Dover Patrol

Last updated

Dover Patrol
Monument to the Dover Patrol.jpg
Dover Patrol Monument near Dover
Active1914–1919
CountryUnited Kingdom
Branch Royal Navy
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 Reginald Bacon

The Dover Patrol and later known as the Dover Patrol Force was a Royal Navy command of the First World War, notable for its involvement in the Zeebrugge Raid on 22 April 1918. The Dover Patrol formed a discrete unit of the Royal Navy based at Dover and Dunkirk for the duration of the First World War. Its primary task was to prevent enemy German shipping—chiefly submarines—from entering the English Channel en route to the Atlantic Ocean, thereby obliging the Imperial German Navy to travel via the much longer route around Scotland which was itself covered by the Northern Patrol.

Contents

History

In late July 1914, with war looming, 12 Tribal-class destroyers arrived at Dover to join the near obsolete destroyers already at anchor in the harbour, most of them built in the late 19th century. These destroyers formed the nucleus of the fledgling Dover Patrol, which, from its early beginnings as a modest and poorly equipped command, became one of the most important Royal Navy commands of the First World War.

The Dover Patrol was first officially established as an independent command on 12 October 1914 in response to the German capture of Antwerp and Zeebrugge, as well as the impending fall of Ostend. [1] German possession of Belgian Channel ports and rising activity of U-boats led the British Admiralty to consider the Dover Straits vital enough to be distinct from the Admiral of Patrols. The first actions of the Dover Patrol included bombarding German coastal positions during the Battle of the Yser and defeating a German Navy detachment in the Battle off Texel.

The Dover Patrol assembled cruisers, monitors, destroyers, armed trawlers and drifters, paddle minesweepers, armed yachts, Motor Launches and Coastal Motor Boats, submarines, seaplanes, aeroplanes and airships. With these resources it performed several duties simultaneously in the Southern North Sea and the Dover Straits: carrying out anti-submarine patrols; escorting merchantmen, hospital and troop ships; laying sea-mines and even constructing mine barrages; sweeping up German mines; bombarding German military positions on the Belgian coast and sinking U-boats. The Dover patrol was often attacked and took many casualties as in the action of 15 February 1918.

During the war, the Dover Patrol was maintained by the Dover Engineering Works, an Iron Foundry which employed and housed many hundreds of workers in Dover Town and was managed by Vivian Elkington, nephew of Walter Emden. The company still exists today, operating from a reduced premises at Holmestone Road, under the name of Gatic. [2] In March 1919 the Dover Patrol was renamed Dover Patrol Force. [3]

Commemoration

After the war, a fund was set up to erect a memorial to the Dover Patrol. In July 1921, a memorial at Leathercote Point near St Margaret's Bay was unveiled. Similar memorial obelisks stand at Cap Blanc Nez on the French channel coast, and at John Paul Jones Park near Fort Hamilton, overlooking New York harbour. [4]

Admirals commanding

Post holders included: [5]

Other Senior officers associated with Dover

Rear-Admiral and Senior Officer, Dover

Post holders included: [6]

Senior Naval Officer, Dunkirk

Post holders included: [7]

Senior Naval Officer Folkestone

Senior Naval Officer, Ramsgate

Post holders included:

  • Captain George N. Tomlin, 15 January 1915 – 28 May 1917
  • Captain Walter L. Allen, 27 May 1917 – 25 March 1919

Board game

Dover Patrol was the name of a popular board-game, similar to L'Attaque, but based on naval warfare, devised by Harry A. Gibson in 1911. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Home Fleet</span> Military unit of the United Kingdom

The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet.

The 5th Battle Squadron was a squadron of the British Royal Navy consisting of battleships. The 5th Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Second Fleet. During the First World War, the Home Fleet was renamed the Grand Fleet.

