3rd Battle Squadron
{{short description|Naval squadron of the British Navy}}
{{for|the German counterpart during World War I|III Battle Squadron}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
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|dates= 1913–1945
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The 3rd Battle Squadron was a naval squadron of the British Royal Navy consisting of battleships and other vessels, active from at least 1914 to 1945. The 3rd Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet. During the First World War, the Home Fleet was renamed the Grand Fleet. During the Second World War, the squadron covered Atlantic convoys.
History
=First World War=
On 5 August 1914, the squadron had eight ships:Dittmar & Colledge {{HMS|King Edward VII||2}}, {{HMS|Africa|1905|2}}, {{HMS|Britannia|1904|2}}, {{HMS|Commonwealth|1903|2}}, {{HMS|Dominion|1903|2}}, {{HMS|Hibernia|1905|2}}, {{HMS|Hindustan|1903|2}}, and Zealandia. The squadron of eight King Edward VII-class pre-dreadnought battleships were nicknamed "the wobbly eight"Chesneau & Kolesnik p. 38. after their slight tendency to roll under way.
The squadron was initially used as part of the Grand Fleet in support of the cruisers on the Northern Patrol. On 29 April 1916, the 3rd Battle Squadron was moved to Sheerness from Rosyth and came under the Nore Command in the Thames estuary. The move was intended to make more large ships available for coastal defence duties, after the Bombardment of Yarmouth and Lowestoft by German ships on 24 April 1916.Massie p. 559.
At the time of the Battle of Jutland, the squadron consisted of:
{{HMS|Dreadnought|1906|2}} (flagship of Vice-Admiral E. E. Bradford), Africa, Commonwealth, Hibernia, Dominion, Hindustan, Zealandia and Britannia, plus the protected cruiser {{HMS|Diamond|1904|2}}. In addition the 3rd Cruiser Squadron, consisting of the armoured cruisers {{HMS|Antrim|1903|2}}, {{HMS|Devonshire|1904|2}} and {{HMS|Roxburgh|1904|2}},
was attached, together with the destroyers
{{HMS|Beaver|1911|2}}, {{HMS|Druid|1911|2}}, {{HMS|Ferret|1911|2}}, {{HMS|Hind|1911|2}}, {{HMS|Hornet|1911|2}}, and {{HMS|Sandfly|1911|2}} from the 1st Destroyer Flotilla, and {{HMS|Mastiff|1914|2}} and {{HMS|Matchless|1914|2}} from the 10th Destroyer Flotilla.
Essentially made obsolete by the introduction of the revolutionary battleship {{HMS|Dreadnought|1906|2}}, and as battleships the world over began mimicking her design, the 3rd Battle Squadron played no role in the Battle of Jutland. The need for accompanying destroyers for these battleships was later given as the reason the Harwich destroyer squadron was also held back and took no part in the Jutland action.Marder: Jutland and after p. 45.
Following the loss of King Edward VII in January 1916, Africa and Britannia served in the Mediterranean 1916–17. The remaining ships were augmented by Dreadnought from June 1916 onwards. Starting in November 1917, the 3rd Battle Squadron progressively shrank in size as its predreadnoughts were gradually detached for other duties.[http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/Third_Battle_Squadron_%28Royal_Navy%29 Dreadnought Project, Third Battle Squadron], citing Squadrons and Senior Naval Officers in Existence on 11 November 1918. p. 4.
The squadron, consisting by now of Dreadnought alone, was disbanded on 20 April 1918.
=Second World War=
At the start of the Second World War, the squadron formed part of the Channel Force and comprised just two ships:Niehorster
- Rear Admiral L. E. Holland;
- {{HMS|Resolution|09|2}} - Captain C. H. Knox Little;
- {{HMS|Revenge|06|2}} - Captain E. R. Archer.
Later in the war, the squadron was based at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Rear Admiral, Third Battle Squadron, was responsible for covering Atlantic convoys;[http://www.warsailors.com/convoys/hx126escortord.html Convoys SC 31 and HX 126] and was later to become the North Atlantic Escort Force.Anthony Courtney, "Sailor in a Russian Frame," Johnson, 1968, 28; Alex H. Cherry, "Yankee R. N.: Being the Story of a Wall Street Banker who Volunteered for Active Duty in the Royal Navy Before America Came Into the War," Jarrolds, 1951. At the time, German surface raiders were a distinct concern, thus the allocation of battleships. RMS Ascania—an armed merchant cruiser—was part of the squadron during this period. Seaborn—a Fleet Air Arm base was established at RCAF Station Dartmouth in September 1940. Seaborn was to provide a shore base with administrative and maintenance facilities for the Swordfish and Walrus aircraft assigned to ships of the Third Battle Squadron.{{cite web |title=History of Royal Canadian Air Force Station Dartmouth |url=http://www.shearwateraviationmuseum.ns.ca/history/rcaf.htm |publisher=Shearwater Aviation Museum= |access-date=14 July 2009 |archive-date=22 August 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020822052459/http://www.shearwateraviationmuseum.ns.ca/history/rcaf.htm |url-status=dead }}
In 1942, the Third Battle Squadron, now comprising;{{cite web |first=Don |last=Kindell |author2=Gordon Smith |title= Royal Navy Ships 1942 part 4|url=http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-4201-40RNShips4Overseas.htm |work=British and Other Navies in World War 2 Day-by-Day | publisher=naval-history.net |date= 19 April 2009|access-date=14 July 2009 }}
- Vice Admiral W. E. C. Tait;
- Resolution - Captain A. R. Halfhide;
- {{HMS|Ramillies|07|2}} - Captain D. N. C. Tuffnell;
- Revenge - Captain L. V. Morgan;
- {{HMS|Royal Sovereign|05|2}} Captain R. H. Portal;
sailed for the Far East and became part of the Eastern Fleet. The squadron formed part of Force B.{{cite web |first=Geoffrey |last=Mason|title= Service histories of Royal Navy warships in World War 2: HMS Revenge|url= http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-01BB-Revenge.htm |publisher= naval-history.net |year=2003|access-date=14 July 2009}} Facing the superior striking force of the Japanese Kido Butai carrier striking force during the 1942 Indian Ocean raid, the slow component of the Eastern Fleet—including the battleships of Force B—was withdrawn all the way back to Kilindini in East Africa to avoid their destruction at Japanese hands. Hermes—Force B's sole aircraft carrier—was detached and destroyed near Ceylon.
