views on tactics and even some diagrams. Although Dewar would later become a supporter of the Labour Party, after Churchill was passed over for a cabinet position in 1931 Dewar wrote to him on 16 November, "I am very sorry to see that you are not in the new Cabinet. I had hoped you would go to the Admiralty and do very necessary work for the Navy." Sea duty After four years of duty at the Admiralty, Dewar returned to sea in 1922. He was fortunate after the "Geddes Axe" (the systematic contraction of the Naval Service to a size substantially smaller than its pre-war level) and his controversial tenure at the Admiralty that he was still considered worthy of sea duty, the qualification for promotion to flag rank. He was appointed on 9 May to command the C class cruiser Calcutta, flagship on the North America and West Indies Station. In 1923, Dewar was given command of Calcutta's sister-ship on the same station, HMS Cape Town. While on the station, he had occasion to act as Flag Captain to the Commander-in-Chief on the station, pay calls on cities as diverse as Halifax, Nova Scotia, Quebec City and Boston while cruising the Eastern Seaboard of North America. During the U.S. blockade of the Mexican port of Tampico in 1924, Dewar and Cape Town cancelled their planned cruise of the Caribbean to adequately represent the British government at Vera Cruz, proceeding there on 4 January. On 15 May 1924, Dewar was relieved in command of Cape Town by Captain G.H. Knowles, DSO. On 2 May 1925, he returned to the Admiralty as Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence. After two years in the position, he was relieved in June 1927 and given from 15 October command of the battleship Royal Oak, flagship of the Rear-Admiral in the 1st Battle Squadron, Mediterranean Fleet. The Rear-Admiral, 1st Battle Squadron was Bernard St. George Collard. "The Royal Oak Mutiny" As Flag Captain to Admiral Collard, Dewar was technically Collard's chief staff officer as well as captain of Royal Oak. A good working relationship between Dewar and the second-in-command of the battle squadron was necessary. Notwithstanding, Collard on occasion acted imperiously and tactlessly on his flagship, causing friction with Dewar and his executive officer, Commander Henry Martin Daniel, DSO. At a dance on the quarterdeck on 12 January 1928, Collard openly lambasted Royal Marine Bandmaster Percy