Iron Duke.
FIRST BATTLE SQUADRON
Battleships
Marlborough. St. Vincent. Colossus. Hercules. Neptune. Vanguard. Collingwood. Superb.
SECOND BATTLE SQUADRON
Battleships
King George V. Orion. Ajax. Audacious. Centurion. Conqueror. Monarch. Thunderer.
THIRD BATTLE SQUADRON
Battleships
King Edward VII. Hibernia. Commonwealth. Zealandia. Dominion. Africa. Britannia. Hindustan.
FOURTH BATTLE SQUADRON
Battleships
Dreadnought. Temeraire. Bellerophon. Agincourt. Erin. Queen Elizabeth. War spite. Valiant. Barham.
FIRST BATTLE-CRUISER SQUADRON
Battle-Cruisers
Lion. Princess Royal. Queen Mary. New Zealand. Invincible. Inflexible. Indomitable. Indefatigable.
SECOND CRUISER SQUADRON.
Shannon. Achilles. Cochrane. Natal.
THIRD CRUISER SQUADRON.
Antrim. Argyll. Devonshire. Roxburgh.
FIRST LIGHT CRUISER SQUADRON.
Southampton. Birmingham. Nottingham. Lowestoft.
Destroyer Flotillas (number and composition unknown).
The above ships formed The Grand Fleet under the command of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe.
THE SECOND BRITISH FLEET.
Flagship
Lord Nelson
FIFTH BATTLE SQUADRON.
Battleships
Prince of Wales. Agamemnon. Bulwark. Formidable. Implacable. Irresistible. London. Queen. Venerable.
SIXTH BATTLE SQUADRON
Battleships
Russell. Cornwallis. Albemarle. Duncan. Exmouth. Vengeance.
FIFTH CRUISER SQUADRON
Light Cruisers
Carnarvon. Falmouth. Liverpool.
SIXTH CRUISER SQUADRON.
Drake. Good Hope. King Alfred. Leviathan.
THE THIRD BRITISH FLEET
Seventh Battle Squadron
Eighth Battle Squadron
Eight ships of the "Majestic" class.
Six ships of the "Canopus" class.
Seventh Cruiser Squadron
Ninth Cruiser Squadron
Tenth Cruiser Squadron
Eleventh Cruiser Squadron
Twelfth Cruiser Squadron
They comprised older cruisers, such as:
Cressy. Aboukir. Hogue. Hawke. Theseus. Crescent. Edgar. Endymion. Gibraltar. Grafton. Royal Arthur.
The Second and Third British Fleets were combined into the Channel Fleet under a special Commander-in-Chief.
With these enormous forces England was certainly in a position to make us feel the weight of her sea power. The most effective method of doing so would be the destruction of our Fleet. This was also the view of the English Commander-in-Chief at that time, who put it in these words:
"The above objects are achieved in the quickest and surest manner by destroying the enemy's armed naval forces, and this is therefore the first objective of our Fleet. The Fleet exists to achieve victory."[2]
The English Fleet did not live up to these proud words, in spite of its strength and the geographical position. Yet our belief that it would act thus was thoroughly justified, and we had to decide our attitude accordingly.
In the War Orders which were issued to the Commander-in-Chief of the High Sea Fleet the task before him was framed as follows: The objective of the operations must be to damage the English Fleet by offensive raids against the naval forces engaged in watching and blockading the German Bight, as well as by mine-laying on the British coast and submarine attack, whenever possible. After an equality of strength had been realised as a result of these operations, and all our forces had been got ready and concentrated, an attempt was to be made with our Fleet to seek battle under circumstances unfavourable to the enemy. Of course, if a favourable occasion for battle presented itself before, it must be exploited. Further, operations against enemy merchant ships were to be conducted in accordance with Prize Court regulations, and the ships appointed to carry out such operations in foreign waters were to be sent out as soon as possible.
The order underlying this plan of campaign was this: The Fleet must strike when the circumstances are favourable; it must therefore seek battle with the English Fleet only when a state of equality has been achieved by the methods of guerilla warfare.
It thus left the Commander-in-Chief of the High Sea Fleet freedom of action to exploit any favourable opportunity and put no obstacles in his way, but it required of him that he should not risk the whole Fleet in battle until there was a probability of victory. Moreover, it started from the assumption that opportunities would arise of doing the enemy damage when, as was to be expected, he initiated a blockade of the German Bight which was in accordance with the rules of International Law. It is also to be emphasised that a submarine offensive was only required "whenever possible." The achievements of our U-boats absolutely exceeded all expectations, thanks to the energy with which the command faced the most difficult problem and the resolution of the commanders and crews, on their own initiative, to do more than was required of them.
As regards operations in the Baltic, the War Orders to the Commander-in-Chief of the High Sea Fleet contained no instructions, as a special Commander-in-Chief had been appointed for this area. If the English Fleet tried to carry the war into the Baltic, the condition precedent (a favourable opportunity for attack) laid down in the War Orders to the High Sea Fleet would materialise in the simplest fashion.
1 ↑ The Third Battle Squadron consisted of ships of the pre-Dreadnought period, the First, Second and Fourth Battle Squadrons of "Dreadnoughts." In the Fourth Battle Squadron the ships from the Agincourt onwards were not ready for sea at the outbreak of war.
2 ↑ In the book published in January, 1919, "The Grand Fleet, 1914–16," by Admiral Viscount Jellicoe of Scapa, the tasks of the British Fleet were set out as follows: (1) To ensure for British ships the unimpeded use of the seas,
