1944 Greek naval mutiny

Newspaper created by imprisoned pro-EAM mutineers

The 1944 Greek naval mutiny was a mutiny by sailors on five ships of the Royal Hellenic Navy in April 1944 over the composition of the Greek government-in-exile, in support of the National Liberation Front (EAM). Petros Voulgaris was called from retirement and appointed vice-admiral to quell the revolt.

The revolt began in Alexandria. Sailors Revolutionary Commissions were formed both on ships and the naval shore establishments on 4 April 1944.

The 1st Brigade of the Greek Armed Forces in the Middle East also suffered a EAM-inspired mutiny on 6 April 1944.

The American philosopher James Burnham, writing in the Partisan Review, saw the mutiny as the start of a "Third World War" as the start of a geopolitical confrontation between the Western Allies and Soviet communism.

Ships involved

• Greek corvette Apostolis
• Greek corvette Sachtouris
• Greek destroyer Kriti
• Greek destroyer Ierax
• Greek destroyer Pindos

Further reading

• Spyropoulos, Evangelos (1993). The Greek Military (1909-1941) and the Greek Mutinies in the Middle East (1941-1944). Boulder: East European Monographs. ISBN 9780880332576.
• Stavrianos, L. S. (1950). "The Mutiny in the Greek Armed Forces, April, 1944". American Slavic and East European Review. 9 (4): 302–311. doi:10.2307/2492150. JSTOR 2492150.