Rutland of Jutland,Japanese spy

[Peter H]

"British flying ace was spy for Japan"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/nov/1 ... rtontaylor


Rutland of the RNAS photographed returning to HMS Engadine,after "his valuable reconnaissance at Jutland",1916.
Committed suicide in 1949.IWM Q82238.

[Peter H]

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_q ... _n14344583

Another MI5 file reveals that an RAF First World War hero became a spy for the Japanese, and spent 20 years helping to develop the aircraft carrier force that the Japanese navy used against Pearl Harbor in 1941. But the file shows that British intelligence was tipped off about the traitor and mounted a surveillance operation.

Squadron Leader Frederick Rutland was finally arrested in 1942 and was interned in Britain for the rest of the Second World War. But he was never prosecuted, as the British authorities did not want to make public the scandal of a British officer becoming an enemy spy. Sqn Ldr Rutland won the Distinguished Service Cross "for gallantry and persistence in flying in close range of four enemy light cruisers" in the Battle of Jutland.

The MI5 file contains a report from 1922 that says: "Reliable information was received ... that the Japanese government were communicating regularly with an officer in the RAF. He is an officer who has a unique knowledge of aircraft carriers and deck landing and his experience gained in the RAF will be invaluable to the Japanese."

Aware he might be under suspicion Rutland resigned his RAF commission and travelled to Japan, where he was paid a large salary for his information. The Americans arrested Rutland for spying while he was in San Francisco in 1941 and sent him back to England, where he was imprisoned.

[Andy H]

Hi Peter

There was programme shown on the BBC2 last night about both Rutland and another Japanese spy, Lord Sempill:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Fo ... rd_Sempill.

The TV program itself was good and certainly made me aware of information I hadn't come across. However I think it over-reached when it seemed to say in its preview, that both men were amongst the main contributors to the Japanese success at both Pearl Harbour and the defeat of the British in Singapore.

No-one can doubt that they were both unsavoury characters at best and obviously spies, but the hyperbole of there part in both the 2 events in my opinion was overstated.

Last nights review of the TV program:-

You need something redolent of 1920s Britain, of tweed suits and forensic penetration. What about Sir Archibald Bodkin? That'll do nicely, surely? But no, your publisher jibs on the ground that it's too ridiculously perfect to be true. Except, of course, that Sir Archibald Bodkin was exactly what he was called and the meeting really did take place. A very dodgy cove called William Forbes-Sempill was being put on the spot because of his obliging habit of leaking information to the Japanese, the only problem for his interrogators being that they couldn't let on that they knew everything already because that would reveal that they'd been tapping into diplomatic communications.

The Fall of Singapore: the Great Betrayal told the story of Forbes-Sempill and one other fellow traveller, a pioneering carrier pilot called Frederick Joseph Rutland, who went off to help the Japanese perfect the techniques they later applied against the American fleet at Pearl Harbor. In doing so, the film drew heavily on recently declassified documents and also rather over-egged the consequences of their treachery, the obtuseness of the British government being more than a match for Japanese skulduggery when it came to undermining defences in the Far East. In any case, Forbes-Sempill, in particular, seemed to occupy that murky no man's land that still exists between the promotion of the British arms industry and pre-emptive assistance to the enemy.

He also exemplified another national trait that hasn't entirely disappeared, which is the tendency of the British upper crust to look after their own when a chap is unfortunate enough to back the wrong horse. Forbes-Sempill assisted the Japanese with their anti-espionage activities. He was also an anti-Semite, with ideological reasons for sympathising with the Axis powers, but when he was caught making calls to the Japanese after the outbreak of hostilities, Churchill intervened to soften the terms of his punishment. While Rutland, who'd worked his way up through the ranks, was interned, Forbes-Sempill was offered the choice of resigning his Naval commission or taking up a position in northern Scotland, where he could do no harm. Floreat Etona, I guess.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 71212.html

I don't think you can access the BBC I-Player in Australia, but if by some means you can get to see it, then its worth a peek.

Regards

Andy H

[Fatboy Coxy]

Thanks Andy for refreshing this fascinating little post from Peter. I’ve never heard of Rutland or Sempill until now.

The early 1920’s saw the shift in support away from Japan, towards the USA, at a time when Naval aviation was still in its infancy and the Royal Navy lead the way. Japan had long looked to the Royal Navy as a big brother to learn from, and now with the Washington Naval Treaty coming into play, further research and development wasn’t going to be shared.

Rutland with his first hand experience of deck landing operations must have been initially worth his weight in gold, and as the Telegraph reported (bottom of article) was paid £3 million pounds in todays money. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... r-war.html

However that experience would quite quickly become outdated, as the pace of development in Naval aviation was quite fast, and so Rutland’s value must have been decreasing quite steadily. So with the early identification of Rutland as a spy, all the British had to do was ostracise him from the RAF/Royal Navy and little new information could be given away. It would appear he became a potential political embarrassment, having been deployed to the USA by his Japanese. But if MI5 shared their info as indicated with the FBI, it would suggest some valuable brownie points could also be won with the USA.

