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There's a separate, fascinating, historical incident that shaped the Royal Navy and by extension world affairs for centuries. The execution of Admiral Byng for

There's a separate, fascinating, historical incident that shaped the Royal Navy and by extension world affairs for centuries. The execution of Admiral Byng for "failing to do his utmost" lead to a culture of aggression in the RN. This resulted over the years in many impressive, against the odds, victories such as Pellew's two frigates taking the 74 Droits de l'Homme. It also led to sacrifices such as HMS Glowworm's attack on the Hipper during the Norway campaign in 1940. The Royal Navy differs from the British Army in taking a more holistic view of traditions and history. Trafalgar is celebrated by all every year, Taranto is celebrated by all aviators every year - rather than only those descended from units involved. This combined with the length of time to draw lessons from has led to the saying "The Navy has traditions, the Army history and the Air Force has habits. And nasty, dirty habits they are too".

arethuza 9y ago
I can strongly recommend "The Silent Deep" about the Royal Navy submarine service. The parts describing the Perisher course are fascinating (the author, perhaps because he is a Peer, actually got to go on subs during the course) - imagine a training course where if you deemed to have failed you are immediately removed from the training area (by helicopter) and never allowed to work in that area of the Navy again! Mind you, apparently you do get a bottle of whisky to make up for your career being in shreds. https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/183977/the-silent-deep/ https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/183977/the-silent-deep/
- GrumpSlverBear 9y ago
  There has been a couple of programs on the UK channels (I think mostly Channel4/Five) that dealt with with Perisher course. It is brutal, hard, and exhausting. And yeah, bottle of whisky on your leave and you can't work on subs anymore (though you do get to keep the Dolphin pin apparently).
hardlianotion 9y ago
Thanks for that. A very interesting story it is as well, with a strong element of judicial murder: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Byng https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Byng
memracom 9y ago
After Byng's execution the British officer corps started acting like people who were defending their homes and families against a vicious foe. Like the people of Donbass in Ukraine for instance. The result is that the British would not give up in battle and would turn any slight advantage to their favour. This made Britain almost invincible. Note that in modern Russia there is a military tradition "Russians do not give up!" which many soldiers, especially the special forces, adhere to. This is partly what drove the rebels in Donbass to stand their ground in the face of apparently superior forces. Combined with the fact that they were literally defending their homes and families, the Ukraine army had difficulty making and holding any advances against them. War is one of those areas where ideology does not seem to have a role, but if you expand ideology to include the internal psychology of the soldiers and their beliefs and motivations, then ideology may indeed be paramount. It's the political ideology that is meaningless. This is seen in WWII Soviet Union where Stalin relaxed the strict Communist ideology in favor of one of family, motherland, ethnic spirit.

arethuza 9y ago

I can strongly recommend "The Silent Deep" about the Royal Navy submarine service. The parts describing the Perisher course are fascinating (the author, perhaps because he is a Peer, actually got to go on subs during the course) - imagine a training course where if you deemed to have failed you are immediately removed from the training area (by helicopter) and never allowed to work in that area of the Navy again! Mind you, apparently you do get a bottle of whisky to make up for your career being in shreds. https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/183977/the-silent-deep/ https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/183977/the-silent-deep/

GrumpSlverBear 9y ago
There has been a couple of programs on the UK channels (I think mostly Channel4/Five) that dealt with with Perisher course. It is brutal, hard, and exhausting. And yeah, bottle of whisky on your leave and you can't work on subs anymore (though you do get to keep the Dolphin pin apparently).

hardlianotion 9y ago

Thanks for that. A very interesting story it is as well, with a strong element of judicial murder: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Byng https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Byng

memracom 9y ago

After Byng's execution the British officer corps started acting like people who were defending their homes and families against a vicious foe. Like the people of Donbass in Ukraine for instance. The result is that the British would not give up in battle and would turn any slight advantage to their favour. This made Britain almost invincible. Note that in modern Russia there is a military tradition "Russians do not give up!" which many soldiers, especially the special forces, adhere to. This is partly what drove the rebels in Donbass to stand their ground in the face of apparently superior forces. Combined with the fact that they were literally defending their homes and families, the Ukraine army had difficulty making and holding any advances against them. War is one of those areas where ideology does not seem to have a role, but if you expand ideology to include the internal psychology of the soldiers and their beliefs and motivations, then ideology may indeed be paramount. It's the political ideology that is meaningless. This is seen in WWII Soviet Union where Stalin relaxed the strict Communist ideology in favor of one of family, motherland, ethnic spirit.