The 6th Battle Squadron was a squadron of the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

consisting of

Battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

s serving in the

Grand Fleet The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. History Formed in August 1914 from the ...

and existed from 1913 to 1917.

History

First World War

August 1914

HMS Lord Nelson (1906) during trials 1908

In August 1914, the 6th Battle Squadron was based at

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

and comprised a number of the older

pre-dreadnought battleship Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built between the mid- to late- 1880s and 1905, before the launch of in 1906. The pre-dreadnought ships replaced the ironclad battleships of the 1870s and 1880s. Built from steel, prote ...

s it was then assigned to the

Second Fleet The United States Second Fleet is a numbered fleet in the United States Navy responsible for the East Coast and North Atlantic Ocean. The Fleet was established following World War II. In September 2011, Second Fleet was deactivated in view of ...

these included: * * * * * * * * and transferred to the

5th Battle Squadron The 5th Battle Squadron was a squadron of the British Royal Navy consisting of battleships. The 5th Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Second Fleet. During the First World War, the Home Fleet was renamed the Grand Fleet. Hist ...

in late 1914. briefly joined the squadron in 1915, before the squadron was broken up. Most of the ships were sent to the Mediterranean.

Reformation

On 13 November 1917, Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman broke his flag in as Commander, Battleship Division 9. After preparations for "distant service", , , , and sailed for the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

on 25 November and reached

Scapa Flow Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern end in June 2009 Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and ...

Orkney Islands Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

, on 7 December 1917. Although retaining their American designation as Battleship Division 9, those four dreadnoughts became the Sixth Battle Squadron of the British Grand Fleet upon arrival in British waters. The 6th Battle Squadron operated from

and

Rosyth Rosyth ( gd, Ros Fhìobh, "headland of Fife") is a town on the Firth of Forth, south of the centre of Dunfermline. According to the census of 2011, the town has a population of 13,440. The new town was founded as a Garden city-style suburb ...

. The U.S. Battleships serving in the 6th Battle Squadron were: * * * * * - arrived January 1918 * - replaced USS ''Delaware'' July 1918

Vice and Rear-Admirals commanding

Post holders as follows: Note: '' RADMHFSNORE'' Rear-Admiral, Home Fleets at the Nore''.

References

Sources

*Dittmar, F.J & Colledge J.J., ''British Warships 1914-1919'' Ian Allan, London. 1972; *McMahon, William E., ''Dreadnought Battleships and Battle Cruisers'' University Press of America, 1978;

External links

Sixth Battle Squadron at DreadnoughtProject.org
{{Battle squadrons of the Royal Navy, state=collapsed Battle squadrons of the Royal Navy Ship squadrons of the Royal Navy in World War I Military units and formations established in 1913 Military units and formations disestablished in 1917