appears to be on the port bow, and if that were the case, a few points to port would have resulted in a 'better' ride.

Again, HOOD in the Gulf of Lyons. A dramatic photograph of an angry sea washing the forward 15-inch gun turrets. Upper deck out of bounds I would have thought. Even for a big ship like the Hood, a bumpy ride.

This ships mascot, a pet cat called GINGER. He was aboard during the 1937/1938 period. Whilst of course all in the crew knew about him and showed their affection, GINGER had his own favourite crewmen and tolerated the rest.


September 1938, HMS HOOD ammunitioning ship from a lighter, bringing onboard 15-inch shells. Note that health & safety hazard waiting for a disaster as the group of officers in their whites trample over the guardrails which have been willy-nilly collapsed for this event. I think the harbour is Alexandria in Egypt

Always a welcome treat in warm/hot climates - hands to bathe. This is off Palma in the Mediterranean. At the bottom you can see the boats boom secured inboard and the securing rope going up to the seaboat sitting in its davit. A scrambling net has been rigged midships with several sailors at the bottom and one half way up. Notice the second group of swimmers towards the top of the photograph.

HOOD fairly nipping along with a pronounced change of course clearly shown by her wake in a calm sea. All boilers connected and the FFO disappearing at an alarming rate. Thick black smoke from [possibly] both funnels. Note that lots of upper deck things are covered to minimise the soot fall-out. Note the NUC Cones at the dip on the port yard.

Cutter approaches the falls and the lifting gear on the davit which will lift the craft clear of the water. I have added two pictures to the albumn to show the difference between a cutter and a whaler. Note the flag on the port bow of the cutter. This is the Flag of a Vice Admiral [one red ball] who would have been Vice Admiral Commanding Battle Cruisers.


Pearl Harbor:

PHOTOS STORED IN AN OLD BROWNIE CAMERA!

Fantastic photos taken 68 years ago sent from Ted Cowen in Arizona.
Some of you will have to go to a museum to see what a Brownie camera looked like.

These photos are absolutely incredible.
Thought you might find these photos very interesting; what quality from 1941.
Pearl Harbor photos found in an old Brownie stored in a foot locker. and just recently Taken to be developed.

THESE PHOTOS ARE FROM A SAILOR WHO WAS ON THE USS QUAPAW ATF-11O.

I THINK THEY'RE SPECTACULAR!

Pearl Harbor December 7th, 1941











































USS Arizona Memorial.

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Dunkirk.


The Battle of Dunkirk during the Second World War was the defence and evacuation of British and Allied forces in Europe from 26 May to 4 June 1940. A large Allied force was cut off in northern France by a German armoured advance to the English Channel coast at Calais. Over 330,000 Allied troops caught in the pocket were successfully evacuated by sea to England.

On 31 May, General Von Kuechler assumed command of all the German forces at Dunkirk. His plan was simple: he would launch an all-out attack across the whole front at 11:00 am on 1 June. So focused was Von Kuechler on this plan that he paid no attention to a radio intercept telling him the British were abandoning the eastern end of the line to fall back to Dunkirk itself.

June 1 dawned fine and bright - good flying weather, in contrast to the bad weather that had hindered airborne operations on 30 and 31 May. (There were only two and a half good flying days in the whole operation.)[18] Although Winston Churchill had promised the French that the British would cover their escape, on the ground it was the French who held the line while the last remaining British were evacuated. Despite concentrated artillery fire and Luftwaffe strafing and bombs, the French stood their ground. On 2 June (the day the last of the British units embarked onto the ships),[19] the French began to fall back slowly, and by 3 June the Germans were two miles from Dunkirk.[20] The night of 3 June was the last night of evacuations. At 10:20am on 4 June, the Germans hoisted the swastika over the docks from which so many British and French troops had escaped under their noses.

El Alamein.


By July 1942, after its success at the Battle of Gazala, the Panzerarmee Afrika, composed of German and Italian infantry and mechanized units under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, had struck deep into Egypt, threatening the British Empire's control of the Suez Canal. General Auchinleck withdrew the Eighth Army to within 50 miles (80 km) of Alexandria to a point where the Qattara Depression came to within 40 miles (64 km) of El Alamein on the coast. This gave the defenders a relatively short front to defend and secure flanks, because tanks could not traverse the Depression. Here, in early July, the Axis advance was halted in the First Battle of El Alamein.

Eighth Army counter-offensives during July were unsuccessful, as Rommel dug in to allow his exhausted troops to regroup. At the end of July, Auchinleck called off all offensive action with a view to rebuilding the army’s strength. In early August, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and General Sir Alan Brooke, the British Chief of the Imperial General Staff, visited Cairo and replaced Auchinleck as C-in-C Middle East with General Sir Harold Alexander. Lieutenant-General William Gott was to command the Eighth Army, but was killed before taking command when the transport plane he was travelling in was shot down by Luftwaffe fighters; Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery became Eighth Army commander.


War Cemetery at El Alamein


World War 1.

Lets not forget our heroes of WW1.
This is a postcard sent from Galadriel Louise Potter's Gt Grandad "William Rowkins" to his wife Gertie in either 1915 or 16.