‘We Are a Modern Navy’: Abolishing the Royal Navy’s rum ration

Abstract

The Royal Navy’s daily ration of free rum to sailors was abolished in 1970. Abolition was never justified on cost grounds, unlike so many other British defence decisions. Rather, rum was no longer in keeping with a navy of guided missiles and sensitive electronics. The decision was nevertheless many years in the making. The views of officers, ratings and doctors were gathered and officials dealt across Whitehall and with ministers, press and parliament. Eventually, abolition was an idea whose time had come. This article explores the key steps and key personalities behind a significant milestone in the social history of the Royal Navy.

Key words:

• Royal Navy
• rum
• grog
• the tot
• Admiral Sir Frank Twiss
• Admiral of the Fleet Lord Hill-Norton
• David Owen

Acknowledgements

I should like to thank John Coker, Jock Gardner and the anonymous peer reviewers for their thoughts and suggestions, and Julian Wiseman whose question inspired the research.

Notes

1 ‘Raising a glass to the passing of a tradition’, Portsmouth News, 29 Jul. 2010; ‘A whopping Xmas pud beats Navy rum ban’, Daily Mirror, 1 Aug. 1970; Pack, Nelson’s Blood, 123–6; Maritime Quest website, retrieved 23 Nov. 2015: http://www.maritimequest.com/misc_pages/david_scott_collection/radm_sir_david_scott_collection_page_4.htm

2 The National Archives, Kew, (hereafter TNA), ADM 114/152, timeline produced by MoD Director of Victualling, 4 Aug. 1967.

3 TNA, DEFE 49/60, press release ‘Hard facts on rum’, undated; DEFE 69/413, report to Second Sea Lord (2SL), 23 Mar. 1965.

4 TNA, T 225/3383, Dawe to Jaffray, 8 Dec. 1969.

5 Wells, The Royal Navy, 245–7; Lavery, All Hands, 221–3; Bailey (ed.), Social Change, 194– 201; Pack, Nelson’s Blood, 110–28.

6 Pack, Nelson’s Blood, 106–7.

7 House of Lords debates, vol. 148, col. 828, 17 Jun. 1947; also House of Commons debates (HoC debs.), vol. 438, col. 114, written answers, 11 Jun. 1947.

8 TNA, ADM 1/27165, 2SL’s comments, 4 Sep. 1958 and other papers.

9 Ibid., papers of 5, 19 and 22 May 1959.

10 Ibid., Board minute 5383, 19 Jan. 1960.

11 Pack, Nelson’s Blood, 111.

12 TNA, DEFE 69/413, ‘The Rum Issue’, undated (early 1965). Here and elsewhere in the file there are references to a Jul. 1964 Board decision, although the relevant minutes in ADM 167/164 do not record it.

13 TNA, DEFE 69/413, report to 2SL, 23 Mar. 1965; A/P(65)8, 21 Apr. 1965.

14 Ibid., Hill-Norton to COs of HM Ships, Far East Fleet (FEF), 28 May 1965.

15 Ibid., Lee-White, CO HMS Euryalus, 7 Jul. 1965.

16 Ibid., Adams, CO HMS Albion, 30 Jun. 1965.

17 Ibid., Hill-Norton to Cdr FEF, 25 Jul. 1965. Elsewhere, it was said that only 30 per cent of men took the ration because at any one time nearly 70 per cent of naval ratings were either under 20 or ‘living out’ ashore, and thus not entitled: HoC debs., vol. 794, col. 1682, 28 Jan. 1970.

18 TNA, DEFE 69/413, note of meeting 21 Jul. 1966; DEFE 49/58, brief to 2SL, 12 Dec. 1966.

19 TNA, DEFE 69/413, Twiss to Cary, 10 Sep. 1966.

20 TNA, DEFE 49/58, A/P(67)14, 1 Jun. and extract of A/M(67)5, 8 Jun. 1967.

21 Ibid., A/M(67)7 Confidential Annex, 20 Jul. 1967.

22 TNA, DEFE 69/420, ‘Alcohol and the service: a report on the consumption of alcohol in the Far East Fleet’, circulated 13 Jul. 1967.

