Elegy for the Royal Navy

I do not think there has ever been a naval dictatorship. Hungary’s Admiral Horthy, though a sort of dictator, lacked an actual navy, or even any sea, by the time he came to power. So he doesn’t count. Why might this be? Seamen tend to be wary of authority, unless it is wisely exercised. For they know a bad captain is more likely to kill them than to kill the enemy. And while warships may in theory be used to overawe civilian uprisings, this can only work in seaports and is rather hard to do even there. Winston Churchill parked the cruiser HMS Antrim in the Mersey in 1911, during a violent transport strike. The great ship lurked menacingly, but her guns remained silent. Ashore, by contrast, mounted soldiers opened fire on rioting crowds and killed two men.