Beyond Talwar: A Cultural Reappraisal of the 1946 Royal Indian Navy Mutiny

Abstract

On 18 February 1946 a mutiny broke out in HMIS Talwar, a Royal Indian Navy signals school in Bombay. Over the following days the disturbance spread to over 10,000 men, 66 ships and shore establishments, while there was civilian rioting in several major cities. The causes of the mutiny have traditionally been attributed to discontent over service conditions, racial abuse and the influence of Indian nationalism, firmly framing the ‘strike’ as part of India's anti-colonial struggle. Such explanations have been applied uniformly across the force, regardless of the wide-scale nature of the disturbances, and with little focus on those who remained loyal. By examining the experiences of units other than Talwar, this article challenges the predominant nationalist narrative of the mutiny, questioning the notion that overarching causes existed across the navy, and demonstrating how motives and reactions were more fractured and complex. It will also reconsider the connection between the mutiny and civilian rioting in Bombay, introducing organised crime as a notable influence, and examine the role of the preceding RAF ‘strikes’ and political discourses in framing the actions of the naval ratings.

Notes

[1] Madsen, ‘Royal Indian Navy Mutiny', 175.

[2] Roy-Chaudhury, Sea Power and Indian Security, 19.

[3] Spector, ‘Royal Indian Navy Strike', 278.

[4] Dutt, Mutiny of Innocents.

[5] Bhagwatkar, Royal Indian Navy Uprising.

[6] Spector, ‘Royal Indian Navy Strike'.

[7] Bose, RIN Mutiny.

[8] Das, Revisiting Talwar.

[9] Madsen, ‘Royal Indian Navy Mutiny'.

[10] Ibid., 214.

[11] Virmani, ‘What is to be Commemorated?’.

[12] Star of India, 19 Feb, 1946, 1.

[13] Das, Revisiting Talwar, 344.

[14] J. H. Godfrey, ‘Future of the RIN: First Impressions', 8 March 1946, 2, GOD/43, National Maritime Museum (hereafter NMM), London.

[15] Dutt, Mutiny of Innocents, 76.

[16] ‘Report of The RIN Commission of Enquiry’, 1946, 37–38, L/MIL/17/9/379, Indian Office Records (hereafter IOR), London.

[17] Dutt, Mutiny of Innocents, 121.

[18] Hastings, Bombay Buccaneers, 65.

[19] Dutt, Mutiny of Innocents, 122–23.

[20] Deshpande, ‘Military Reform’, 195.

[21] Deshpande, Military Policy in India, 172.

[22] Ibid., 159.

[23] ‘Report of The RIN Commission of Enquiry’, 1946, 8, L/MIL/17/9/379, IOR.

[24] J. H. Godfrey, ‘Future of the RIN: First Impressions', 8 March 1946, 2, GOD/43, NMM.

[25] Dutt, Mutiny of Innocents, 122–23.

[26] Das, Revisiting Talwar, 309.

[27] Floris, ‘Note on Dacoits in India’, 467.

[28] Arnold, ‘Crime and Crime Control’, 76.

[29] Ghosh, Indian Mafia, 3.

[30] The Times of India, 27 Feb. 1946, 6.

[31] Ibid., 26 April 1946, 5.

[32] ‘Report of The RIN Commission of Enquiry’, 1946, 237, L/MIL/17/9/379, IOR.

[33] Ibid.

[34] Ibid, 238.

[35] Ibid., 161.

[36] Ghosh, Indian Mafia, 3–4.

[37] 'The Truth about the RIN: An Inside Story by “Ravi”' Morning Standard, 10 March 1946, RIN/5/3 (13), NMM.

[38] Das, Revisiting Talwar, 278.

[39] Arnold, ‘Crime and Crime Control’, 75.

[40] ‘Report of The RIN Commission of Enquiry’, 1946, 58, L/MIL/17/9/379, IOR.

[41] Schwarz, Constructing the Criminal Tribe, 40.