The 3rd Battle Squadron was a naval squadron of the British Royal Navy consisting of battleships and other vessels, active from at least 1914 to 1945. The 3rd Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet. During the First World War, the Home Fleet was renamed the Grand Fleet. During the Second World War, the squadron covered Atlantic convoys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4th Battle Squadron</span> Military unit

The 4th Battle Squadron was a squadron of the British Royal Navy consisting of battleships. The 4th Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet (1912–14) and then the Grand Fleet after the outbreak of the First World War. The squadron changed composition often as ships were damaged, retired or transferred.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harwich Force</span> Military unit

The Harwich Force originally called Harwich Striking Force was a squadron of the Royal Navy, formed during the First World War and based in Harwich. It played a significant role in the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle Cruiser Fleet</span> Military unit

The Battle Cruiser Fleet, (BCF), later known as Battle Cruiser Force, a naval formation of fast battlecruisers of the Royal Navy, operated from 1915 to 1919.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British North Russia Squadron</span> Squadron of the Royal Navy from 1917 to 1919

The British North Russia Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Navy based at Murmansk from 1917 to 1919.

Admiral Charles Duncan Johnson, CB, DSO, MVO was a Royal Navy officer who became Admiral Superintendent of Malta Dockyard.

The Commander in Chief, Dover was an operational commander of the Royal Navy. His subordinate units, establishments, and staff were sometimes informally known as the Dover Command.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Admiral of Patrols</span>

The Admiral of Patrols was a former command appointment within the Admiralty during world war one usually held by a junior flag officer the post was established from 1912 to 1916.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">7th Battle Squadron</span> Military unit

The 7th Battle Squadron was a squadron of the British Royal Navy assembled prior to World War I it was assigned to the Third Fleet and consisted of pre-dreadnought type battleships the oldest ships in fleet it existed from 1912 to 1914.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">11th Cruiser Squadron</span> Military unit

The 11th Cruiser Squadron and also known as Cruiser Force E was a formation of cruisers of the British Royal Navy from 1914 to 1917 and again from 1939 to 1940.

The Flag Officer-in-Charge, Humber was a Royal Navy officer who administered naval forces located at Immingham and Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England. His formation was sometimes known as the Humber Station or Humber Area. In World War I it was a sub-command of the Admiral of Patrols from 1914 to 1916, then came under the Commander-in-Chief at the Nore until 1921. In World War II the FOIC was responsible to the Commander-in-Chief, The Nore.

The 1st Destroyer Flotilla, also styled as the First Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the British Royal Navy from 1909 to 1940 and again from 1947 to 1951.

The British 6th Destroyer Flotilla, or Sixth Destroyer Flotilla, was a military formation of the Royal Navy from 1911 to 1939 and again from 1947 to 1951

The British 11th Destroyer Flotilla, or Eleventh Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the Royal Navy from August 1915 to September 1945.

The British 12th Destroyer Flotilla, or Twelfth Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the Royal Navy from November 1915 to March 1919 and again from September 1939 to 2 July 1943.

The British 13th Destroyer Flotilla, or Thirteenth Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the Royal Navy from November 1915 – November 1918 and again from September 1939 to January 1944.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Mediterranean Squadron</span> Military unit

The Eastern Mediterranean Squadron later known as the British Aegean Squadron was a naval formation of the Mediterranean Fleet based at Mudros from 1914 to 1916. It then alternated between Mudros and Salonika from 1917 to 1919.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Sea and Caspian Squadron</span> Military unit

The Black Sea and Caspian Squadron, also known as the Black Sea and Marmora Force and the Black Sea and Marmora Division, was a naval formation of the British Mediterranean Fleet from 1918 to 1919.

References

  1. ↑ Corbett, Julian (1920). Naval Operations Volume I. London: Longmans, Green and Co. pp. 215–216.
  2. ↑ Gatic
  3. ↑ Harley, Simon; Lovell, Tony. "Dover Patrol - The Dreadnought Project". www.dreadnoughtproject.org. Harley and Lovell,, 30 May 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  4. ↑ Scarpa, Peter (2001). Bay Ridge, New York (Images of America Series). Arcadia Publishing SC. pp. 72–74. ISBN   9780738508702.
  5. ↑ Harley, Simon; Lovell, Tony. "Dover Patrol - The Dreadnought Project". www.dreadnoughtproject.org. Harley and Lovell,, 30 May 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  6. ↑ Harley, Simon; Lovell, Tony (1 November 2017). "Dover". The Dreadnought Project. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  7. ↑ Harley, Simon; Lovell, Tony (30 May 2017). "Dunkirk". The Dreadnought Project. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  8. ↑ Stratego

Further reading

51°9′24.7″N1°23′33.7″E / 51.156861°N 1.392694°E / 51.156861; 1.392694

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.