One of the most important but undervalued events of India's independence movement was the naval revolt of 1946, about which Indian historian Sumit Sarker wrote, "Had this insurrection succeeded, India's struggle for freedom might have taken a different turn." From February 18 to 23 that year, more than 20,000 ordinary sailors, known as ratings, and low-ranking officers of 74 warships and 20 installations took part in a strike, which was termed as a mutiny or rebellion. After Bengal lost its independence at Palashi's Mango grove in 1757, the British Raj in India faced two major armed revolts: the first one was exactly after one hundred years, the military revolt of 1857, and the second one was 189 years later, the naval mutiny. Both in 1757 and 1857, the freedom fighters were defeated by the arms and tactics of the British rulers, but the naval mutiny failed because of the politicians in India then. It was not only the ratings' mutiny that the political leaders...