Second Fleet (United Kingdom)

Last updated July 26, 2025

Second Fleet
Active	1 May 1912–1914
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Navy
Type	Fleet
Commanders
Notable commanders	Vice-Admiral Sir Cecil Burney, Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick T. Hamilton

The Second Fleet was a reserve formation of the Royal Navy that briefly existed before the First World War.

History
Commanders
Components
Footnotes
Bibliography
External links

History

Formed on 1 May 1912 from the Third Division of the Home Fleet, its ships were manned by a nucleus crew during peacetime, but were intended to be manned by men from the naval schools when mobilised.^[1] It reported directly to the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleets. The fleet was mobilised in late July 1914 as tensions increased between Great Britain and Imperial Germany and remained on active duty until war was declared on 4 August.^[2] It reformed the Channel Fleet upon the declaration of war and consisted of the Fifth and Sixth Battle Squadrons, equipped with a total of 15 pre-dreadnought battleships and the majority of the Home Defence Patrol Flotillas.^[3]

Commanders

	Rank	Name	Term
Vice-Admiral Commanding Second Fleet^[4]
1	Vice-Admiral	Sir Frederick T. Hamilton	May 1912-December 1913
2	Vice-Admiral	Sir Cecil Burney	December 1913-August 1914

Components

Included^[5]

	Unit	Notes
1	5th Battle Squadron	(8 battleships)^[6]
2	6th Battle Squadron	(5-7 battleships)^[7]
3	5th Cruiser Squadron	(3-4 light cruisers)^[8]
4	6th Cruiser Squadron	3–4 armoured cruisers)^[9]
5	7th Destroyer Flotilla	20 destroyer-12 torpedo boat)^[10]

Footnotes

↑ Wragg, p. 24
↑ Marder, p. 432
↑ Corbett, p. 12
↑ Government, H.M. (October 1913). "Flag Officers – Vice Admirals". The Navy List. H.M. Stationery Office. p. 87.
↑ Harley, Simon; Lovell, Tony. "Second Fleet (Royal Navy) – The Dreadnought Project". dreadnoughtproject.org. Harley and Lovell, 25 May 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
↑ Harley and Lovell. 2014
↑ Harley and Lovell. 2014
↑ Harley and Lovell. 2014
↑ Harley and Lovell. 2014
↑ Harley and Lovell. 2014

Bibliography

Corbett, Julian. Naval Operations to the Battle of the Falklands. History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents. Vol. I (2nd, reprint of the 1938 ed.). London and Nashville, Tennessee: Imperial War Museum and Battery Press. ISBN 0-89839-256-X.
Marder, Arthur J. (2013) [1961]. From Dreadnought to Scapa Flow: The Royal Navy in the Fisher Era. Vol. I: The Road to War 1904–1914. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 9781-59114-259-1.
Wragg, David (2006). Royal Navy Handbook 1914–1918. Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-4203-7.

External links

The Dreadnought Project: Second Fleet

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