John Turner was born on 17 May 1910 in Sheffield.  He joined the Royal Navy in May 1929. After training he served in the destroyer HMS WATCHMAN.

Jack volunteered for submarines in March 1933, and qualified in June 1933.  In 1934 John was in HMS PARTHIAN stationed in the Far East.  He fractured his skull diving off the conning tower to bathe at Wei Hai Wei in August 1934. In October 1936 he was injured in a fight with Japanese port police at Keelung on Taiwan.  His Hurt Certificate reports that he was beaten up by the Japanese.

He joined HMS TRIDENT in build at Birkenhead in May 1939.  TRIDENT was commissioned on 1 October 1939 and sailed from Birkenhead to Plymouth.  He left in October 1939 and came ashore to HMS DOLPHIN, until drafted to HMS MEDWAY in July 1940, working in the Auxiliary Machinery Space and the Engineer’s store.  He probably joined HMS TRIUMPH in late 1940.

John Turner died when TRIUMPH was lost with all hands having apparently struck a mine in the Aegean Sea.  He was the husband of Mary Turner, of Burnley, Lancashire, whom he had married in 1935.  He had two children, Eileen and Jack. He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial, Panel 70, Column 3.