I am re-reading Andrew Gordon's magisterial book The Rules of the Game: Jutland and British Naval Command which, in my highly inexpert opinion, must be the final and definitive word on 'the battle that never was', or at least, 'the battle that never was the way it was meant to be'! Jutland is rich in just about every aspect of warfare you could wish for - high drama, tension, courage, ferocity, technological change, psychology and, of course, that essential element - sheer, unforsee-able chance. However, setting all of that aside for a moment, this following extract caught my attention and I must admit I had forgotten it from my first reading some years ago:
"Walter Cowan, captain of Princess Royal, had been a close friend of Beatty's from both midshipman and Nile-gunboat days. He was a ferocious midget who loved war so much that he spent his leave periods in the trenches in France and wept when the armistice was announced. [My emphasis] There was trouble in every ship he commanded. He became the scourge of the Bolsheviks in the Baltic in 1919, and ended his naval career as admiral of the fleet. Cowan came out of retirement in 1940 to join an Indian armoured regiment in North Africa. Captured by the Italians when he personally attacked a tank, and then released on humanitarian grounds, he joined the Commandos, aged 72."
Good grief, that's two years older than me! Glad I never served with him because I always remember the sage words of an old sergeant many years ago, "Never serve under an officer who's determined to win a VC!"
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