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5th Battle Squadron

Field	Value
unit_name	5th Battle Squadron
dates	1912–1919
country	United Kingdom
branch
size	Squadron

Channel Fleet (8.14-3.15) Grand Fleet (10.15-11.18)

The 5th Battle Squadron was a squadron of the British Royal Navy consisting of battleships. The 5th Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Second Fleet. During the First World War, the Home Fleet was renamed the Grand Fleet.

History

First World War

August 1914

In August 1914, the 5th Battle Squadron was based at Portland, and consisted of a number of pre-dreadnought 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 battleships 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. 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 under Admiral Franz von Hipper, the 5th Battle Squadron "fired with extraordinary rapidity and accuracy" (according to Reinhard Scheer), damaging the battlecruisers and and a number of other German warships.

Three of the Queen Elizabeths 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:

Rank	Flag	Name	Term	Notes
Vice/Rear-Admiral, Commanding, 5th Battle Squadron
1	Vice-Admiral	[[File:Flag of Vice-Admiral - Royal Navy.svg	25px]]	Sir Cecil Burney	5 December 1913 - 14 August 1914
2	Rear-Admiral	[[File:Flag of Rear-Admiral - Royal Navy.svg	25px]]	Cecil F. Thursby	14 August 1914 - 20 December 1914
3	Vice-Admiral	[[File:Flag of Vice-Admiral - Royal Navy.svg	25px]]	Sir Lewis Bayly	20 December 1914 - 17 January 1915
3	Vice-Admiral	[[File:Flag of Vice-Admiral - Royal Navy.svg	25px]]	Sir Alexander Bethell	17 January 1915 - 25 August 1915
4	Rear-Admiral	[[File:Flag of Rear-Admiral - Royal Navy.svg	25px]]	Sir Hugh Evan-Thomas	25 August 1915 - 1 October 1918
5	Rear-Admiral	[[File:Flag of Rear-Admiral - Royal Navy.svg	25px]]	Sir Arthur Leveson	1 October 1918 - 7 April 1919

Second in Command

Post holders as follows:

Rank	Flag	Name	Term	Notes
Rear-Admiral, in the 5th Battle Squadron
1	Rear-Admiral	[[File:Flag of Rear-Admiral - Royal Navy.svg	25px]]	Bernard Currey	18 November 1913 - 14 February 1915
2	Rear-Admiral	[[File:Flag of Rear-Admiral - Royal Navy.svg	25px]]	Cecil F. Thursby	29 July, - 14 August 1914
3	Rear-Admiral	[[File:Flag of Rear-Admiral - Royal Navy.svg	25px]]	Lewis Clinton-Baker	1 April 1919 - 7 April 1919

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.

References

Dittmar, F.J & Colledge J.J., ''British Warships 1914-1919'' Ian Allan, London. 1972; {{ISBN. 0-7110-0380-7
Gordon, Andrew. ''The Rules of the Game'' John Murray. 1996; {{ISBN. 0-7195-5076-9
Macintyre, Donald. ''Jutland'' Evans Brothers Ltd. 1957; {{ISBN. 0-330-20142-5
Campbell 1986, pp. 138–139
"Senior Royal Navy appointments".
"Fifth Battle Squadron (Royal Navy) - The Dreadnought Project". Harley & Lovell, 1 August 2017.
Harley & Lovell, 2017

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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