Third Fleet (United Kingdom)

The Third Fleet was a reserve formation of the Royal Navy that briefly existed before the First World War.

Third Fleet
Active1 May 1912–1914
Country United Kingdom
Branch Royal Navy
TypeFleet

History

Formed on 1 May 1912 from the 4th Division of the Home Fleet, its elderly ships were ordinarily only manned by a small maintenance crew during peacetime, but were intended to be manned by naval reservists when mobilised.[1] It was conducting a test mobilisation in July 1914 as tensions increased between Great Britain and Imperial Germany[2] and was only partially demobilised before full mobilisation was ordered on 2 August. At this time it consisted of the 7th and 8th Battle Squadrons of pre-dreadnought battleships and five squadrons of cruisers.[3]

Vice-Admiral Commanding

RankFlagNameTerm
Vice-Admiral Commanding Third Fleet [4]
1Vice-AdmiralSir Frederick T. HamiltonDecember 1911-December 1913
2Vice-AdmiralSir Cecil BurneyDecember 1913-August 1914.

Components

Included [5]
UnitNotes
17th Battle Squadron(8 pre-dreadnoughts) [6]
28th Battle Squadron(6 pre-dreadnoughts) [7]
37th Cruiser Squadron(5 armoured cruisers) [8]
38th Cruiser Squadron(5 armoured/protected cruisers) [9]
49th Cruiser Squadron8 armoured/protected cruisers) [10]
510th Cruiser Squadron(7 protected cruisers)-from Training Squadron at Queenstown [11]
611th Cruiser Squadron5 protected cruisers) [12]
712th Cruiser Squadron4 protected cruisers) [13]
8Devonport Local Defence Flotilla [14]
9Nore Local Defence Flotilla [15]
10Portsmouth Local Defence Flotilla [16]

Footnotes

  1. Wragg, p. 24
  2. Marder, p. 432
  3. Corbett, pp. 13, 29
  4. Government, H.M. (October 1913). "Flag Officers - Vice Admirals". The Navy List. H.M. Stationery Office. p. 87.
  5. Watson, Dr Graham. "Royal Navy Organisation and Ship Deployment, Inter-War Years 1914-1918". naval-history.net. Gordon Smith, 27 October, 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  6. Watson. 2015
  7. Watson. 2015
  8. Watson. 2015
  9. Watson. 2015
  10. Watson. 2015
  11. Watson. 2015
  12. Watson. 2015
  13. Watson. 2015
  14. Watson. 2015
  15. Watson. 2015
  16. Watson. 2015

Bibliography

  • Corbett, Julian. Naval Operations to the Battle of the Falklands. History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents. I (2nd, reprint of the 1938 ed.). London and Nashville, Tennessee: Imperial War Museum and Battery Press. ISBN 0-89839-256-X.
  • Marder, Arthur J. (2013) [1961]. From Dreadnought to Scapa Flow: The Royal Navy in the Fisher Era. I: The Road to War 1904–1914. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 9781-59114-259-1.
  • Wragg, David (2006). Royal Navy Handbook 1914–1918. Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-4203-7.

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