Lost My Battleship: 5 Times When the Unthinkable Went Down (Think Mutiny)

Robert Farley

Security,

Yes, even on a battleship. 

Given the political magnitude of naval mutinies, it is unsurprising that officials have taken steps to prevent such revolts, and to suppress them as quickly as possible when they break out.

Battleships were a huge investment of national treasure and national pride. Indeed, in some cases they arguably represented an over-investment. This can become awkward when those ships are lost, either by enemy action or by accident. But it becomes exceptionally awkward when the crews of those ships turn their guns in the wrong direction.

(This first appeared last month.)

Here, we look at five examples of battleship crew mutinies in the twentieth century. Some of these mutinies were put down without consequence, others led to bloodshed, and still others helped spark revolution.

Potemkin Revolt:

Commissioned in 1903, the thirteen-thousand-ton pre-dreadnought battleship Potemkin was designed to serve in the Black Sea Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy. When war with Japan came in 1904, Turkish intransigence prevented the transfer of the Black Sea Fleet to the Far East. This was likely fortunate, as it would merely have given Adm. Togo Heihachiro the opportunity to sink a few more Russian ships. In any case, experienced officers and crew members did join the ill-fated task force on its way to the Pacific, denuding the Potemkin of experienced, capable personnel.

Defeat at the Battle of Tsushima led to unrest across Russia, and particularly in the Navy. Radicals began organizing within the Black Sea Fleet, hoping to launch a coordinate revolt. Enlisted personnel onboard Potemkin jumped the gun, however, when a dispute over poor food led to the firing of shots. On June 27, the crew seized the ship and killed several of the officers. The mutineers then took the ship to Odessa to support a general strike. The rest of the Black Sea Fleet sortied in an effort to corral the Potemkin, but unrest and uncertainty prevented any concerted action. Potemkin escaped to Romania, where the crew sought and received asylum. They scuttled the ship before abandoning it, but Russian authorities took possession of the vessel, refloated it, and reincorporated it into the fleet.