Difference between revisions of "Annual Manoeuvres of 1903"

From The Dreadnought Project
Jump to: navigation, search
(Bibliography)
(Order of Battle)
Line 5: Line 5:
  
 
''The Times'' reported that [[Alan Montagu Yeats-Brown]] commanded {{UK-TB82}} and [[Arthur Kipling Waistell]] was in {{UK-TB109}} in the Manoeuvres, but their service records document it the other way around and Yeats-Brown's Service Record corroborates this with an inspection report of ''T.B. 109''.  I've concluded that Waistell commanded ''T.B. 82'' and Yeats-Brown commanded ''T.B. 109'' for this exercise.
 
''The Times'' reported that [[Alan Montagu Yeats-Brown]] commanded {{UK-TB82}} and [[Arthur Kipling Waistell]] was in {{UK-TB109}} in the Manoeuvres, but their service records document it the other way around and Yeats-Brown's Service Record corroborates this with an inspection report of ''T.B. 109''.  I've concluded that Waistell commanded ''T.B. 82'' and Yeats-Brown commanded ''T.B. 109'' for this exercise.
 +
<!-- THIS IS TOO UGLY -- will work on tomorrow
 +
===B Fleet===
 +
The B Fleet was under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir A. K. Wilson.
 +
 +
====B1 Fleet====
 +
 +
{|
 +
|'''Battleships'''||'''Cruisers'''
 +
|-
 +
|
 +
* {{UK-1Revenge}} (flag)
 +
* {{UK-EmpressOfIndia}} (flag)
 +
* {{UK-1RoyalOak}}
 +
* {{UK-1RoyalSovereign}}
 +
* {{UK-1Hood}}
 +
* {{UK-1Benbow}}
 +
* {{UK-SansPareil}}
 +
||
 +
* {{UK-GoodHope}} (flag)
 +
* {{UK-Drake}}
 +
* {{UK-Sutlej}}
 +
* {{UK-Hogue}}
 +
* {{UK-Edgar}}
 +
* {{UK-Hawke}}
 +
* {{UK-Dido}}
 +
* {{UK-Venus}}
 +
* {{UK-Melampus}}
 +
* {{UK-Latona}}
 +
* {{UK-Apollo}}
 +
* {{UK-Andromache}}
 +
* {{UK-Aeolus}}
 +
* {{UK-Medea}}
 +
* {{UK-Medusa}}
 +
|}
 +
-->
  
 
== Conduct of the Manoeuvres ==
 
== Conduct of the Manoeuvres ==

Revision as of 21:29, 25 November 2021

The Royal Navy's Annual Manoeuvres of 1903 were conducted between 5 and 11 August, 1903 by the combined Mediterranean, Home and Channel Fleets in company with the Cruiser Squadron.

Order of Battle

The exercise was conducted in the form of "X" and "B" Fleets, as had been a practice since at least 1901. Some of the ships participating were already in full commission, whereas others were to be completed to full complement, and others were commissioned from a fully reserve state.[1]

The Times reported that Alan Montagu Yeats-Brown commanded T.B. 82 and Arthur Kipling Waistell was in T.B. 109 in the Manoeuvres, but their service records document it the other way around and Yeats-Brown's Service Record corroborates this with an inspection report of T.B. 109. I've concluded that Waistell commanded T.B. 82 and Yeats-Brown commanded T.B. 109 for this exercise.

Conduct of the Manoeuvres

The 1903 manoeuvres were assessed by some as the most successful, the largest, and the most realistic held to date.[2] The premise was that there was a war between Great Britain (B force) and two or more Allied powers (the X force). Prior to the start of the manoeuvres, it was assumed that a battle had already been fought somewhere between Cape St. Vincent and Madeira in which the Allies had been successful, forcing the British fleet back into Madeira. The Allies, also having suffered damage, retired to their base at Lagos Bay (just east of Cape St. Vincent), though they were assessed as having maintained local command of the sea, owing to their significant superiority in cruiser numbers.[3]

The main objective of the manoeuvres was for a reinforcing British fleet, coming from the north, to join up with the Madeira fleet and defeat the Allies. The Allies task was to attempt to defeat either of the British fleets in detail before they could combine. Combined the British had fifteen battleships against the Allied eleven. Sir Arthur Knyvet Wilson was the British commander-in-chief, with Lord Charles Beresford commanding the Madeira fleet. The Allies were commanded by Sir Compton Edward Domvile.[4]

The strategic challenge for Sir Arthur Wilson was to decide whether to attempt to combine with the Madeira Fleet to the west of the Allies, which would give the Allies the option to retire to their base and refuse battle, or to attempt the rendezvous close to the Spanish coast, which would leave either of the two British fleets open to being defeated individually. Wilson chose the nearest westerly point that both fleets could reach before the Allies got between them which proved to be in the middle of the Azores. This juncture was successfully achieved despite the numerous Allied cruiser patrols attempting to intercept the fleets prior to their rendezvous.[5]

The Allied fleet located the complete British fleet only hours after their rendezvous and, being outnumbered, Admiral Domvile chose to use his superior speed to re-join a battleship and several cruisers that were to the east. The British fleet took this manoeuvre to be an attempt to escape to Lagos Bay. Admiral Wilson manoeuvred to engage and, in doing so, exposed his lead ships, and Domvile chose to take advantage of this before using his superior speed to escape. The Umpire, Sir Lewis Anthony Beaumont, assessed that the B force had three battleships, one armoured cruiser and one protected cruiser disabled; five battleships damaged and one protected cruiser lost. In the X fleet one battleship and one armoured cruiser were lost, two battleships disabled and one battleship damaged.[6]

Julian Stafford Corbett found this conclusion unsatisfactory. Lewis attributed the unbalanced damage assessment to the fact that most of the British fire was concentrated on the ship that was lost, whereas Corbett points out that had the impact of the fire been visible to the participants, as it would have been in a real action, the British fleet would have distributed its fire more evenly throughout the enemy fleet. As a result, the Allied fleet would have been slowed, allowing the rear of the British fleet to participate and inflict even more damage.[7]

Bibliography

  • "The Naval Manoeuvres." The Times, 19 Aug. 1903, pp. 5+.
  • "The Naval Manoeuvres." The Times, 20 Aug. 1903, pp. 5+.
  • "The Naval Manoeuvres." The Times, 21 Aug. 1903, p. 10.
  • "The Naval Manoeuvres." The Times, 20 Nov. 1903, p. 15.
  • Report of the Naval Manœvres of 1903 Cd. 1824.
  • Corbett, Julian S. “The Report on the Fleet Manoeuvres”, The Monthly Review, Dec. 1903, 85-94

Footnotes

  1. "Appointments for the Naval Manoeuvres." The Times (London, England), Thursday, Jul 16, 1903; pg. 8; Issue 37134.
  2. Julian S Corbett, “The Report on the Fleet Manoeuvres”, The Monthly Review, Dec. 1903, 85.
  3. Ibid., pp. 85-86.
  4. Ibid., pp. 87-88.
  5. Ibid., p. 88.
  6. Ibid., p. 89.
  7. Ibid., pp. 89-90.


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