Leading Signalman
Victor Albert Alexander
HABGOOD
Royal Navy
21

Victor Habgood, the son of Victor St Claire and Hannah Amelia Habgood, was from Windsor in Berkshire where he attended St Edward’s School and had been a server at St Edward’s Roman Catholic church.
He joined the Royal Navy on 26 May 1939 at HMS GANGES and did his submarine training at HMS DOLPHIN. He was drafted to the depot ship HMS CYCLOPS at Harwich on 17 June 1941 from where joined HMS P41 on 25 November of that year. After leaving the submarine he was drafted to HMS AMBROSE, the submarine base at Dundee. He rejoined the boat on 18 June 1942, by which time it had been transferred to the Royal Norwegian Navy and renamed HNoMS UREDD.
Unusually, Victor Habgood’s memory is preserved on film. Speaking in 1985 his cousin William Habgood said “There was a film during the war called ‘All at Sea’ starring the comedian Sandy Powell. Victor was sitting on the dockside when they were filming. He wrote and told us – I went to see it, and there he was, grinning and waving.”
HNoMS UREDD was lost on or around 10 February 1943 after hitting a mine. She was officially reported overdue on 26 February 1943.
He is commemorated on Panel 76, Column 3 of the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.