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warspite1 -> RE: most impressive Depiction of pre.WW2 Royal navy (2/21/2019 7:42:52 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: jdsrae
Plus they’ve claimed the RAN as their own [:-]
warspite1
Not sure why that get's the [:-]
If this is a morale booster or propaganda effort for Joe Public in the build up to possible war then its understandable why they've maximised (and exaggerated) the numbers - after all that is what propaganda is about. The heading is the British Navy, but then describes the British Imperial Navy. No mention of the Royal Navy that I could see - or equally the RAN, the RCN or the New Zealand Squadron of the RN.
In addition, when looking at this we need to remember the situation at the time and not what we know now. War in home waters, the North and South Atlantic, the Arctic, the Mediterranean and the Indian/Pacific oceans all in one go!?
At that time the strength of Britain was believed - certainly by the public - to be its Empire, and the safety of its Dominions, colonies and territories was in the safe hands of the Royal Navy which would send the big battalions to wherever was required in time of need. Regardless of what we know happened - the greatest case of strategical overstretch in history as someone once said - the resources of the Empire would be expected to be used for the good of the Empire.
Indeed at the outbreak of war there was no Japanese threat and so the ships of the Royal Australian Navy served alongside their RN counterparts in all the major oceans and seas.
For reasons that are well known, in 1942 Australia and New Zealand increasingly looked to the US for their security and that makes this poster appear in retrospect a little - let's say sad, but there are other words. But the world in 1942 was a lifetime away from 1939.
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