Annual Manoeuvres of 1914

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The Royal Navy's Annual Manoeuvres of 1914 were cancelled on 20th February 1914 and replaced by a Test Mobilization of the Reserve Fleet.[1] This decision was to prove fortuitous as the international tensions of the summer made war with Germany seem increasingly possible, and finally inevitable.

Though some preparations began on 13 July, the schedule for this exercise was planned to be as follows:[2]

Wednesday 15th July Reserve called up
16th and 17th July Mobilise
Saturday 18th July Proceed to rendezvous
19th to 23rd July At rendezvous and tactical exercises at sea
Friday 24th July Arrive Home Ports
Saturday 25th July, 9am Discharge reserves

Order of Battle

The ships of the reserve formed the Second and Third Fleets as follows under fleet flagship Lord Nelson:[3]

Battle Squadrons
(+ denotes attached vessels)
Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth
Prince of Wales VAdmRN.png Russell RAdmRN.png Prince George VAdmRN.png Albion RAdmRN.png
Bulwark Albemarle Hannibal RAdmRN.png Ocean RAdmRN.png
Formidable Exmouth Illustrious Goliath
Implacable Vengeance Magnificent Jupiter
Irresistible Topaze+ Majestic Canopus
London   Mars Glory
Queen   Victorious Sapphire+
Diamond+   Doris+  
Cruiser Squadrons
Fifth Sixth Seventh
Carnarvon RAdmRN.png Good Hope RAdmRN.png Euryalus RAdmRN.png
Cornwall Drake Cressy
Cumberland Leviathan Minerva
    Venus
Eighth Ninth Tenth
Aboukir RAdmRN.png Bacchante RAdmRN.png Hogue RAdmRN.png
Challenger Diana Charybdis
Isis Sutlej Eclipse
Juno Talbot Highflyer
Other Forces
Training Squadron 1st Light Cruiser Squadron Minelayer Squadron Unappropriated
Crescent (flag) Falmouth+ Andromache Vindictive
Edgar Liverpool+ Apollo
Endymion   Intrepid
Gibraltar   Iphigenia
Grafton   Latona
Royal Arthur   Naiad
Theseus   Thetis

Footnotes

  1. M11959/14 From Admiralty to C-in-C, Home Fleets, dated 20th February 1914. Backhouse Papers, Naval Historical Branch.
  2. "Naval Mobilization." The Times (London, England), 14 July 1914, p. 16.
  3. Vice-Admiral Cecil Burney, Second and Third Fleets Serial Orders, 11 June 1914, Backhouse Papers, Naval Historical Branch

Bibliography

  • M11959/14 From Admiralty to C-in-C, Home Fleets, dated 20th February 1914. Backhouse Papers, Naval Historical Branch, Portsmouth, UK.
  • Vice-Admiral Cecil Burney, Second and Third Fleets Serial Orders, 11 June 1914, Backhouse Papers, Naval Historical Branch, Portsmouth, UK


Annual Manoeuvres of the Royal Navy
1880s
1880 | 1881 | 1882 | 1883 | 1884 | 1885 | 1886 | 1887 | 1888 | 1889
1890s
1890 | 1891 | 1892 | 1893 | 1894 | 1895 | 1896 | 1897 | 1898 | 1899
1900s
1900 | 1901 | 1902 | 1903 | 1904 | 1905 | 1906 | 1907 | 1908 | 1909
1910s
1910 | 1911 | 1912 | 1913 | 1914