Steve

[Shinkawa]

Hello,

In California at an estate sale I acquired the contents of a large paper bag buried in a rat/spider infested shed.
The Frederick Rutland you are discussing here mailed the bag to his daughter (believe 1947) It is a collection of papers that include several manuscripts of books that he wanted her to publish, his WW1 Royal Navy records, MANY photos, etc.

Any ideas?

[Dreyer1916]

I am currently writing a book about Jutland (I'm about 75,000 words in, so it's a serious undertaking). I would very much like to see if some of these materials could be used in the book. There will be a high level of interest as we are coming up to the Centenary Commemoration. It might just warrant a publication in itself as the time will be right. He was an extraordinarily brave man, in any case so I would like to hear a little more if it would be possible.

Best regards,

[Shinkawa]

Believe I've now read 75,000 words written by Frederick J. Rutland some of which he wrote while "detained" during WW2.

Desmond Young in his book "Rutland of Jutland" published in 1963 makes a strong defense of F.J. Rutland. He concludes, "The circumstances of his arrest and prolonged 'detention', without trial and without charge, in World War 11 --as well as the refusal of the then Home Secretary to give any explanation in the House of Commons to so senior a member of his own service as Admiral Sir Roger Keyes---were so strange that they make his story as disquieting as it is distressing."

"Fred" was a prolific writer. I have manuscripts he wrote during WW1 and prior to going to Japan in 1923. They appear to have been written for public consumption. I don't quite understand exactly what his contribution was to the Japanese after 1923 and prior to December 7, 1941----he had already made the knowledge that he had acquired during WW1, public.

[mmartin]

I would be interested to know what "secrets" Rutland passed along to the Japanese -- other than training them to land + take off aircraft carriers. Could Rutland have told the Japanese of Beatty's planned air attack on the German fleet at harbor and inspired the Pearl Harbor attack of WW2? I'm trying to establish if there was a connection between this planned attack that never was carried out (war ended) and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. I know Rutland spend some time in California and Hawaii purportedly casing the place.

[gambadier]

Rutland doesn't get a mention in Christopher Andrew's authorized history of MI5. However, he does get a mention in Jeffery's history of MI6 (also written with full access to official records). "Since 1933 it had been known that Frederick Joseph Rutland, a former RAF officer and expert in naval aviaiton, had been working as a spy for the Japanese. Although he had been based in the US and was working against American aviation targets, no word of this had been breathed to the Americans." It appears that UK stopped active espionage against the US in 1938. It also seems that SIS had penetrated the communist Lovestone network in NY.

[ChristopherPerrien]

It would also be interesting to know how much, if anything, he had to do with the IJN's over-reliance on reconnaissance based on using cruiser launched sea-planes, and their later fetish for large complements of sea-planes on their cruisers. The USN doctrine of using scouting planes from carriers proved to be decisive.

The cruiser sea-plane search doctrine killed the IJN at Midway. Maybe Rutland did us a couple favors, one was Jutland using a sea-plane which obviously the Japanese noted , second was perhaps helping the Japanese after the war with the same obsolete doctrine. Maybe he was really a double agent.

Of course that wouldn't sell books as well compared to if he was later spying on Pearl Harbor for the Japanese,. He could have done both.

Still though I look forward to more posts from Dreyer1916 and Shinkawa, about the book effort and the found correspondences, and whether they are collaborating.

I want to hear if the eventual book(s) makes it to print or the net.

Chris

[Shinkawa]

Here is a quick link to an imgur account we will be compiling on Frederick Rutland.

http://frederickjrutland.imgur.com/

Is there anyone who can identify what this map represents?

[ChristopherPerrien]

?

The coasts and sea approach to Emden Germany.

[Johnny45]

I don't know if anyone is still interested, but that map appears to the the West Islands off of the West Frisian Islands, in the Netherlands. Appears to be quite accurate too, especially as far as the navigation bits compare. If you compare it to a satellite photo, it's pretty close. It must be taken from a navigational chart to get that kind of detail.
As for Rutland, it sounds to me like he got the shaft, majorly, unless there was a lot more to it that was left unsaid. Shame he killed himself.

[DiggerDagger]

Hello,

In California at an estate sale I acquired the contents of a large paper bag buried in a rat/spider infested shed.
The Frederick Rutland you are discussing here mailed the bag to his daughter (believe 1947) It is a collection of papers that include several manuscripts of books that he wanted her to publish, his WW1 Royal Navy records, MANY photos, etc.

Any ideas?

Did you sell them or do still have copies of any? Really need to know! Can you message me?

[Shinkawa]

I still have the entire collection.