HMS HOOD
 

How rare are original HMS Hood cap tallies? What are they worth?

In theory they should be very common as H.M.S. Hood was used for many years as a "training ship" for newly trained sailors, many of whom had their first sea voyage on her. Due to the huge size of her crew, she could absorb fairly large groups of inexperienced sailors and give them a taste of life at sea. Thousands of sailors must have served aboard during her 21 years of service and most of them would have kept their cap tallies.

In practice, they are fairly scarce and are highly prized. Of course, at the time of her sinking, the crew would have been wearing plain H.M.S. cap tallies.

She was a large ship with a large complement, but as noted cap ribbons (tallies) are scarce. They do come onto the market and the price can be high, but I haven't seen one in a while. Please also remember that there were three earlier ships with that name and the one launched in 1891 and sunk as a block ship in 1914 would certainly have had ribbons of similar construction.

It is a common misconception that tallies bearing just "HMS" were worn at all times during the Second World War. AFO4678 of September 1942 stated that "HMS" tallies were now to be issued only and were to be worn ashore at all times, but named tallies could still be worn whilst at sea. From March 1943 only tallies with "HMS" were to be worn at all times.

So, when the "Mighty Hood" went down in 1941, Junior Ratings were still wearing H.M.S. HOOD. tallies

As a side note, her 5.5" guns were removed during a refit in 1935 and placed on Ascension Island and I believe that they are still there.

As a Collector of RN Medal Groups I am always surprised by the lack of medals to " Big Battle Wagons " such as the Hood,Battleships or Aircraft Carriers,most are not as common as there complements say they should be.