Remembering the naval mutiny 70 years ago when the British nearly blew up Bombay

[Recursion]

http://scroll.in/article/803304/remembering-the-naval-mutiny-70-years-ago-when-the-british-nearly-blew-up-bombay

Bombay and Karachi, separated by a distance of just 800 kilometres, have always been twin cities. The two have their shared communities and their shared histories. But the moment in time when they appeared most bonded, almost conjoined, was the mid-1940s.

On February 18, 1946, when ratings of the Royal Indian Navy mutinied on the signal training ship HMIS Talwar at Bombay’s dockyards, to protest against racism and bad food, the uprising spread alarmingly fast. There was a euphoric violence in Bombay and other port cities. The tremors were felt especially in Karachi, where ratings took over the ship Hindustan and the navy’s offshore installations on Manora Island, south of Karachi.

The naval mutiny lasted just four days, but its brevity did not prevent its attendant events from becoming a part of a larger narrative. With passage of time, it was recognised as one of a series of events – Quit India, the Indian National Army’s heroism, workers’ strikes and peasant upsurges – that occurred in the 1940s, and left the British with no option but to concede independence.

Early in 1946, months after the end of the Second World War, a tide of impatience and anger took over. Everywhere citizens were facing continued privations of wartime shortages and rationing, and in places soldiers who longed to go home found themselves snared in new conflicts. Besides the forgotten war in Burma, there were fresh battles in Indonesia, where the Dutch government expected the South East Asian Command (comprising British, Indian and, in some cases, surrendered Japanese soldiers) to restore order. Then there was a war on the hands of the French colonial government in Vietnam.

Other interesting bit of Mumbai naval history: the HMS Minden, on which Francis Scott Key wrote The Star-Spangled Banner, was launched from the same dock that the mutiny started at.

[Basic LA]

1. Interesting bit of history!

And I'm assuming "ratings" refers to the enlisted ranks. Great naval story. Thanks for posting.

[Recursion]

2. Doesn't USN call them that too?

I mean, we always just said "squid", but still...

[Basic LA]

3. It's complicated.

As an ex squid, USN, you earned your rating after boot camp. For instance, I became a Radioman when I went to Radioman school. While you're earning a rating, you're called a "striker." Each rating has its own symbol (sparks or little lightning bolts for Radioman, crossed anchors for Boatswain Mate, etc.) But I never heard the term "ratings" as used in the article, & to me it sounds like maybe a British usage.

[Recursion]

4. Yeah I agree it sounds very RN

But I mean my dad warned my brother before he went Navy "don't enlist without a rating". Though I guess in the Corps that's equivalent to "without an MOS".

At any rate I'm a Patrick O'Brian ("Master & Commander&quot fan and he used it, so that's enough for me...

[Rex]

5. That is a strange use for the word, I agree.

Still, very fascinating history that I did not know about.

[Codeine]

6. Yep. In Royal Navy parlance any enlisted sailor

is a "rating".

[NaturalHigh]

7. Bookmarked for later.