Styrenegyrene - Thanks. That's sad news. The individual in question must have been former Signalman. Ted Briggs.
I had the good fortune recently to read and review a fine book, The Battlecruiser H.M.S. Hood: An Illustrated Biography, 1916-1941, by Bruce Taylor (Seaforth Publishing and Naval Institute Press, 2008; originally published by Chatham Publishing, 2004). I have to confess that, when I was asked to review it, my initial reaction was "just what we need: yet another book about the Hood." But this one really is different from the others. The text tells the story of the ship and her crew in greater depth than any other I've encountered - with heavy reliance on written memoirs and oral history interviews of former crew members, including Mr. Briggs. The 200+ illustrations include the best assortment of black-and-white photos I've seen. (Among my favorites: the four propellers being hauled down an English country road by traction engines, the captain's sports car neatly stowed between two secondary gun mounts, and a 1938 group portrait of the football teams from the Hood and the Graf Spee getting ready to play a match.) There's a page of stills from a 16mm color movie shot by one of the officers in 1939 and 1940. And the centerpiece of the book is a set of outstanding color computer graphics, by Thomas Schmid, showing the Hood in her 1941 configuration. For modelers, this work won't replace John Roberts's wonderful volume in the Conway Anatomy of the Ship series (which Mr. Schmid quite properly acknowledges as his principal source); Mr. Schmidt's drawings don't include hull lines, or separate views of individual details. But every Hood enthusiast who can afford it needs to get this book - and if you want only one book about her in your library, this unquestionably is the one to buy.
We're fortunate that Mr. Briggs left a memoir of his experiences with the H.M.S. Hood Association. (He also collaborated with a writer named Alan Coles on a book, Flagship Hood: The Fate of Britain's Mightiest Warship, in 1985. I haven't read that one, but I'll be on the lookout for a copy of it.) It's extremely depressing, though, to read the Roll of Honor in the appendix to Mr. Taylor's book. It lists the names of the 1,415 men and boys who went down with the ship. Scarcely anything in writing has survived from them.
I hope I may be forgiven if I use this as an excuse to get up once again on one of my favorite soapboxes. The last time I saw a figure on the subject, World War II veterans in the United States alone were dying at the rate of about 1,500 per day. One of the biggest regrets of my life is that I never did an oral history with my father (whose naval service wasn't as dramatic as H.M.S. Hood's, but who nevertheless had a great deal of interesting stuff to talk about - stuff that doesn't normally make it into the history books). I've said it before but I'll say it again to anybody who's willing to listen. If you have a relative or friend with a story about his/her military service to tell, please arm yourself with a tape recorder (or more modern electronic sound-recording device) and record that individual's memories for posterity. If possible, donate a copy to some library or archive that will take good care of it indefinitely. Your children and grandchildren will thank you. And the time to do it is NOW. You may not get another chance.
Youth, talent, hard work, and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.