| Third Fleet | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Active | 1 May 1912–1914 |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  Royal Navy |
| Type | Reserve fleet |
| Size | 2 x Battle squadrons 6 x Cruiser squadrons 3 x Local Defence Flotilla |
The Third Fleet was a reserve formation of the Royal Navy that briefly existed before the First World War.
Formed on 1 May 1912 from the 4th Division of the Home Fleet, its elderly ships were ordinarily only manned by a small maintenance crew during peacetime, but were intended to be manned by naval reservists when mobilised. [1] It was conducting a test mobilisation in July 1914 as tensions increased between Great Britain and Imperial Germany [2] and was only partially demobilised before full mobilisation was ordered on 2 August. At this time it consisted of the 7th and 8th Battle Squadrons of pre-dreadnought battleships and five squadrons of cruisers. [3]
| Rank | Flag | Name | Term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vice-Admiral Commanding Third Fleet [4] | ||||
| 1 | Vice-Admiral |  | Sir Frederick T. Hamilton | December 1911-December 1913 |
| 2 | Vice-Admiral | | Sir Cecil Burney | December 1913-August 1914. |
| Unit | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7th Battle Squadron | (8 pre-dreadnoughts) [6] |
| 2 | 8th Battle Squadron | (6 pre-dreadnoughts) [7] |
| 3 | 7th Cruiser Squadron | (5 armoured cruisers) [8] |
| 3 | 8th Cruiser Squadron | (5 armoured/protected cruisers) [9] |
| 4 | 9th Cruiser Squadron | (8 armoured/protected cruisers) [10] |
| 5 | 10th Cruiser Squadron | (7 protected cruisers)-from Training Squadron at Queenstown [11] |
| 6 | 11th Cruiser Squadron | (5 protected cruisers) [12] |
| 7 | 12th Cruiser Squadron | (4 protected cruisers) [13] |
| 8 | Devonport Local Defence Flotilla [14] | |
| 9 | Nore Local Defence Flotilla [15] | |
| 10 | Portsmouth Local Defence Flotilla [16] | |
HMS Duke of Edinburgh was the lead ship of the Duke of Edinburgh-class armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the early 1900s. She was stationed in the Mediterranean when the First World War began and participated in the pursuit of the German battlecruiser SMS Goeben and light cruiser SMS Breslau. After the German ships reached Ottoman waters, the ship was sent to the Red Sea in mid-August to protect troop convoys arriving from India. Duke of Edinburgh was transferred to the Grand Fleet in December 1914 and participated in the Battle of Jutland in May 1916. She was not damaged during the battle and was the only ship of her squadron to survive. She was eventually transferred to the Atlantic Ocean in August 1917 for convoy escort duties.
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The 7th Cruiser Squadron was a blockading force of the Royal Navy during the First World War used to close the English Channel to German traffic. It was employed patrolling an area of the North Sea known as the Broad Fourteens in support of vessels guarding the northern entrance to the Channel. The Squadron had been part of the Third Fleet of the Home Fleets.
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.
The Action of 22 September 1914 was an attack by the German U-boat U-9 that took place during the First World War. Three obsolete Royal Navy cruisers of the 7th Cruiser Squadron manned mainly by Royal Naval Reserve part-timers and sometimes referred to as the Live Bait Squadron, were sunk by U-9 while patrolling the southern North Sea.
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.
The First Cruiser Squadron was a Royal Navy squadron of cruisers that saw service as part of the Grand Fleet during World War I, then later as part of the Mediterranean during the Interwar period and World War II. It was first established in 1904 and existed until 1952.
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The 1st Division was a formation of the Home Fleet of the Royal Navy. It briefly existed before the First World War from 1909 to 1912.
The 2nd Division was a naval formation of the British Home Fleet it was formed before First World War in March 1909 until May 1912.
The 3rd and 4th Divisions was a naval formation of the Home Fleet, Royal Navy. It was created before the First World War from March 1909 until May 1912.
The 4th Light Cruiser Squadron was a naval formation of Light cruisers of the Royal Navy from 1915 to 1919.
During the First World War, the Commander-in-Chief at the Cape, Rear Admiral Herbert King-Hall, expended much effort to destroy the elusive German light cruiser Königsberg.
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 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.
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.
