The 5th Battle Squadron was a squadron of the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

consisting of

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

s. The 5th Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Second Fleet. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the Home Fleet was renamed the

Grand Fleet The Grand Fleet was the main battlefleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. It was established in August 1914 and disbanded in April 1919. Its main base was Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. History Formed in August 1914 from th ...

History

First World War

August 1914

In August 1914, the 5th Battle Squadron was based at

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

, and consisted of a number of

pre-dreadnought Pre-dreadnought battleships were sea-going battleships built from the mid- to late- 1880s to the early 1900s. Their designs were conceived before the appearance of in 1906 and their classification as "pre-dreadnought" is retrospectively appl ...

battleships. These were: * * * * * * * * Following the loss of HMS ''Bulwark'' in 1914, and were transferred from the 6th Battle Squadron. With the commissioning of the five

fast battleship A fast battleship was a battleship which in concept emphasised speed without undue compromise of either armor or armament. Most of the early World War I-era dreadnought battleships were typically built with low design speeds, so the term "fast ba ...

s of the ''Queen Elizabeth'' class, the remaining pre-dreadnoughts were sent to the Mediterranean. herself was delayed in joining the squadron, instead taking part in the Dardanelles Campaign until May 1915.

Battle of Jutland

In 1916, the 5th Battle Squadron—under the command of Rear Admiral Hugh Evan-Thomas— was temporarily transferred to David Beatty's Battlecruiser Fleet. On 31 May, four ships of the Squadron served with distinction in the

battle of Jutland The Battle of Jutland () was a naval battle between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet, under Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer, durin ...

. These were: * Flagship of Rear Admiral H. Evan-Thomas; Captain A. W. Craig; * Captain M. Woollcombe; * Captain E. M. Philpotts; * Captain the Honourable A. D. E. H. Boyle; In the clash with the German

I Scouting Group The I Scouting Group () was a special reconnaissance unit within the German '' Kaiserliche Marine''. The unit was famously commanded by Admiral Franz von Hipper during World War I. The I Scouting Group was one of the most active formations in th ...

under Admiral

Franz von Hipper Franz Ritter von Hipper (born Franz Hipper; 13 September 1863 – 25 May 1932) was an admiral in the German Imperial Navy, (''Kaiserliche Marine'') who played an important role in the naval warfare of World War I. Franz von Hipper joined th ...

, the 5th Battle Squadron "fired with extraordinary rapidity and accuracy" (according to

Reinhard Scheer Carl Friedrich Heinrich Reinhard Scheer (30 September 1863 – 26 November 1928) was an Admiral in the Imperial German Navy (''Kaiserliche Marine''). Scheer joined the navy in 1879 as an officer cadet and progressed through the ranks, commandi ...

), damaging the

battlecruiser The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of att ...

s and and a number of other German warships. Three of the ''Queen Elizabeth''s received hits from German warships during the engagement, yet they all returned home, though ''Warspite''—whose steering was jammed—was targeted by the German line, taking 15 hits. After the battle, HMS ''Queen Elizabeth''—which had missed the battle due to being in dock—rejoined the squadron.

Vice and Rear-Admirals commanding

Post holders as follows:

Second in Command

Post holders as follows:Harley & Lovell, 2017

Footnotes

References

* * Dittmar, F.J & Colledge J.J. (1972), ''British Warships 1914-1919''. London: Ian Allan. * Gordon, Andrew. (1996), ''The Rules of the Game''. John Murray. * Harley, Simon; Lovell, Tony. "Fifth Battle Squadron (Royal Navy) - The Dreadnought Project". www.dreadnoughtproject.org. Harley & Lovell, 1 August 2017. * Macintyre, Donald. (1957), ''Jutland'' Evans Brothers Ltd.

External links

Fifth Battle Squadron at DreadnoughtProject.org

Royal Navy History

{{Battle squadrons of the Royal Navy, state=collapsed Battle squadrons of the Royal Navy Ship squadrons of the Royal Navy in World War I Military units and formations established in 1912 Military units and formations disestablished in 1919