Annual Manoeuvres of 1903

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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.

B Fleet

The B Fleet represented the British forces under the overall command of Vice-Admiral Sir A. K. Wilson. It was to be comprised of two subordinate Fleet units containing a total of fifteen battleships, twenty cruisers, and XXX smaller vessels,[2] but in the event the battleship Ramillies was left at Madeira with sickness, and Hogue broke down.[3]

B 1 Fleet
Battleships
Revenge VAdmRN.png Empress of India RAdmRN.png
Royal Oak Royal Sovereign Hood
Benbow Sans Pareil
Cruisers
Good Hope RAdmRN.png
Drake Sutlej Hogue Edgar Hawke Dido
Venus Melampus Latona Apollo Andromache Æolus
Medea Medusa
B 2 Fleet
Battleships
Majestic VAdmRN.png Magnificent RAdmRN.png
Mars Jupiter Hannibal Prince George Repulse Ramillies
Cruisers
Doris Hermes Minerva Rainbow Sappho Prometheus

In B 1 Fleet, Vice-Admiral Wilson resided in the battleship Revenge and Rear-Admiral Edmund Samuel Poë commanded the Second Division of sub-fleet B 1 from Empress of India. In B 2, Vice-Admiral Beresford commanded B 2 from the battleship Majestic, and Rear-Admiral Lambton commanded the Second Division from H.M.S. Magnificent.

X Fleet

The X Fleet represented an Allied force at war with Britain, and was under the command of Admiral Sir Compton Domvile. It was comprised of eleven battleships, twenty-one cruisers, and XXX smaller vessels.[4]

X Fleet
Battleships
Bulwark AdmRN.png Venerable (flag)
London Formidable Implacable Irresistible Russell Exmouth
Cæsar Illustrious Renown
Cruisers
Bacchante (flag)
King Alfred Aboukir Powerful Imperieuse Diadem Spartiate
Blake Diana Gladiator Vindictive Hermione Naiad
Intrepid Iphigenia Spartan Scylla Pandora Pioneer
Pyramus Pegasus

Small Vessels

The T.B.Ds. and T.Bs. for the manoeuvres were mustered from their home ports.[5]

Sheerness

  1. Havock

Chatham

  1. Angler
  2. Gossamer
  3. Greyhound
  4. Lee
  5. Mermaid
  6. Sheldrake
  7. Spitfire
  8. T.B. 65
  9. T.B. 67
  10. T.B. 68
  11. T.B. 72
  12. T.B. 98
  13. T.B. 99
  14. T.B. 107
  15. T.B. 108
  16. T.B. 109
  17. T.B. 110
  18. T.B. 111
  19. T.B. 112

Portsmouth

  1. Arab
  2. Brazen
  3. Bullfinch
  4. Dove
  5. Electra
  6. Flirt
  7. Hunter
  8. Kestrel
  9. Peterel
  10. Recruit
  11. Seagull
  12. Starfish
  13. Success
  14. Teazer
  15. Violet
  16. Vulture
  17. T.B. 25
  18. T.B. 26
  19. T.B. 33
  20. T.B. 41
  21. T.B. 42
  22. T.B. 49
  23. T.B. 59
  24. T.B. 71
  25. T.B. 76
  26. T.B. 77
  27. T.B. 78
  28. T.B. 79
  29. T.B. 82

Devonport

  1. Charger
  2. Daring
  3. Decoy
  4. Express
  5. Ferret
  6. Leopard
  7. Lively
  8. Lynx
  9. Opossum
  10. Ostrich
  11. Sharpshooter
  12. Sprightly
  13. Tiger
  14. Vigilant
  15. Vixen
  16. Wolf
  17. T.B. 34
  18. T.B. 45
  19. T.B. 51
  20. T.B. 52
  21. T.B. 53
  22. T.B. 55
  23. T.B. 57
  24. T.B. 58
  25. T.B. 80
  26. T.B. 85
  27. T.B. 86
  28. T.B. 87

Conduct of the Manoeuvres

The 1903 manoeuvres were assessed by some as the most successful, the largest, and the most realistic held to date.[6] 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.[7]

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.[8]

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.[9]

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.[10]

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.[11]

Bibliography

  • "Naval & Military Intelligence." The Times, 16 July 1903, p. 8. This outlines the smaller vessels' appointed commanders.
  • "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. "The Fleet Manoeuvres of 1903." The Times (London, England), 5 Aug. 1903, p. 13.
  3. "The Naval Manoeuvres." The Times (London, England), 19 Aug. 1903, pp. 5+.
  4. "The Fleet Manoeuvres of 1903." The Times (London, England), 5 Aug. 1903, p. 13.
  5. "Appointments for the Naval Manoeuvres." The Times (London, England), Thursday, Jul 16, 1903; pg. 8; Issue 37134.
  6. Julian S Corbett, “The Report on the Fleet Manoeuvres”, The Monthly Review, Dec. 1903, 85.
  7. Ibid., pp. 85-86.
  8. Ibid., pp. 87-88.
  9. Ibid., p. 88.
  10. Ibid., p. 89.
  11. Ibid., pp. 89-90.


Annual Manoeuvres of the Royal Navy
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