Themes

The Navy's People

• Naval Lives

• In Focus: Women in the Navy

• In Focus: Recreation and Time off

• In Focus: Discipline and Punishment

  • Regulating Branch History

  • Lower Deck Reforms 1900-1919

  • The 'On the Knee' Mutiny, 1906

  • Newport Mutiny 1921

  • The Invergordon Mutiny, 1931

Learning

• How To: Understand Naval Medals

The Newport Mutiny of 1921

Article Highlights

• Introduction

• The growing discontent of No.2 Battalion

• Personal experience of Captain Kennedy

• Summary of major complaints

• Aftermath

Aftermath

As a result of this mutiny Captain Kennedy had a court-martial on 12 June 1921 at the Royal Naval Barracks in Portsmouth. The court condemned him for his failure to handle the situation correctly. The court-martial reprimanded Kennedy and the Navy discharged him a year later as a result of the Geddes Act, which retired a number of senior officers. When war broke out in 1939 the Navy recalled him into service once again in his original rank as a Captain.

The Navy appointed Captain Kennedy commanding officer of HMS Rawalpindi, a P&O passenger liner/freight liner which they converted to an armed merchant cruiser. On 23rd November 1939, armed with only six-inch guns, the vessel encountered the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gniesanau (armed with eleven inch guns). Against such overwhelming odds the Rawalpindi went down fighting, its ensign still flying, with 270 of her crew including Captain Kennedy.

From the men who took part in the mutiny no real ringleaders were identified. The Leading Rates were discharged as 'services no longer required', whilst the majority of the men were refused re-enrolment after the completion of their current engagements. A police inspector from Scotland Yard, sent to assist the court of inquiry, suggested another reason for the battalions unrest; 'they lacked the enthusiasm in their job, which was regarded as tame with war service and were not inspired the same way.'

Related External Links

• Royal Naval Museum Collection Catalogue Online