Second Fleet (United Kingdom)

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|dates=1 May 1912–1914

|country={{flag|United Kingdom}}

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|branch={{navy|UK}}

|type=Fleet

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|notable_commanders=Vice-Admiral Sir Cecil Burney, Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick T. Hamilton

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}}

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

History

Formed on 1 May 1912 from the Third Division of the Home Fleet, its ships were manned by a nucleus crew during peacetime, but were intended to be manned by men from the naval schools when mobilised.Wragg, p. 24 It reported directly to the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleets. The fleet was mobilised in late July 1914 as tensions increased between Great Britain and Imperial Germany and remained on active duty until war was declared on 4 August.Marder, p. 432 It reformed the Channel Fleet upon the declaration of war and consisted of the Fifth and Sixth Battle Squadrons, equipped with a total of 15 pre-dreadnought battleships and the majority of the Home Defence Patrol Flotillas.Corbett, p. 12

Commanders

class="wikitable" ! !! Rank !! Flag !! Name !! Term
colspan="5" align="center" style="background:#dcdcfe;" \| Vice-Admiral Commanding Second Fleet{{cite book\|last1=Government\|first1=H.M.\|title=The Navy List\|date=October 1913\|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office\|page=87\|chapter=Flag Officers – Vice Admirals}}
1	Vice-Admiral	25px	Sir Frederick T. Hamilton	May 1912-December 1913
2	Vice-Admiral	25px	Sir Cecil Burney	December 1913-August 1914

Components

:Included{{cite web|last1=Harley|first1=Simon|last2=Lovell|first2=Tony|title=Second Fleet (Royal Navy) – The Dreadnought Project|url=http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/Second_Fleet_(Royal_Navy)|website=dreadnoughtproject.org|publisher=Harley and Lovell, 25 May 2014|access-date=2 August 2017|language=en}}

class=wikitable !	Unit	Notes
1	5th Battle Squadron	(8 battleships)Harley and Lovell. 2014
2	6th Battle Squadron	(5-7 battleships)Harley and Lovell. 2014
3	5th Cruiser Squadron	(3-4 light cruisers)Harley and Lovell. 2014
4	6th Cruiser Squadron	3–4 armoured cruisers)Harley and Lovell. 2014
5	7th Destroyer Flotilla	20 destroyer-12 torpedo boat)Harley and Lovell. 2014

Footnotes

Bibliography

{{cite book|last=Corbett|first=Julian|author-link=Julian Corbett|title=Naval Operations to the Battle of the Falklands|edition=2nd, reprint of the 1938|series=History of the Great War: Based on Official Documents|volume=I|publisher=Imperial War Museum and Battery Press|location=London and Nashville, Tennessee|isbn=0-89839-256-X}}
{{cite book|last=Marder|first=Arthur J.|author-link=Arthur Marder|title=From Dreadnought to Scapa Flow: The Royal Navy in the Fisher Era|volume=I: The Road to War 1904–1914|date=2013 |orig-year=1961|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=9781-59114-259-1}}
{{cite book|last=Wragg|first=David|title=Royal Navy Handbook 1914–1918|year=2006|publisher=Sutton Publishing|location=Stroud, UK|isbn=0-7509-4203-7}}

External links

{{DP-xlink|http://dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/Second_Fleet_(Royal_Navy)}}

Category:Fleets of the Royal Navy

Category:Military units and formations established in 1912

Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1914

Category:1912 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:Military units and formations of the Royal Navy in World War I