A bad time for Mountbatten as for others: the death of George V; the abdication of Edward VIII; the war in Spain; the Japanese invasion of China; the failure of the League of Nations; the policy of appeasement leading to the resignation of the First Lord of the Admiralty and of the Foreign Secretary (Mountbatten was also not in favour); the death of Mountbatten's brother George, the Marquis of Milford Haven; the German and French mobilisation; the dispute over the control of the Fleet Air Arm, which the Navy eventually wins. Mountbatten becomes captain in command of the 5th destroyer flotilla in June 1939, taking command of HMS Kelly. Filmed at the Kelly reunion dinner in 1966, he describes the torpedoing of Kelly and the successful attempt to tow her back to harbour during the April 1940 raid on Norway, and her subsequent sinking after complete refitting in May 1941 in the evacuation of Crete.