In 1945, the Squadron consisted of two battleships, {{HMS|Queen Elizabeth|1913|2}} and the Free French {{Ship|French battleship|Richelieu||2}}, as well another two escort carriers, four cruisers and six destroyers. Two battleships and escort carriers formed part of the covering force for Operation Dracula, the retaking of Rangoon. Vice-Admiral H.T.C. Walker commanded the squadron at the time.
Admirals commanding
- Vice-Admiral Sir Cecil Burney (1912–13)
- Vice-Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly (1913–14)
- Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Bradford (1914–16)
- Vice-Admiral Sir John de Robeck (May–November 1916)
- Vice-Admiral Sir Herbert Heath (1916–17)
- Vice-Admiral Sir Dudley de Chair (1917–18)
- Rear-Admiral Sir Douglas Nicholson (April–October 1919)
- Rear-Admiral Hugh Watson (1924–25)
- Vice-Admiral Sir Michael Hodges April (1925–26)
- Rear-Admiral Francis Mitchell (March–May 1926)
- Rear-Admiral Roger Backhouse May (1926–27)
- Vice-Admiral Percival Hall-Thompson (1927–28)
- Rear-Admiral John Casement (1928–29)
- Rear-Admiral Henry Kitson (1929–30)
- Rear-Admiral George Hyde (1930–31)
- Rear-Admiral Lancelot Holland (1939–40)
- Rear-Admiral Stuart Bonham Carter (1940–42)
- Vice-Admiral Sir Algernon Willis (1942–43)
- Vice-Admiral Harold Walker (1944–45)
Rear-Admirals Second-in-Command
- Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher G. F. M. Cradock, 29 August 1911
- Rear-Admiral Cecil F. Thursby, 29 August 1912 – 29 August 1913
- Rear-Admiral Montague E. Browning, 29 August 1913
- Rear-Admiral Sydney R. Fremantle, 27 July 1915 – February, 1916
- Rear-Admiral Cecil F. Dampier, 13 March 1916 – 14 March 1917
- Rear-Admiral Douglas R. L. Nicholson, 13 March 1917 – 21 September 1917
- Rear-Admiral Sir Roger R. C. Backhouse, 5 May 1926 – 5 May 1927
- Rear-Admiral Lancelot E. Holland, 25 August 1939 – 29 December 1939
- Rear-Admiral Stuart S. Bonham-Carter, 1 January 1940 – 30 September 1941
Notes
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/Third_Battle_Squadron_(Royal_Navy) Third Battle Squadron at DreadnoughtProject.org]
References
- {{cite book |editor1-first=Roger |editor1-last=Chesneau |editor2-first=Eugene |editor2-last=Kolesnik |title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905 |year=1979 |publisher=Mayflower Books |location=New York |isbn=0-8317-0302-4 |ref=Conway |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_l2e2 }}
- {{cite book |last1=Dittmar |first1=Frederick J|last2=Colledge |first2=J J |title=British Warships 1914–1919|year=1972 |publisher=Ian Allan Publishing |location=London |isbn= 978-0-7110-0380-4 |ref=Dittmar }}
- {{cite book |last=Marder |first=Arthur J. |author-link=Arthur Marder |title=Volume II: The War Years to the eve of Jutland: 1914–1916 |series=From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1965 |isbn=978-0-19-215144-5|ref=Marder2 }}
- {{cite book |last=Marder |first=Arthur J. |author-link=Arthur Marder |title=Volume III: Jutland and after: May 1916 – December 1916 |series=From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1978|isbn=0-19-215841-4|ref=Marder3}}
- {{cite book |last=Massie |first=Robert K. |author-link=Robert Massie |title=Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea |year=2003 |publisher=Random House|isbn =0-345-40878-0|ref=Castles}}
- {{cite web |first=Leo |last=Niehorster |author2=Donald Kindell|author3=Mark E Horan |title=British and Dominion Royal Navies, Channel Force order of battle 3 September 1939 |url=http://niehorster.org/017_britain/39_navy/channel-force.html|publisher=World War II at Orbat.com |date=5 January 2001|access-date=14 July 2009|ref=Orbat}}
{{Battle squadrons of the Royal Navy|state=collapsed}}
Category:Battle squadrons of the Royal Navy
Category:Ship squadrons of the Royal Navy in World War I
Category:Squadrons of the Royal Navy in World War II
Category:Military units and formations established in 1913
Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1945