The Flying Squadron was a

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 ...

squadron formed at least three times. Its first formation existed from June 1869-November 1870.

First formation, 1869-70

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 America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, Melbourne, Sydney, and Hobart in Australia, Auckland, Wellington, and Lyttleton in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, Japan,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, and

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest b ...

in Brazil, before returning to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on 15 November 1870.https://www.pdavis.nl/Flying.htm, accessed April 2020. Rear-Admiral

Geoffrey Hornby Admiral of the Fleet Sir Geoffrey Thomas Phipps Hornby GCB (10 February 1825 – 3 March 1895) 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 capt ...

commanded the squadron from 19 June 1869 – 15 November 1870, flying his flag from . Other ships of the squadron included , (left at Bahia), , (left at Esquimalt), , , , and . Between 1866 and 1870, served in the Pacific with the

Commander-in-Chief, China The Commander-in-Chief, China was the admiral in command of what was usually known as the China Station, at once both a British Royal Navy naval formation and its admiral in command. It was created in 1865 and deactivated in 1941. From 1831 to 18 ...

. She joined the Flying Squadron at Valparaiso in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, sailing home the rest of the way with them. B(1871) p015 FLYING SQUADRON, PLYMOUTH SOUND, JUNE, 1869.jpg, Plymouth Sound
(June, 1869) B(1871) p177 TASMANIA, RIVER DERWENT. - H.E. CHARLES DUCANE VISITING THE SQUADRON.jpg, Hobart, Tasmania
(January, 1870) B(1871) p227 AUCKLAND HARBOUR, N.Z.jpg, Auckland, New Zealand
(February, 1870) B(1871) p269 FLYING SQUADRON, ESQUIMALT HARBOR.jpg, Esquimalt Bay, Canada,
(May, 1870) B(1871) p283 FLYING SQUADRON, OFF HONOLULU, JUNE 1870.jpg, Honolulu, Hawaii
(June, 1870) B(1871) p307 ROUNDING CAPE HORN.jpg, Rounding Cape Horn
(September 13, 1870)

Second formation, 1870-72

The second Flying Squadron was formed in 1870, mostly made up of wooden ships, but including the very new corvette HMS ''Volage'', which circumnavigated the world to "show the flag". The squadron sailed from

on 3 December 1870 and called at Madeira,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, the Cape of Good Hope, and the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around ...

, before crossing the

Pacific Ocean 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 contin ...

and returning to England at the end of 1872.''Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica'' (1904), p. 84

Third formation, 1896

The third Flying Squadron was a special

squadron that operated during 1896.

Burt Burt is a given name and also a shortened form of other names, such as Burton and Herbert, or a place name. Burt may refer to: People *Burt Alvord (1866–after 1910), American Old West lawman and outlaw *Burt Bacharach (born 1928), American com ...

1988, pp. 81–82. Following the

Jameson Raid The Jameson Raid (29 December 1895 – 2 January 1896) was a botched raid against the South African Republic (commonly known as the Transvaal) carried out by British colonial administrator Leander Starr Jameson, under the employment of Cecil ...

, the German Emperor

Wilhelm II , house = Hohenzollern , father = Frederick III, German Emperor , mother = Victoria, Princess Royal , religion = Lutheranism (Prussian United) , signature = Wilhelm II, German Emperor Signature-.svg Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor ...

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 Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, on 14 January 1896. It was soon renamed the Flying Squadron. Its flagship was the battleship , while the other ships in the squadron were the battleship , the and , and the s and . The squadron was commanded by Rear Admiral

Alfred Taylor Dale Alfred Taylor Dale (26 September 1840 – 14 November 1925) was a Royal Navy admiral. He joined the Royal Navy in 1854. Promoted to lieutenant on 14 April 1860, commander on 4 April 1870, captain on 31 December 1876, rear-admiral on 10 Septembe ...

. 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.

Notes

References

*
The cruise round the world of the Flying Squadron, 1869-1870, under the command of Rear-Admiral G. T. Phipps Hornby
- rare book in the collection of the National Library of New Zealand {{Squadrons of the Royal Navy, state=collapsed Royal Navy squadrons 19th-century history of the Royal Navy Military units and formations disestablished in the 1890s