Ditty Box used aboard the HMS Hood

Historical Significance

This is a Royal Navy Ditty box, a small, lockable chest which would be issued to sailors to store private and essential personal belongings, which was used aboard the HMS Hood. This is a very rare late example, as the Navy phased out these traditional wooden boxes in 1938 (two years before these men served aboard the HMS Hood), and it has inscriptions detailing who it was used by on the inside. Upon opening the box, we are greeted with two names: R. Crane and L.A. Crane. The two men shared service numbers (KX91747) which indicates that they were either brothers or close kinsmen. The P/ seen in L.A. Crane's service number is important as it signifies the Portsmouth Port Division (which was the HMS Hood's home port), and the KX identifies them as Stokers who joined under the New Pay Code in the early 1930s.

R. Crane (Service No. KX91747) was a Stoker aboard the HMS Hood around 1940 and he served as a Stoker. L.A. Crane (Service No. P/KX91747) was a Stoker aboard the HMS Hood suspected to have been aboard at a similar time (early 1940). These two men would have served in the deep underbelly of the ship, powering her 24 oil-fired boilers by monitoring fuel sprayers using periscopes. Stokers would typically operate on a Watch system, usually 4 hours on and then 8 hours off. These were extremely hot and loud areas, with temperatures often reaching 48-65 degrees celsius (120-150 fahrehneit), and the screeching of the boilers made communication impossible. The men who performed these jobs, despite the lack of glamour, were pivotal in ensuring the ship ran smoothly, as all of the systems relied on their work. 

Unfortunately, not much information can be gathered as to the identities of these two sailors, as we do not know much more than their service numbers and names, however, it is believed that they were not aboard when the Hood was sunk, as they are suspected to have left the ship in 1940.

While this artifact is known to the HMS Hood Association, The Tench Collection provides the primary historical context for the lives of the stokers who owned it, and what their daily lives may have looked like. 

Select References & Further Reading:

• HMS Hood Association Database, HMS Crew List (Stoker R. Crane).

• HMS Hood Association Database, HMS Crew List (Stoker L.A. Crane).

• The National Archives, ADM 363 (Royal Navy Technical Ratings). 

• Northcott, M. HMS Hood: Design and Construction. Bivouac Books.

Header image: American troops approaching Omaha Beach on Normandy Beach, D-Day. Photographer Unknown, 1944. Image sourced via Public Domain.