Posted on 03/14/2021 2:01:56 PM PDT by CheshireTheCat
On this date in 1757, English Admiral John Byng was shot to death by musketry on the quarterdeck of the HMS Monarque for failing to “do his utmost” to defend Minorca against the French.
The first and last man of that rank executed by the Royal Navy, Byng was one of 15 (!) children of an ennobled admiral. He’d been 40 years at sea himself, a competent, forgettable senior officer unburdened by genius.
The 1750s found him in service of a listless British Empire sliding towards war with France.
London had her eye mostly on the North American conflict already underway … but that conflagration was about to jump the pond.
In 1756, the Brits belatedly realized the French were about to grab the Mediterranean island/naval base of Minorca (Menorca) from them, and dispatched a too-little, too-late expedition under Admiral Byng.
By the time he got there, the French already had Minorca in hand, save the last, besieged garrison. Byng attempted to land reinforcements for the garrison — without enthusiasm, since he perceived the inadequacy of his force — and was repelled in an inconclusive naval engagement....
(Excerpt) Read more at executedtoday.com ...
Voltaire’s snarky comment disregarded the fact that England was remarkably egalitarian by global standards. Admiral Byng shared a fate that was deemed reasonable when imposed on those of lower ranks and its only shocking aspect is that someone of such high rank could be punished as severely as those lower down the ranks.
3 years later Lord Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers was hanged for murdering his servant, providing yet another stellar example of equality under English law.
I think the problem is that we haven't executed ENOUGH generals and admirals after their bungling over the Centuries.
Harsh!
We’d have done that to many U.S. admirals & ship Captains in 1942 if that punishment was still administered.
As it turned out, the japs took care of eliminating some of the worst leadership...
Unfortunately, leadership indecision & incompetence cost the lives of many, many, many thousands of brave sailors as well in those early months of the war...
The problem was cured very quickly once Bull Halsey took charge...
“If it helps kill Japs it’s important. If it doesn’t help kill Japs it’s not important.”
I have stood right at the point where that conflict started, a wooded canyon near Jumonville, Pa., where a small unit of colonial militia led by George Washington got into a firefight with a French unit, which it defeated. The fighting would soon morph into the Third Silesian War, a conflict that would span the globe.
That was the REAL WWI.
WWII was the Napoleonic Wars.
WWI was really WWIII, and WWII was WWIV.
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