[42] Ibid, 76.

[43] Enclosure No. 1 to Commander-in-Chief East Indies, 13 May 1946, 2, ADM 1/19411, The National Archives (hereafter TNA), Kew.

[44] Ibid.

[45] Ibid.

[46] Enclosure No. 2 to Commander-in-Chief East Indies, 13 May 1946, 2, ADM 1/19411, TNA.

[47] Singh, Under Two Ensigns, 57.

[48] Streatfield-James, In the Wake, 197.

[49] Colaabavala, Indian Mafia in Action, 136.

[50] ‘Report of The RIN Commission of Enquiry’, 1946, 300, L/MIL/17/9/379, IOR.

[51] Ibid.

[52] Das, Revisiting Talwar, 45–46.

[53] Singh, Under Two Ensigns, 57.

[54] Ibid.

[55] Ibid., 58.

[56] Ibid.

[57] The Times of India, 20 Feb. 1946, 1.

[58] Das, Revisiting Talwar, 30.

[59] Hastings, Bombay Buccaneers, 123–24.

[60] ‘Civil Disturbances: Royal Indian Navy Mutiny and Civil disturbance following’, from SUTLEJ to FOCRIN, 25 Feb. 1946, L/PO/4/28, IOR.

[61] ‘Report of The RIN Commission of Enquiry’, 1946, 41, L/MIL/17/9/379, IOR.

[62] Hastings, Bombay Buccaneers, 124.

[63] ‘Report of The RIN Commission of Enquiry’, 1946, 48, L/MIL/17/9/379, IOR.

[64] Full Reuter Report of Passage in Commander-in-Chief's Speech, 1, L/PO/4/28 (25), IOR.

[65] Harding, ‘Odd Events'.

[66] Ibid.

[67] ‘Civil Disturbances: Royal Indian Navy Mutiny and Civil disturbance following’, from Viceroy to Secretary of State for India, 24 Feb. 1946, L/PO/4/28, IOR.

[68] ‘Report of The RIN Commission of Enquiry’, 1946, 39, L/MIL/17/9/379, IOR.

[69] Private weekly letters from & to Secretary of State for India, Vol. III, 1946, No. 17, to the Right Honourable Lord Pethick Lawrence, 27 Feb. 1946, 72, L/PO/10/23, IOR.

[70] Singh, INA Trial and the Raj, 44, 73.

[71] ‘City Naval Strike Spreads', Free Press Journal, 20 Feb. 1946, in Sarkar and Bhattacharya, Towards Freedom, 46.

[72] Doc. 37, ‘Bombay Naval Ratings on Strike’, in Ram and Kumar, Role of INA and Indian Navy, 272.

[73] Dutt, Mutiny of Innocents, 134.

[74] The Times of India, 27 Feb. 1946, 7.

[75] Ibid., 1.

[76] Doc. 35, Nehru, interview to press, Bombay, 27 Feb. 1946, in Ram and Kumar, Role of INA and Indian Navy, 225.

[77] Star of India, 25 Feb. 1946, 160.

[78] Private weekly letters from & to Secretary of State for India, Vol. III, 1946, No. 17, to the Right Honourable Lord Pethick Lawrence, 27 Feb. 1946, 72, L/PO/10/23, IOR.

[79] Banerjee, The RIN Strike, 62.

[80] The Times of India, 27 Feb. 1946, 7.

[81] Singh, Under Two Ensigns, 526.

[82] Hastings, The Royal Indian Navy, 225.

[83] Madsen, ‘Royal Indian Navy Mutiny', 214.

[84] Miles to Admiralty, 14 Jan. 1948, 1, ADM 1/21104, TNA.

[85] Spector, ‘Royal Indian Navy Strike', 274.

[86] ‘Report of The RIN Commission of Enquiry’, 1946, 49, L/MIL/17/9/379, IOR.

[87] Spence, ‘Imperial Transition, Indianisation, and Race’.