Description
In January 1944, Vice Admiral Percy Walker Nelles was fired from his position as head of the Royal Canadian Navy. Betrayed reveals the true story behind the dismissal: a divisive power struggle between two elite groups within the RCN pitted the navy’s regular officers against a small group of self-appointed spokesmen for the voluntary naval reserve. Threats of public scandal, mass insurrection, and political intimidation caused one of the worst breakdowns ever in Canadian civil-military relations. This fascinating investigation into the machinations of a divided navy tackles important questions of military professionalism, leadership, and identity.
Reviews
[Mayne’s] insights into the cultural clash between parts of the reserves and regular officers are interesting and truly original. The book is highly recommended for specialists and informed general readers in Canadian naval history.
- Chris Madsen
Betrayed has been attractively produced and includes excellent photographs not previously published, extensive endnotes and a comprehensive index which enables the reader to easily zero in on details. Based on careful research and rich in detail, this is a revealing look at how the strains of managing the creation of a modern navy while fighting a vicious campaign proved overwhelming for both the minister and his senior professional advisor. With its rich store of details this book is an essential source of information about internal dynamics within the RCN between 1940 and 1944. Fascinating.
- Jan Drent
Mayne's exhaustively researched and crisply written Betrayed is the sorry tale of tensions within the navy and between the RCN and its government.... The cognoscenti will see Mayne's book for the wonderful revelation it is. He has exposed the rich texture of the navy's internal politics and shed light on the machinations of some of the RCN's key officers during the most difficult years of the war.
- Marc Milner, University of New Brunswick