More recently the U S Navy tried to do the same thing to Commander Lloyd Bucher of the USS Pueblo. The admiralty was simply trying to cover themselves for sending him to N Korea with no support and only a .50 caliber machine gun as armament. The man had only two choices: Resist and be sunk or surrender. Fortunately Nixon intervened and nixed the court martial.
This attitude from the Brits explains the popularity of Beatty in WWI. The details were not as great as the legend but he has the swashbuckling image they loved.
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