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After being driven from Greece by the German military in 1941, the Royal Hellenic Navy (RHN) operated alongside Britain's Royal Navy (RN) from bases in Egypt, Lebanon, and Malta. In April 1944 the RHN experienced a widespread mutiny, which began in Alexandria, Egypt, over the political composition of the Greek government. This essay explores the importance of the Alexandria mutiny to the RHN. It investigates the role of the navy in the royalist/republican rivalry of the 1920s-1930s, the wartime return to service of republican officers, the RHN's operations under British direction in the eastern Mediterranean, the political orientation of the government-in-exile, disturbances in the RHN prior to the mutiny, the events of the mutiny itself, the aftermath of the mutiny, how the mutiny affected the RN-RHN relationship, and the significance of the mutiny, how the mutiny within the context of naval history in general. Wartime RN records held at the Public Record Office outside London, United States Navy intelligence reports held at the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, Maryland, as well as unpublished and published secondary sources, provide the basis of this investigation.
Multinational naval operations are a common occurrence in today's world. While the United States Navy is presently the most powerful in the world, it frequently operates with ships from allied navies to reach its security goals. Such allied cooperation dates back to World War II when escort groups in the Battle of the Atlantic were composed of ships from the U.S., Canadian, and Royal Navies along with a handful of Polish, Free French, Norwegian, and Dutch ships. Allied naval cooperation also occurred in the Mediterranean Sea with Australian, Canadian, Polish, Free French, Dutch, and Greek ships operating alongside the Royal and later the U.S. Navies.
After being driven from Greek home waters by the German air force and army, the Royal Hellenic Navy (RHN) operated with the Royal Navy (RN) from bases in Egypt, Malta, and Lebanon (Map 1). While individual ships achieved notable successes and suffered grievous losses, one of the most notable events during this time remains the April 1944 mutiny at Alexandria. After a similar mutiny by the Greek army, enlisted naval personnel seized all RHN ships in Alexandria harbor to protest...