SOME POINTS TO LOOK FOR ON THE PDF FILE OF ‘1936 HEALTH IN THE NAVY’.

Firstly note the Boys' Training Establishments namely Impregnable, St Vincent and Ganges on the HOME STATION.   The numbers under training are extremely interesting for 1936 and notice that over half the Ganges boys' went down with diseases during the year. However, look at the DISCHARGED TO HOSPITAL column [extreme right]. It could be argued that Ganges, with 2425 boy’s and 165 hospitalisations had predictably {?} pro-rata, a far better record than the other two. On pro-rata numbers alone, to achieve parity with Ganges, St Vincent should have had just 80 {instead of 372} hospitalisations and Impregnable, just 9 {instead of 74}. That is proof, were proof needed, that Ganges boys’ are the crème-de la-crème – only teasing!

Moving on to the column “Average Complement Corrected For Time”. At first this confused me [and there are no explanations in the report], but now having worked it out I pass on my solution to you. Open up the PDF Bookmark Tab [left hand side] and chose HOME STATION & HOME FLEET. That will bring the Home Fleet into your view, starting with the battleship HMS NELSON. Look at HMS HOOD. As a Home Fleet Battlecruiser, her ‘PERIOD’ is shown as 1 Jan to 12 Aug. 1936 was a leap year, so the number of days in the period were 225. The Average Complement column for 225 days was 810 men, therefore the crew for 366 days would be 810 x 366 ÷ 225 = 1317 which was approximately half way between Hood’s peace time and war time complement [ at the time of her loss in 1941, it was just above 1400]. All the figures in that line now make sense, and if you took at her ‘DISEASED’ number of 178 and her ‘injured’ number of 39, the two add up to a total of 217 men who were ill [in some way or another]. Now divide this number by the average crew viz 217 ÷ 810 = 0.26 [using two decimal places only]. The number shown for hospitalisation [70 in this case] represent 70 from the 217 cases of disease/injury combined and plays no part in this ‘per man’ calculation.

If you now go back to the PDF bookmark tabs and click on Home Fleet 2 Mediterranean State 1, and then just scroll up a little, you will see HOOD again now part of the Mediterranean Fleet. This time her score has dramatically increased upward to 0.49, and in a lesser period [141 days] she has had more disease, more injuries and more hospitalisations based on her average complement of 430 men. If you add the two periods together 225 + 141 = a whole leap year, 366 days.

Just goes to show, that being in sunnier parts doesn’t always mean a healthier life style. Now in case you are thinking [perhaps naturally] about the ladies of the Mediterranean, don’t be too sure that your assumptions are correct. In my paper on the Royal Naval Warrant Officer [in three parts] displayed on this site, I did a similar exercise for 1865 just 71 years prior to this study. You can read that ‘in depth’ paper here – use the SEARCH FACILITY on my home page. The findings all pointed to much more venereal disease in the three UK naval ports than in ports abroad frequented by royal sailors. As a consequence, VD at home was always more of a worry to the authorities than in foreign parts.

I will leave you now. Note the healthiest ships and the ‘lame duck’ ships. Despite the period shown, the ‘per man’ index is based on an ‘average complement’ so the figures produced are reliable and sound.