833 lives lost onboard the Royal Oak

EIGHT

BELLS: In memory of the 833 crew lost and, right, the pub painted pink in 2009 and, below, how it is today

‘good run ashore’. In 2014, remembering the centenary of the launch of HMS Royal Oak, and the outbreak of the Great War, a ceremony was held in The Royal Oak in memory of the crew who were lost. The pub’s bell was engraved with the name Royal Oak and thus began what became the first annual bell ceremony, which honours all those lost at sea in wartime. In 2016, the centenary of the Battle of Jutland was also marked at the Royal Oak and this was the first time the Mayor, then of Weymouth and Portland, was invited to attend. The ceremony has since come to be known as The

Last Watch and is always rounded out with traditional wartime entertainment. For many years the pub has not sported a sign as its bracket was left to rust for decades. But this was recently replaced, and a new sign depicting HMS Royal Oak as it appeared at the

Jutland battle on May 31, 1916 now hangs in place. The sign is in two-tone gold on black. On the pub’s side wall is a new metal sign spelling out Royal Oak on a green field and surmounted with a Windsor crown. The new signage is certainly more appropriate than when the pub was mistakenly painted pink. The confusion arose after someone said the pub should be painted ‘Mountbatten Pink’ –without realising this was a lower decks nickname that meant battleship grey. The error was later rectified with the pub’s new colour a home fleet, or battleship, grey as originally intended.