The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the

Royal Navy during the First World War The Royal Navy had three main tasks at the beginning of the war: to bring the British Expeditionary Force to France and ensure its supplies and reinforcements; to establish and maintain a blockade against Germany; and to ensure the security of ...

. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was

Scapa Flow 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 Hoy. Its sheltered waters have played an impor ...

in the

Orkney Islands Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland ...

History

Formed in August 1914 from the

First Fleet The First Fleet were eleven British ships which transported a group of settlers to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the History of Australia (1788–1850), European colonisation of Australia. It consisted of two Royal Navy vessel ...

and part of the Second Fleet of the Home Fleets, the Grand Fleet included 25–35 modern

capital ship The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they are generally the larger ships when compared to other warships in their respective fleet. A capital ship is generally a leading or a primary ship in a naval fleet. Strategic i ...

s. It was commanded initially by Admiral Sir

John Jellicoe Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, (5 December 1859 – 20 November 1935) was a Royal Navy officer. He fought in the Anglo-Egyptian War and the Boxer Rebellion and commanded the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland ...

.Heathcote, p. 130 The 10th Cruiser Squadron carried out the

Northern Patrol The Northern Patrol, also known as Cruiser Force B and the Northern Patrol Force, was a naval force of the Royal Navy during the world wars. The Northern Patrol was part of the British "distant" Blockade of Germany (1914–1919). Its main task wa ...

between Shetland and Norway and cruisers from Cromarty and Rosyth operated a second line (and screened the fleet) in enforcing the

blockade of Germany Blockade of Germany may refer to: *Blockade of Germany (1914–1919) The Blockade of Germany, or the Blockade of Europe, occurred from 1914 to 1919. The prolonged naval blockade was conducted by the Allies of World War I, Allies during and afte ...

. The administrative complications of the distant blockade across the northern exits of the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

overwhelmed the capacity of Vice Admiral Francis Miller, the Base Admiral in Chief from 7 August 1914, devolving on the commander in chief, Admiral John Jellicoe. To relieve the administrative burdens on Miller and Jellicoe, the post of the Admiral of the Orkneys and Shetlands was created to oversee the defence of the islands, naval bases and shore duties. Vice-Admiral Stanley Colville was appointed to the command (7 September 1914 – 19 January 1916) with Miller under his authority. Admiral Jellicoe was significantly concerned about the possibility of submarine or destroyer attacks on Scapa Flow. While the Grand Fleet spent almost the first year of the war patrolling the west coast of the British Isles, their base at Scapa was defensively reinforced, beginning with over sixty

blockship A blockship is a ship deliberately sunk to prevent a river, channel, or canal from being used as a waterway. It may either be sunk by a navy defending the waterway to prevent the ingress of attacking enemy forces, as in the case of at Portland ...

s sunk in the many entrance channels between the southern islands to enable the use of submarine nets and booms. These blocked approaches were backed by minefields, artillery and concrete barriers. Admiral Jellicoe was succeeded by Admiral

Sir David Beatty Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, (17 January 1871 – 12 March 1936) was a Royal Navy officer. After serving in the Mahdist War and then the response to the Boxer Rebellion, he commanded the Battle Cruiser Fleet at t ...

in December 1916. The Grand Fleet was based first at

in the

, and later at

Rosyth Rosyth () is a town and Garden City in Fife, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth. Scotland's first Garden city movement, Garden City, Rosyth is part of the Greater Dunfermline Area and is located 3 miles south of Dunfermline city cen ...

on the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is a firth in Scotland, an inlet of the North Sea that separates Fife to its north and Lothian to its south. Further inland, it becomes the estuary of the River Forth and several other rivers. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate ...

. It participated with the biggest fleet action of the war – the

Battle of Jutland The Battle of Jutland () was a naval battle between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet, under Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer, durin ...

– in June 1916. After the

, the German High Seas Fleet rarely ventured out of its bases at

Wilhelmshaven Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsha ...

and

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

in the last two years of the war to engage with the British fleet. Following the German defeat, 74 ships of the

High Seas Fleet The High Seas Fleet () was the battle fleet of the German Empire, German Imperial German Navy, Imperial Navy and saw action during the First World War. In February 1907, the Home Fleet () was renamed the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpi ...

() of the

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the ''Kaiserliche Marine'' (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 ...

() were interned in

Gutter Sound Gutter Sound is a sound in the Orkney archipelago, Scotland, part of Scapa Flow. It lies to the west of the main harbour between the internal islands of Cava and Fara, and the large outer island of Hoy. Gutter Sound was one of the sites of ...

at Scapa Flow pending a decision on their future in the peace

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

. During April 1919 the Grand Fleet was disbanded, with much of its strength forming a new Atlantic Fleet. Most of the interned German warships were later

scuttled Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull, typically by its crew opening holes in its hull. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vesse ...

despite Royal Navy attempts to save them.

Order of battle

Not all the Grand Fleet was available for use at any one time, because ships required maintenance and repairs. At the time of the

in May 1916, it had 32 dreadnought and super-dreadnought battleships. Of these, 28 were in the order of battle at Jutland. The actual strength of the fleet varied through the war as new ships were built and others were transferred or sunk but the number of battleships steadily increased, adding to the margin of superiority over the German fleet. After the USA joined the war, the US Battleship Division Nine was attached to the Grand Fleet as the Sixth Battle Squadron, adding four, later five,

dreadnought The dreadnought was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an effect when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", ...

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

s.Jones, p. 25 British Grand Fleet

The order of battle of the Grand Fleet at the end of the war in 1918 included 35 dreadnought battleships and 11 battlecruisers. Twenty ships had been completed since the outbreak of war. Five of these ships were from the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

and one from the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...

. It had five battle squadrons, each of four to ten capital ships, plus the flagship HMS ''Queen Elizabeth'', three cruiser squadrons, the "Flying Squadron" of seaplane carriers, and six destroyer flotillas, with another destroyer flotilla and three minesweeper flotillas under its command. The Battle Cruiser Force was two battle squadrons and the flagship (9 ships in total), and five cruiser squadrons (21 ships).

Notes

References

Sources

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External links

The Grand Fleet

Royal Navy History
{{authority control Fleets of the Royal Navy 1914 establishments in the United Kingdom Military units and formations disestablished in 1919 Military units and formations established in 1914 Military units and formations of the Royal Navy in World War I