| Flying Squadron | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1869–1870; 1870-72; 1896 |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  Royal Navy |
| Type | Squadron |
The Flying Squadron was a Royal Navy squadron formed at least three times. Its first formation existed from June 1869-November 1870. [1]
| Flying Squadron | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1869–1870; 1870-72; 1896 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Branch | Royal Navy |
| Type | Squadron |
The Flying Squadron was a Royal Navy squadron formed at least three times. Its first formation existed from June 1869-November 1870. [1]
The first Flying Squadron was established in 1869. It was made up, at various times, of ten wooden ships with auxiliary steam power. The squadron sailed from Plymouth on 19 June 1869. It called at Madeira, South America, South Africa, Melbourne, Sydney, and Hobart in Australia, Auckland, Wellington, and Lyttleton in New Zealand, Japan, Canada Hawaii, and Bahia in Brazil, before returning to England on 15 November 1870. [2] [3]
Rear-Admiral Geoffrey Hornby commanded the squadron from 19 June 1869 – 15 November 1870, [4] flying his flag from HMS Liverpool (1860). [3] Other ships of the squadron included HMS Liffey (1856), HMS Bristol (left at Bahia), HMS Endymion (1865), HMS Scylla (left at Esquimalt), HMS Barrosa (1860), HMS Phoebe, HMS Pearl, and HMS Charybdis. Between 1866 and 1870, HMS Satellite (1855) served in the Pacific with the Commander-in-Chief, China. She joined the Flying Squadron at Valparaiso in Chile, sailing home the rest of the way with them.
The second Flying Squadron was formed in 1870, mostly made up of wooden ships, but including the very new corvette HMS Volage, [5] which circumnavigated the world to "show the flag". [6] The squadron sailed from England on 3 December 1870 and called at Madeira, Brazil, the Cape of Good Hope, and the East Indies, before crossing the Pacific Ocean and returning to England at the end of 1872. [7]
The third Flying Squadron was a special Royal Navy squadron that operated during 1896. [8]
Following the Jameson Raid in South Africa, the German Emperor Wilhelm II sent a telegram of support to President Kruger. This led to a war scare in Europe. To ready itself for the possibility of a war with the German Empire, the Royal Navy formed the Particular Service Squadron at Portsmouth, on 14 January 1896. It was soon renamed the Flying Squadron. Its flagship was the battleship Revenge, while the other ships in the squadron were the battleship Royal Oak, the Edgar-class cruiser Gibraltar and Theseus, and the Astraea-class cruisers Charybdis and Hermione. The squadron was commanded by Rear Admiral Alfred Taylor Dale.
The Flying Squadron was held in readiness for ten months, and briefly was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet in mid-1896. No war broke out, and the Flying Squadron was disbanded in November 1896. [8]
HMS Liverpool was a fourth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Geoffrey Thomas Phipps Hornby GCB was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer, he saw action at the capture of Acre in November 1840 during the Egyptian–Ottoman War. As a captain, he was assigned to Vancouver Island with a naval brigade where he found a unit of United States troops ready to take over the San Juan Islands in a dispute that became known as the Pig War. Hornby used his powers of diplomacy to facilitate a peaceful handover of the islands to the United States.
The Channel Fleet and originally known as the Channel Squadron was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1854 to 1909 and 1914 to 1915.
HMS Raleigh was an unarmoured iron or "sheathed"-masted frigate completed in 1874. She was one of a series of three designed by Sir Edward Reed. The other two iron-hulled frigates of independent design were HMS Inconstant and HMS Shah. The Controller originally intended to build six of these big frigates, but only three were ordered in view of their high cost. They retained the traditional broadside layout of armament, with a full rig of masts and sails. Although widely believed to be named after Sir Walter Raleigh, the ship was in fact named for George of Raleigh.
