Trimmed photograph of a German naval celebration, possibly a wedding. At the center is an Imperial Korvettenkapitän (Lieutenant Commander) with a woman and child to his left, possibly his wife and grandson. A sticker on the front of the card references a sailor at the back, and reads in part, '1917 Fland[ern]'. Although the reference is to 1917 Flanders, the card is postmarked December 23, 1915. Note the flowers many of the sailors wear, and the patch on the left upper arm of the sailor directly behind the commander which may be a naval artillery patch. I am unable to read the ship's name on the sailors' caps.
"On the whole, the demands of the rebellious sailors were extremely modest. On November 7, when their mutiny was already triumphant in Kiel and Wilhelmshaven, and the authority of the navy was shattered beyond redemption, the delegates of the Third Squadron presented their demands to Secretary of the Navy Ritter von Mann in the form of a seven point program. . . .1. Reduction of the punitive powers of the First Officer.2. Since the trust of the crews in their officers has vanished completely, for the immediate future a representative of the crews shall be attached to the Admiral so that the crews can feel that things are being handled correctly . . .3. The men must be granted the right of assembly to speak their minds.4. All newspapers are to be made available.5. Equal rations for enlisted men and officers.6. Freedom not to salute [officers] when off duty.7. For infractions not concerning matters of honor, no imprisonment but money fines."
At the end of October 1918, with Germany clearly losing the war, German admirals and other naval officers planned a suicidal attack by the High Seas Fleet on the Royal Navy, an illegal mutiny by the naval officer corps. Sailors and coal stokers refused to go ahead with the mission. Many of them were arrested and transported from the North Sea port of Cuxhaven to the Baltic port of Kiel. The sharp distinction between officers and men is reflected in the demand for equal rations, the harassment and punishment of enlisted men in several of the demands. Rebellious sailors, some Bolsheviks, were in control of Lübeck, Cuxhaven, Hanover, and Hamburg.
German Naval Mutinies of World War One by Daniel Horn, pp. 232–233, copyright © 1969 by Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey, publisher: Rutgers University Press, publication date: 1969
1918-11-07, 1918, November, Kiel, mutiny, sailors mutiny, Imperial Lieutenant Commander
