MUTINY OF A DAY

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXII, Issue 4640, 16 May 1938, Page 8

MUTINY OF A DAY

BRITISH LADY REJECTS COMMUNISM. (A review of “The Mutiny at Invergordon,” by Lieutenant Commander Kenneth Edwards, Retd.) If a basket of fresh fruit was responsible for the sinking of two British battleships off the South American coast in November, 1914, a gamble by the Admiralty may have helped to save the whole Atlantic Navy in September,, 1931, at Invergordon, on the Cromarty Firth, in Scotland. On Tuesday, September 15, 1931, the crews of the ships of the British Atlantic Fleet, including the battleships Rodney, Valiant, Hood, Repulse, Malaya, and Nelson, mutinied at Invergordon. It was an event that altered the course of history because it was the direct cause of Britain’s being forced off the gold standard —probably a good thing, though it was not known at the time. For the first time since the mutiny occurred the curtain, has been lifted on its cause and its effects. Lieutenant Commander Edwards (retired) says that many persons, and particularly politicians, would like to forget it. But Invergordon, he says, is history. And he adds: “The greatness of the British Empire has been built upon the faculty of the race for learning aright the lessons of history. To ignore history because it is unpleasant is to turn a blind eye to its lessons. When Nelson put his telescope to his blind eye he did so, not in flinching from the enemy, but to avoid seeing a signal to retreat. And there must be no retreat from Invergordon." Lieutenant Commander Edwards, R.N.R., is not. a sensational journalist. He entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman in 1920, served in the Mediterranean and the China Sea stations, and in 1931 was in command of a submarine. After his retirement,

due to a poisoned leg, he became naval correspondent to the old Morning Post, at that time the most Conservative daily newspaper in London. In his book, “The Mutiny at Invergordon” he tells us he has broken the silence of more than six years because he is satisfied the fault was wholly due to political administration and to subversive propaganda, which the Admiralty permitted by its secrecy; and also because he thinks the British public should know that the old naval tradition is stronger to-day than ever it was before. Invergordon did not seriously damage that, and probably it has had beneficial effects upon Whitehall. The Invergordon incidents can be traced back to the political campaign after the World War for economy at any price. The country was flooded with propaganda demanding economy. The politicians at once set about finding where "cuts” could be made, and it was decided to chop vigorously into the navy and army. The British race has a habit, once peace has descended upon it, of chopping at the services on which it depended in the years of peril. That is done all over the Empire, and no service has suffered more in this respect than the Royal Navy. Lieutenant Commander Edwards gives many illustrations, but these will suffice: Drake was ostracised in the year following his defeat of the Armada; Rooke was disgraced a few months after he took Gibraltar; Raleigh was beheaded; By.ng was shot; Hawke was burn in effigy; Rodney was recalled in ignomy; and Vernon was ruined because he insisted that the grievances of the men of the lower deck should receive attention.

That spirit prevailed immediately after the Great War when members were returned to the House of Commons on no better qualification than that of “Cut down expenses.” The Royal Navy, the sure and essential shield a few years earlier, became an expensive luxury—at least to the politicians. It was reduced to a shadow of its pre-war strength, and finally in 1931 the Government decided upon heavy “cuts.” 111-advised persons talked of saving “millions of pounds” in “cuts” in the Navy alone. And the Admiralty did not advise any of its commanding officers what was happening.

Communist agitators immediately got to work in the Navy, and the men in the Fleet at Invergordon heard the

most fantastic stories. They were told that the Government had listened to the protests of the school teachers, the police, the post office workers, and other public employees, but there was no redress for the Navy. Then came a belated Admiralty statement showing that the total amount of savings in the Navy would not be more than £1,612,000, and the Admiralty was authorised to alleviate any case of hardship. But most important of all was the penultimate sentence, which .read: “Any further refusals of individuals to carry out orders will be dealt with under the Naval Discipline Act.” This was tantamount to an amnesty for anything that had been done before the receipt of the order.

The Admiralty gambled on that and it won. The order was read to the assembled men, and they were left for a quarter of an hour to talk over the position. Then the order was given to get up steam. Every ship obeyed but one*; that was the H.M.S. Nelson. Throughout the Fleet discipline had returned, and finally the crew of the Nelson abruptly changed their attitude and the Nelson followed hexconsorts out into the North Sea night. The gamble had been successful.

Some of the aftermath was amusing; some of it showed the official mind at work. When the vessels arrived at the home port the Government sent detectives to make inquiries about dangerous men among the sailors. The sailors quickly learned who they were and told them bloodcurdling stories of desperate deeds that were going to be done in blowing up battleships. In spite of the wishes of the officers, armed guards were placed on many vessels, including one which had played the least part in the trouble. This went on adding to resentment, until Scotland Yard saw it was a sailors’ hoax. A few of the ringleaders were dismissed from the service, and many fine officers, including two Vice-Admirals, were superseded. The Government had to find some scapegoats.

At Invergordon, as in everyone of the minor incidents which have occurred in the Royal Navy, one thing stood out —that the fundamental loyalty of the men remained unshaken by what'was, to thorn, a purely domestic crisis.”

There can be nothing seriously amiss with such a Service.