This was allegedly sent when Churchill was reinstated as First Lord of the Admiralty in the early part of the Second World War. It was supposed to have been sent to all stations etc and everyone knew he was back after getting thrown out after the Dardanelles campaign 25 years before.
It was supposed to have been a “Rally round the flag boys” message to the RN where supposedly it met mixed reaction.
The quote is in many publications, newspapers and quotes.
However, apart from Churchill’s embellished writings there is a doubt if it ever existed. Certainly Gordon Corrigan calls it into question and says there is no independent confirmation.
I have done an Internet search and there are many references to it , but I can’t find an image of the original telegram.
Anyone got any insight? I acknowledge Corrigan has no time for Churchill. However Churchill also said “History will treat me well as I shall write it.”
If it existed, it was quite clearly intended to be celebratory and you see very much the same bullish tone in the more popular British newspapers of the day. The main sub-headline on front page of the Daily Express on the 4th was even similarly simply “Winston Back”. Churchill’s return to the job was also the main detail at the start of the Daily Mirror’s main front-page story on the same day.
(Unfortunately, the main titles I have archive access to are the rather more po-faced Times and Guardian, neither of which mentions any telegram, but then you wouldn’t really have expected them to.)
No. It was an official announcement that the First Sea Lord, the actual Navy , and the admiralty (the overseeing political body) accepted Winston was Secretary of the Admiralty.
“Back” meant it was not some other Winston Churchill, it was not someone being equated to Winston Churchill , it was the same Winston . They didn’t need to put Churchill, although it might have been expected the telegraph operator would at least put the surname in.
Further explanation was not neccessary as the radio was broadcasting the parliaments war footing speech. Everyone knew this meant total war, that you either capitulated ,which was harder for the Brits as they had little to offer except sex slaves (Germany needed france for ports and farming… and wine… ), or fought just as hard as you can facing near total destruction…
Part of the war footing was to rearrange cabinet, and create a War Cabinet… This is a subset of Cabinet, mostly, but the important thing was the changes in the Secretaries and Ministers…
The Secretary of the Admiralty was not just the person, but also the office, for handling the civilian life of the navy… The change in secretary for the war was an important change as it meant that a military trained person was going to start giving orders AND enforcing them… Any personnel under the Secretary could be returned to civilian life inside a civilian gaol …
If you had to add a political message, then the likely message was “This is war, and this means war now, not tommorrow”.
Winston had cleaned up the mess the RN was in after WW I, and they all knew the change to Winston, in a rush, meant they were going to be prepared in a rush … tommorrow would be too late, the secretariat was going to be asking your unit to report … two tick boxes 1. “100% ready” , 2. “I am not fit to be an officer”.
To spell out the matter, there has never been such post in the UK as “Secretary the Navy” or indeed “Secretary of the Admiralty”. There is a [Naval Secretary](’ Naval Secretary - Wikipedia’), which is a senior naval position, but in the case of Churchill the crucial job in question was much more important First Lord of the Admiralty.
I just find it odd that an official announcement would use his first name, rather than his last. Was there another Churchhill who could be mixed up with?
To me, it seems informal enough that it would make more sense as an additional, celebratory message.
Thanks for the responses. It is mentioned in “The Battle of The Atlantic” by Jonathan Dimblebey who says it was received with mixed feelings in the Navy (he doesn’t present any evidence it was actually sent).
As for Mountbatten- well he was promoted well and truly above his level by Churchill so I would not trust what he said.
Just to enlarge on my previous comment Mountbatten was promoted by Churchill from commander to Commodore, to Vice Admiral, Lieutenant General and Air Marshall by the age of 42.
It seems only Stalin and Vinegar Joe Stilwell saw through him- and he managed to get away with the Dieppe catastrophe because of his connections.
