ELDRIDGE, Bertie Douglas Messines

Portsmouth Naval Memorial, UKCredit: CWGC

Stoker 2nd Class
HMS Hood - Battlecruiser
Royal Navy

Bertie was born on the 18th of May 1917 in Newport to Albert Edward & Lucy (nee TUCK) who were living in Ryde around the time of Bertie’s death. In 1938 the family were living at 2 Coppins Bridge in Newport.

Bertie, aged 24, was a Stoker aboard the Battlecruiser HMS Hood, when on the 24th of May 1941 she intercepted Bismarck & her consort, the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, in the Denmark Strait between Greenland & Iceland. A fierce gun battle took place, The Hood was badly damaged & sank stern first with 1,418 men aboard, including Bertie. Only three men survived.

Bertie is commemorated by the Commission on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial with nearly 15,000 Second World War shipmates.

Bertie is also remembered on the Newport Borough War Memorial. His brother Raymond Horace was also Lost at Sea in the Second World War.

CWGC Casualty Record

Cemetary

Sons & Daughters Commemorated Far From Home

Those from the Newport & Carisbrooke area who are buried or commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission outside of the area, both in the UK and in other countries.

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The image is of the Tyne Cot Military Cemetery & Memorial in Belgium.