| First Fleet | |
|---|---|
| Active | 31 July 1912–August 1914 |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  Royal Navy |
| Type | Fleet |
The First Fleet was a formation of the Royal Navy that briefly existed before the First World War from 1912 to 1914.
| First Fleet | |
|---|---|
| Active | 31 July 1912–August 1914 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Branch | Royal Navy |
| Type | Fleet |
The First Fleet was a formation of the Royal Navy that briefly existed before the First World War from 1912 to 1914.
The First Fleet was formed on 31 July 1912, with the Commander-in-Chief Home Fleets in direct command of it; [1] a vice admiral commanded the Second and Third Fleets. The numbered fleets during this period had different levels of battle readiness; ships of the First Fleet ships were in full commission. [2]
The First Fleet included four destroyer flotillas under Captain Cecil Lambert. [3] Captain Reginald Tyrwhitt took over the command of the destroyer flotillas in December 1913. [4]
| Rank | Flag | Name | Term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleets/First Fleet [5] | ||||
| 1 | Admiral |  | Sir George Callaghan | 31 July 1912-December 1914 |
| Unit | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1st Battle Squadron | (8 battleships) [7] |
| 2 | 2nd Battle Squadron | (8 battleships) [8] |
| 3 | 3rd Battle Squadron | (8 pre-dreadnoughts) [9] |
| 4 | 4th Battle Squadron | (4 battleships) [10] |
| 5 | 1st Cruiser Squadron | (4 cruisers then to Battle-Cruiser Squadron 01.13) [11] |
| 6 | 2nd Cruiser Squadron | (4-5 cruisers) [12] |
| 7 | 3rd Cruiser Squadron | (5-7 cruisers) [13] |
| 8 | 4th Cruiser Squadron | (7-8 cruisers) [14] |
| 9 | 1st Light Cruiser Squadron | (14 cruisers assigned-reassigned between 1913 and 1914) [15] |
| 10 | 1st Destroyer Flotilla | (1 scout cruiser, 20 destroyers) [16] |
| 11 | 2nd Destroyer Flotilla | (1 scout cruiser, 20 destroyers) [17] |
| 12 | 3rd Destroyer Flotilla | (1 scout cruiser,16 destroyers -all to Med as 5th DF, 1913, replaced by 4 destroyers) [18] |
| 13 | 4th Destroyer Flotilla | (1 scout cruiser, 12 destroyers + 18 K. Class, 1912–13) [19] |
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.
HMS Ambuscade was an Acasta-class destroyer of the Royal Navy and was launched in 1913. She served throughout the First World War, forming part of the Grand Fleet and taking part at the Battle of Jutland, serving in the Dover Patrol and spending the latter part of the war as a convoy escort. She was sold for scrapping in 1921.
The Atlantic Fleet was a naval fleet of the Royal Navy. It existed for two periods; 1909 until 1914, and then 1919 until 1932.
HMS Express was a B-class torpedo boat destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She was completed by Laird, Son & Company, Birkenhead, in 1896. Like many contemporary British destroyers, she was a "builder's special", designed to Admiralty specifications but built to the builder's own design.
HMS Active was the name ship of her class of three scout cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the 1910s. Completed in 1911, she was briefly assigned to several different units until the ship became the flotilla leader of the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla (DF) in 1914. When the First World War began in August of that year, the 2nd DF was assigned to the Grand Fleet where their primary task was to protect the fleet from submarines.
The Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland (FOSNI) was a senior post in the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. It was based at HM Naval Base Clyde, and the holder of the post was the Royal Navy’s senior officer in Scotland. The post of FOSNI, dating from 1946, was re-scoped and re-named in 1994 to Flag Officer Scotland, Northern England & Northern Ireland (FOSNNI), then named back in 2015, before being dis-established in 2020.
The 1st Light Cruiser Squadron was a naval unit of the Royal Navy from 1913 to 1924.
HMS Rother was a Palmer type River-class destroyer ordered by the Royal Navy under the 1902–1903 Naval Estimates. Named after the River Rother, east of Sheffield, South Yorkshire in England, she was the first ship to carry this name in the Royal Navy.
The Third Fleet was a reserve formation of the Royal Navy that briefly existed before the First World War.
HMS Bulldog was one of sixteen destroyers ordered under the 1908- 09 Naval Estimates from John Brown & Company of Clydebank. Named for the English bulldog, she was the fifth ship to carry this name since it was introduced in 1782 for a 16-gun Sloop broken in 1829. The destroyers of the 1908-09 program would be the last coal-fired destroyers of the Royal Navy. She and her sisters served in the First Destroyer Flotilla then were moved en masse to the Third Destroyer Flotilla and before the start of the Great War to the Fifth Destroyer Flotilla. With the advent of the convoy system they were moved to the Second Destroyer Flotilla. With the Armistice she was laid up then scrapped in 1920.
The 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron was a naval formation of light cruisers of the Royal Navy from 1915 to 1922.
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 2nd Destroyer Flotilla was a naval formation of the Royal Navy from 1909 to 1943 and again from 1945 to 1946.
The British 3rd Destroyer Flotilla, also styled as Third Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the Royal Navy from 1909 to 1939 and again from 1945 to 1951.
The British 4th Destroyer Flotilla or Fourth Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the Royal Navy from August 1909 to July 1951.
The 9th Destroyer Flotilla, or Ninth Destroyer Flotilla, was a military formation of the British Royal Navy from January 1913 to December 1925 and again in January to July 1940.
The British 11th Destroyer Flotilla, or Eleventh Destroyer Flotilla, was a naval formation of the Royal Navy from August 1915 to September 1945.
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.
