The Plymouth Herald for Saturday, September 17, 2011, carried an interesting article on the Invergordon Mutiny of 1931, when Royal Navy sailors of the Atlantic Fleet mutinied in protest at pay cuts.
Although the events largely played out at Invergordon, on the Cromarty Firth, the story has a strong Devon connection, as the affected ships of the Atlantic Fleet were based at Devonport, and a Plymouth journalist, Joe Pengelly, was central to reinvestigating the story in the 1970s, when the mutiny was still politically sensitive.
BRITAIN is in a financial crisis. The coalition Government announces cuts to the military as public spending is slashed.
The parallel with today is uncanny – but 80 years ago the response wasn't limited to mutterings about strikes by trades unions.
Instead there was anger by men in uniform.
And there was action – mutiny.
Plymouth sailors were at the centre of one of the most notorious episodes in Royal Navy history.
The Invergordon Mutiny lasted two short days in September 1931 and there were no ships sunk, no shots fired, not a single person hurt.
But the rebellion led to panic on the London Stock Exchange, a run on the Pound and a radical and permanent change in the UK's monetary system.
- The bloodless mutiny that shook nation
- RG
Invergordon Mutiny: 80 years on
