The Royal Indian Navy Mutiny

[EyanKhan]

The Royal Indian Navy Mutiny

Perhaps the largest in history, the mutiny of the Royal Indian Navy in 1946 involved over 20,000 sailors across 78 ships and 20 bases on land. It was inspired by a combination of poor conditions, particularly around food, and growing opposition to British rule. It began on February 18 and had reached its full glory within 24 hours, led by a signaler named M.S. Khan.

By the next morning, the naval ensigns on the navy’s ships had been replaced with the Indian tricolor flag. News of the mutiny spread throughout India, and the sailors were welcomed ashore as heroes. Police, students, and workers’ unions went on strike in support. Around 1,200 members of the Royal Indian Air Force marched in favor of the actions. The Brits inevitably panicked.

The Royal Navy were ordered to put down the revolt. Royal Air Force bombers flew low above the Indian ships as a scare tactic. The mutineers were ordered to signal their surrender by raising a black flag. The sheer numbers on both sides made an Indian war of independence entirely possible. However, it wasn’t the British that put down the uprising, but India’s most prominent nationalists.

Mahatma Gandhi was the leader of the National Congress of India, whose flag had been hoisted on the ships. Along with members of India’s Muslim League, he called on the mutineers to surrender. They were disorganized, with no clear goal, and Gandhi really didn’t want a violent resolution. On February 23, the massive rebellion was over as quickly as it had begun.



Credits :Listverse
It's an interesting read. Never heard about it or even seen it mentioned in history books etc

@
Indischer Did you know anything about it?

 

[dray]

Check this:
"WHICH phase of our freedom struggle won for us Independence? Mahatma Gandhi’s 1942 Quit India movement or The INA army launched by Netaji Bose to free India or the Royal Indian Navy Mutiny of 1946? According to the British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, during whose regime India became free, it was the INA and the RIN Mutiny of February 18-23 1946 that made the British realise that their time was up in India.

An extract from a letter written by P.V. Chuckraborty, former Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, on March 30 1976, reads thus: "When I was acting as Governor of West Bengal in 1956, Lord Clement Attlee, who as the British Prime Minister in post war years was responsible for India’s freedom, visited India and stayed in Raj Bhavan Calcutta for two days`85 I put it straight to him like this: ‘The Quit India Movement of Gandhi practically died out long before 1947 and there was nothing in the Indian situation at that time, which made it necessary for the British to leave India in a hurry. Why then did they do so?’ In reply Attlee cited several reasons, the most important of which were the INA activities of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, which weakened the very foundation of the British Empire in India, and the RIN Mutiny which made the British realise that the Indian armed forces could no longer be trusted to prop up the British. When asked about the extent to which the British decision to quit India was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s 1942 movement, Attlee’s lips widened in smile of disdain and he uttered, slowly, ‘Minimal’."

The Sunday Tribune - Spectrum

 

[dray]

@EyanKhan Wikipedia has a detailed note of it:

Royal Indian Navy mutiny - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[rockstarIN]

It is very lesser known, but one of the main reason of British withdrawal from Indian Sub continent.

 

[SarthakGanguly]

The Royal Indian Navy Mutiny

Perhaps the largest in history, the mutiny of the Royal Indian Navy in 1946 involved over 20,000 sailors across 78 ships and 20 bases on land. It was inspired by a combination of poor conditions, particularly around food, and growing opposition to British rule. It began on February 18 and had reached its full glory within 24 hours, led by a signaler named M.S. Khan.

By the next morning, the naval ensigns on the navy’s ships had been replaced with the Indian tricolor flag. News of the mutiny spread throughout India, and the sailors were welcomed ashore as heroes. Police, students, and workers’ unions went on strike in support. Around 1,200 members of the Royal Indian Air Force marched in favor of the actions. The Brits inevitably panicked.

The Royal Navy were ordered to put down the revolt. Royal Air Force bombers flew low above the Indian ships as a scare tactic. The mutineers were ordered to signal their surrender by raising a black flag. The sheer numbers on both sides made an Indian war of independence entirely possible. However, it wasn’t the British that put down the uprising, but India’s most prominent nationalists.

Mahatma Gandhi was the leader of the National Congress of India, whose flag had been hoisted on the ships. Along with members of India’s Muslim League, he called on the mutineers to surrender. They were disorganized, with no clear goal, and Gandhi really didn’t want a violent resolution. On February 23, the massive rebellion was over as quickly as it had begun.



Credits :Listverse
It's an interesting read. Never heard about it or even seen it mentioned in history books etc

@
Indischer Did you know anything about it?

Thanks for this post. Wish I could give a Positive Rating.

Guess which political party played spoilsport? The same one that is eroding India today.

For a brief period of time, the Indian Independence Movement was hijacked from the Indian National Congress. The British were not the only ones to be alarmed. Gandhi was alarmed as well, and condemned the sailors in no friendly terms. True - the Muslim League also condemned it, but that is not my concern.

Had it seen more success, India could probably have got its freedom but not on the terms of Jinnah, Nehru and Gandhi.