The Special Service Squadron was a component 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 ...

during the earlier part of the 20th century. The squadron patrolled the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

as an instrument of

gunboat diplomacy In international politics, the term gunboat diplomacy refers to the pursuit of foreign policy objectives with the aid of conspicuous displays of naval power, implying or constituting a direct threat of warfare should terms not be agreeable to t ...

. It was headquartered in Balboa, Panama Canal Zone. Records of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet have correspondence from the Special Service Squadron in 1907. The Special Service Squadron was stood up as a separate command from the fleet in 1920. Its purpose was to protect the Canal and American interests both in the Caribbean and on the Pacific coast of Central America (and it remained a separate command when the Atlantic and Pacific fleets were combined as the

United States Fleet The United States Fleet was an organization in the United States Navy from 1922 until after World War II. The acronym CINCUS, pronounced "sink us", was used for Commander in Chief, United States Fleet. This was replaced by COMINCH in December 1941 ...

in 1922). The squadron consisted mostly of small, older ships and was abolished in 1940 as part of the consolidation of U.S. naval commands in the early 1940s.

Commanders

* C.H. Hockson 1907 * Henry F. Bryan 1920-1921 * C. B. Morgan 1921 * William C. Cole (29 April 1922 – 1923) * J. H. Dayton 1923 * ?? * Julian Lane Latimer (May 7, 1926 – July 8, 1927) * David F. Sellers (July 8, 1927 – May 12, 1929) * Edward H. Campbell (May 12, 1929 – 1930) * Arthur St. Clair Smith (1930 – 1933) * Rear Admiral Yancey S. Williams (1938) * John W. Wilcox, Jr. 1939-1940

Also see

* Service Squadron

References

Ship squadrons of the United States Navy {{US-Navy-stub