HMS Revenge was one of seven Royal Sovereign-class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Navy during the 1890s. She spent much of her early career as a flagship for the Flying Squadron and in the Mediterranean, Home and Channel Fleets. Revenge was assigned to the International Squadron blockading Crete during the 1897–1898 revolt there against the Ottoman Empire. She was placed in reserve upon her return home in 1900, and was then briefly assigned as a coast guard ship before she joined the Home Fleet in 1902. The ship became a gunnery training ship in 1906 until she was paid off in 1913.
HMS Inconstant was an unarmored, iron-hulled, screw frigate built for the Royal Navy in the late 1860s. Upon completion in 1869, she was the fastest warship in the world and was assigned to the Channel Squadron. Two years later the ship was transferred to the Detached Squadron for a brief time before she was paid off into reserve in 1872. Inconstant was recommissioned in 1880 for service with the Flying Squadron that circumnavigated the world in 1880–82. On the return voyage, the ship was diverted to Egypt during the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882 and played a minor role supporting operations ashore. She was reduced to reserve again after her return and was served as an accommodation ship in 1897. Inconstant was hulked in 1904 and became a training ship in 1906. She continued in that role, under a variety of names, until she was sold for scrap in 1955 and subsequently broken up, the second-to-last surviving Pembroke-built warship in existence.
HMS Windsor Castle was a triple-decker, 102-gun first-rate Royal Navy ship of the line. She was renamed HMS Cambridge in 1869, when she replaced a ship of the same name as gunnery ship off Plymouth.
Admiral Sir Phipps Hornby, was a prominent Royal Navy officer of the nineteenth century. Hornby served on frigates throughout most of his wartime experience, which included witnessing the Nore Mutiny first hand aged 12 in 1797. Later, commanding his own sixth-rate HMS Volage in 1811, Hornby played a vital role in the British victory at the Battle of Lissa. At Lissa a British squadron under William Hoste overwhelmed a French force more than twice their own strength, Volage combating a much larger ship alone for several minutes and taking numerous casualties, including Hornby, who was wounded.
Flying Squadron may refer to:
Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Donald Kelly was a Royal Navy officer. He served in the First World War as commanding officer of the cruiser HMS Dublin which came close to intercepting the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben. After the War he took charge of a naval force dispatched to strengthen the Mediterranean Fleet during the Chanak Crisis. After serving as Fourth Sea Lord and then commander of the 1st Battle Squadron, Kelly, known for his skill in personnel matters, was asked to take command of the Atlantic Fleet in the aftermath of the Invergordon Mutiny. He rapidly restored discipline and issued a report which was quite critical of the Admiralty Board's handling of the pay cuts issue in the first place. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth.
Admiral Sir Robert John Prendergast was a Royal Navy officer.
Admiral Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, 3rd Baronet was a senior Royal Navy officer. On 17 September 1880 he became 3rd Baronet, on the death of his father. The Culme-Seymours were relatives of the Seymour family, his father having added his wife's family name – Culme – to his own following her death.
Admiral Sir John Kennedy Erskine Baird, KCB was an officer in the Royal Navy, who is chiefly remembered for commanding the losing side in the 1888 annual naval manoeuvres.
Admiral Sir George Edwin Patey, was a senior officer in the Royal Navy.
HMS Charybdis was a 21-gun Royal Navy Pearl-class corvette launched on 1 July 1859 at Chatham Dockyard.
Admiral Frederick Byng Montresor was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, East Indies & Cape of Good Hope Station.
HMS Volage was a Volage-class corvette built for the Royal Navy in the late 1860s. She spent most of her first commission assigned to the Flying Squadron circumnavigating the world, and later carried a party of astronomers to the Kerguelen Islands to observe the transit of Venus in 1874. The ship was then assigned as the senior officer's ship in South American waters until she was transferred to the Training Squadron during the 1880s. Volage was paid off in 1899 and sold for scrap in 1904.
Admiral Sir John Reginald Thomas Fullerton, was a Royal Navy officer and courtier.
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