The Special Service Squadron was a component of the United States Navy during the earlier part of the 20th century. The squadron patrolled the Caribbean Sea as an instrument of gunboat diplomacy. It was headquartered in Balboa,

Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone ( es, Zona del Canal de Panamá), also simply known as the Canal Zone, was an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the Isthmus of Panama, that existed from 1903 to 1979. It was located within the terr ...

. Records of the

U.S. Atlantic Fleet The United States Fleet Forces Command (USFF) is a service component command of the United States Navy that provides naval forces to a wide variety of U.S. forces. The naval resources may be allocated to Combatant Commanders such as United Stat ...

have correspondence from the Special Service Squadron in 1907. The Special Service Squadron was stood up as a separate command from the fleet in 1920. Its purpose was to protect the Canal and American interests both in the Caribbean and on the Pacific coast of Central America (and it remained a separate command when the Atlantic and Pacific fleets were combined as the United States Fleet in 1922). The squadron consisted mostly of small, older ships and was abolished in 1940 as part of the consolidation of U.S. naval commands in the early 1940s.

Commanders

* C.H. Hockson 1907 *

Henry F. Bryan Henry Francis Bryan (May 3, 1865 – March 19, 1944) was a United States Navy Rear Admiral and the governor of American Samoa. He served as governor from March 17, 1925, to September 9, 1927. Bryan was one of only three naval governors of the terr ...

1920-1921 * C. B. Morgan 1921 * William C. Cole (29 April 1922 – 1923) * J. H. Dayton 1923 * ?? * Julian Lane Latimer (May 7, 1926 – July 8, 1927) *

David F. Sellers David F. Sellers (February 4, 1874 – January 27, 1949) was an admiral in the United States Navy. He was the first person from New Mexico to graduate from the United States Naval Academy. Biography David Foote Sellers was a native of Austin, Te ...

(July 8, 1927 – May 12, 1929) *

Edward H. Campbell Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...

(May 12, 1929 – 1930) * Arthur St. Clair Smith (1930 – 1933) *

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

Yancey S. Williams (1938) *

John W. Wilcox, Jr. John Walter Wilcox Jr. (22 March 1882 – 27 March 1942) was a rear admiral of the United States Navy. He saw service in World War I and in the opening weeks of United States involvement in World War II before being lost overboard from his fla ...

1939-1940

Also see

Service Squadron A Service Squadron (ServRon) was a United States Navy squadron that supported fleet combat ships and US Navy Auxiliary ships. Service Squadrons were used by the US Navy from their inception in 1943 to as late as the early 1980s. At the time of th ...

References

Ship squadrons of the United States Navy {{US-Navy-stub