About: 1947 Royal New Zealand Navy mutinies   Sponge Permalink

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During April 1947, the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) was affected by a series of peaceful mutinies amongst the sailors and non-commissioned officers of four ships and two shore bases. The main cause was the poor rates of pay compared to the rest of the New Zealand Defence Force, and coincided with the release of a government review on the matter a year late, and without a promised backdating of pay to the review's original release date. Another major issue was the poor working and living conditions aboard RNZN ships, which were compounded by having no way to make dissatisfaction known through the chain of command or through lower-deck welfare committees; the latter could not discuss matters relating to pay, shipboard routine, or service conditions.

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  • 1947 Royal New Zealand Navy mutinies
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  • During April 1947, the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) was affected by a series of peaceful mutinies amongst the sailors and non-commissioned officers of four ships and two shore bases. The main cause was the poor rates of pay compared to the rest of the New Zealand Defence Force, and coincided with the release of a government review on the matter a year late, and without a promised backdating of pay to the review's original release date. Another major issue was the poor working and living conditions aboard RNZN ships, which were compounded by having no way to make dissatisfaction known through the chain of command or through lower-deck welfare committees; the latter could not discuss matters relating to pay, shipboard routine, or service conditions.
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abstract
  • During April 1947, the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) was affected by a series of peaceful mutinies amongst the sailors and non-commissioned officers of four ships and two shore bases. The main cause was the poor rates of pay compared to the rest of the New Zealand Defence Force, and coincided with the release of a government review on the matter a year late, and without a promised backdating of pay to the review's original release date. Another major issue was the poor working and living conditions aboard RNZN ships, which were compounded by having no way to make dissatisfaction known through the chain of command or through lower-deck welfare committees; the latter could not discuss matters relating to pay, shipboard routine, or service conditions. The main mutiny started on the morning of 1 April, when around 100 sailors from the shore base , in Devonport, declared their intent to refuse duty in protest of the governments' broken promises on pay. They were later joined by as many personnel from the cruiser HMNZS Black Prince and the corvette , and marched off the base. After campaigning for three days and winning the right to backdated pay, the mutineers were offered a choice: return to duty and accept punishment, or be discharged. The majority chose the latter; these men were financially penalised, denied access to veterans' benefits, and had trouble finding other work because of government bans on employing them. Subsequent mutinies occurred at the shore base , at Lyttelton, and aboard the minesweeper and the cruiser HMNZS Bellona: while taking up the issue of welfare committees, these mutineers also tried to have the poor treatment of their colleagues at Devonport reversed. There were no more discharges, but 52 men deserted. Overall, up to 20% of the sailors in the RNZN were involved in the mutinies. The resulting manpower shortage forced the RNZN to remove Black Prince, one of their most powerful warships, from service, and set the navy's development and expansion back by a decade. Despite this impact, the size and scope of the events have been downplayed over time.
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