The 1st Special Squadron (January 1917 – October 1918) was an

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

fleet. In accordance with the

Anglo-Japanese Alliance The first was an alliance between Britain and Japan, signed in January 1902. The alliance was signed in London at Lansdowne House on 30 January 1902 by Lord Lansdowne, British Foreign Secretary, and Hayashi Tadasu, Japanese diplomat. A dip ...

, the fleet helped defend Australia and New Zealand as well as

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

shipping in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

oceans during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Background

At the outbreak of war, the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

(RAN) stood at 3,800 personnel and consisted of sixteen ships, including the , the

light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...

s and , the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

s , and , and the submarines and . Another light cruiser () and three destroyers were under construction, and a small fleet of auxiliary ships was also being maintained. After the

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Wilhel ...

German East Asia Squadron The German East Asia Squadron (german: Kreuzergeschwader / Ostasiengeschwader) was an Imperial German Navy cruiser squadron which operated mainly in the Pacific Ocean between the mid-1890s until 1914, when it was destroyed at the Battle of the Fa ...

was destroyed early in the war, most RAN ships were redeployed to the European theatres, leaving Australia and New Zealand exposed to German merchant raiders operating in the Pacific. Jose 1987, p. 337. The Australian government requested help from the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

, as the remaining warships could not effectively protect the region. Jose 1987, p. 338. These requests suggested that ships of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

be deployed to supplement the forces in Australian waters, but instead, the Admiralty contacted Japan and made arrangements for several ships to be sent to Australia.

1st Special Squadron

In January 1917, Japan created the 1st Special Squadron, made up of several cruisers supported by the 2nd Destroyer Division. They were tasked to defend the

Strait of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connec ...

and shipping from Australia to

Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...

. Tucker, Roberts 2005, p. 611. To provide more coverage, the Japanese Navy formed the 3rd Special Squadron on March 26, 1917, to defend the eastern coast of Australia and New Zealand. With the capture and sinking of German raiders, the pressure against Allied shipping lessened, and after December 1917, the 3rd Special Squadron was dissolved and the operational area of the 1st Special Squadron was enlarged to include the eastern coast of Australia and New Zealand. The defence of Australia, New Zealand and of Indian shipping lanes by Japanese ships continued until October 1918.

Ships of the 1st Special Squadron

;Cruisers ;2nd Destroyer Division

Notes

Bibliography

Citations

References

* * {{cite book , ref=refTuckerRoberts2005 , last=Spencer Tucker, Priscilla Mary Roberts , title=World War I: encyclopedia , edition= 2005 , pages=1661 , publisher=ABC-CLIO , isbn=1-85109-420-2 World War I naval ships of Japan Fleets of the Imperial Japanese Navy Military units and formations established in 1917 Military units and formations disestablished in 1918