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Grand Fleet
Grand Fleet battleships
Active	1914-1919
Country	United Kingdom
Allegiance	British Empire
Branch	Royal Navy
Type	Naval Fleet
Size	~150 ships
Engagements	Battle of Jutland
Commanders
Commander-in-Chief 1914-1916	Sir John Jellicoe
Commander-in-Chief 1916-1919	Sir David Beatty

The 2nd Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet. From left to right the ships are: King George V, Thunderer, Monarch and Conqueror.

The Grand Fleet was the main fleet of the British Royal Navy during the First World War.

History

It was formed in 1914 by the British Atlantic Fleet combined with the Home Fleet and it included 35-40 state-of-the-art capital ships. It was initially commanded by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. He was later succeeded by the commander of the Grand Fleet battlecruisers Admiral Sir David Beatty. The Grand Fleet was based in Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. The Grand Fleet only took part in one fleet action during the war, the indecisive Battle of Jutland.

After the war the Grand Fleet was disbanded with much of its strength forming a new Atlantic Fleet.

Order of battle

Not all the Grand Fleet was available to put to sea at any one time, because ships required maintenance and repairs. For a list of ships which were present at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 see the article, Order of battle at Jutland. A number of others missed the battle for one reason or another. Actual strength of the fleet varied through the war as new ships were built and others were sunk, but the numbers steadily increased as the war progressed and the margin of superiority over the German fleet progressed with it. This led to a slowly less cautious approach to the war as the strength increased. The fleet was at its weakest at the start of the war, when it was also least experienced at this sort of warfare and a number of minor but embarrassing losses occurred because of this inexperience. After the United States entered the war, United States Battleship Division Nine was attached to the Grand Fleet, adding four, and later five, dreadnought battleships.

External links

• The Grand Fleet
• Royal Navy History