23 Ibid., Prof. G C Drew’s comments, undated.

24 TNA, DEFE 49/58, A/P(67)21, 18 Aug. 1967.

25 Ibid., AUS(NP) to Sec/2SL, 1 Sep. 1967.

26 Ibid., draft attached to Sec/2SL to DGNPS, 14 Sep. 1967.

27 Bailey (ed.), Social Change, 198.

28 TNA, DEFE 69/413, Bartosik, CO HMS London, 17 Jun. 1965.

29 Bailey (ed.), Social Change, 199; Pack, Nelson’s Blood, 119–20. Unfortunately there appears to be no specific record of this well attested meeting in the surviving MoD or Treasury files.

30 TNA, T 225/3383, Littler to Johnston, 2 Jan. 1968.

31 TNA, DEFE 49/58, note of informal Board meeting, 22 Dec. 1967.

32 TNA, T 225/3383, record of chief secretary’s meeting, 8 Jan. 1968.

33 Ibid., records of conversations, 10 and 16 Jan. 1968.

34 TNA, DEFE 49/58, note of informal Board meeting, 18 Jan. 1968.

35 Ibid., Du Merton (MoD) to Moger (HMC&E), 2 Oct. 1968, referring to correspondence as long ago as Oct. 1967.

36 Ibid., DGNPS to 2SL, 22 Mar. 1968.

37 TNA, DEFE 49/59, ‘Abolition of the spirit issue’, 31 Oct. 1968.

38 TNA, DEFE 13/791, note of informal Board meeting, 21 Nov. 1968.

39 Ibid.

40 Marjot, ‘Aspects of alcohol’ (copy in TNA, DEFE 49/59).

41 TNA, DEFE 13/791, APS/SofS note, 27 Jan. 1969.

42 Ibid., Reynolds to Healey, 29 Nov. 1968.

43 TNA, T 225/3383, Barratt to Gedling, 21 Apr. 1969.

44 Hennessy and Jinks, The Silent Deep, 266 and plate 34; ‘Navy ends the rum ration’, The Times, 30 July 1970; TNA, DEFE 49/61, undated questions and answers, Nov. or Dec. 1969.

45 TNA, DEFE 49/60 and T 225/3383, note of meeting, 26 Aug. 1969.

46 TNA, DEFE 49/60, cutting from Navy News, Sep. 1969.

47 Herd, R, ‘If the Navy Doesn’t Want a Mutiny, Hands off the Rum!’ Daily Mail, 29 Aug. 1969.

48 Quoted in TNA, DEFE 13/791, AUS(NP) to DUS(N), 29 Aug. 1969

49 Ibid.

50 TNA, DEFE 49/61, A/M(69)9, 20 Nov. 1969.

51 Ibid., PS/Min(A) to PS/SofS, 25 Nov. 1969; T 225/3383, SofS to PM, 4 Dec. and Min(A) to Ch Sec, 5 Dec. 1969.

52 TNA, T 225/3383, Dawe to Jaffray, 8 Dec. 1969.

53 A copy of the film is in the Imperial War Museum archive, ADM 6937.

54 TNA, papers in DEFE 49/61.

55 Ibid.; HoC debs., vol. 793 col. 341, written answers, 17 Dec. 1969.

56 ‘Mean-spirited and modern’, The Times, 18 Dec. 1969.

57 ‘Jack Tar is angry over very rum affair’, Observer, 21 Dec. 1969.

58 HoC debs, vol. 794, col. 1666, 28 Jan. 1970.

59 Ibid., cols. 1668–9, 1675.

60 Ibid., col. 1686.

61 TNA, DEFE 49/64, AB Todd’s letter, 9 Nov., NPD2 to CO HMS Drake, 24 Nov. and Mrs Scothern’s letter, 21 Dec. 1969.

62 TNA, DEFE 49/62, Bush to Twiss, 5 Dec. 1969.

63 TNA, DEFE 49/64, Glencross letters, 8 and 27 July and NPD2 reply, 20 Jul. 1970.

64 Ibid., NPD2 to CO, HMS Repulse, 10 Aug. 1970 and duty officer’s report, undated.

65 Ibid., Franson to ‘The British Admiralty’, 4 Aug. 1970.

66 The Times, 18 Dec. 1969.

67 We are unlikely now to discover whether Twiss was responsible, but it seems possible.

68 TNA, DEFE 49/63, draft paper, 4 Aug. 1970.

69 Marjot, ‘Reflections’.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Richard Moore

Richard Moore is a visiting research fellow at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, working on the history of the British nuclear weapons programme. His books include The Royal Navy and Nuclear Weapons, published in 2001.