Morale and Discipline in the Royal Navy during the First World War

The experiences of men who fought at sea reveal the relationship between discipline, leadership, and the strength of the fleet.

Laura Rowe (Author)

9781108409421, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 29 October 2020

278 pages, 8 b/w illus. 16 tables
22.9 x 15.1 x 1.6 cm, 0.421 kg

'Morale and Discipline in the Royal Navy is an impressive, and in many ways, a seminal work … [it] is a thoroughly well researched and argued social history that presents a fresh view on the First World War and a new framework for examining concepts of morale.' Alexander Maavara, Canadian Military History

In contrast to the voluminous literature on trench warfare, few scholarly works have been written on how the First World War was experienced at sea. The conditions of war challenged the Royal Navy's position within British national identity and its own service ethos. This challenge took the form of a dialogue, fuelled by fear of civil unrest, between the discourses of paternalism from above and democratism from below. Laura Rowe explores issues of morale and discipline, using the contemporary language of discipline to shed light on key questions of how the service was able to absorb indiscipline with marked success through a subtle web of loyalties, history, ethos, traditions and customs, which were rooted in older notions of service but moulded by the new conditions of total war. In so doing, she provides not only a new methodological framework for understanding morale, but also military discipline and leadership.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Ethos on the eve of war: the foundations of paternalism and democratism
2. The structure of discipline and the spectre of indiscipline
3. 'Addressing' pay and conditions
4. Lower-deck societies, trade unions, and representation
5. Counting unrest
Conclusion
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: First World War [HBWN], Military history [HBW], Maritime history [HBTM], 21st century history: from c 2000 - [HBLX], History [HB], Humanities [H]