Home Fleets General Orders

Home Fleets General Orders were issued to the Home Fleets and its successor incarnation the Grand Fleet between 1912 and 1914. Some had been issued to the Home Fleets' previous incarnation, the Home Fleet.

List

Orders in force on 15 May, 1914.

No.	Date.	Subject.	Notes.
1.	10 October, 1910.	Collection of foreign intelligence.	Cancelled by Grand Fleet Order No. 603 of 19 September, 1916.
4.	10 October, 1910.	German Steam Trawlers with W/T apparatus.	Cancelled by Grand Fleet Order No. 603 of 19 September, 1916.
5.	8 January, 1914.	Instructions for Defence Exercises and for entry of ships into Defended Ports in time of war.	Cancelled by Grand Fleet Order No. 603 of 19 September, 1916.
6.	10 October, 1910.	Details of Battle Practice to be considered strictly confidential.	Cancelled by Grand Fleet Order No. 603 of 19 September, 1916.
7.	10 October, 1910.	Heights of masts when proceeding under Forth Bridge.	Cancelled by Grand Fleet Order No. 603 of 19 September, 1916.
10.	10 October, 1910.	R.N.V.R. men to be instructed in W/T.	Cancelled by Grand Fleet Order No. 603 of 19 September, 1916.
11.	12 November, 1910.	Remarks on handling divisions.	Cancelled by Grand Fleet Order No. 603 of 19 September, 1916.
12.	29 April, 1914.	Remarks on cruiser shadowing.
13.	25 October, 1913.	Fire control arrangements.
14.	5 November, 1913.	Fire control organisation. (Enclosure No. 2 of 15th January 1914).
15.	8 December, 1913.	Distribution of gun fire.
16.	26 January, 1914.	Rangefinder, Fire control, and Torpedo control exercises.
17.	30 April, 1914.	Expenditure of heavy gun ammunition.
18.	2 February, 1914.	Training of gunlayers at sea.
19.	21 February, 1914.	Exercises with torpedo craft.
20.	16 February, 1914.	General rules for PZ exercises.
21.	17 July, 1911.	Sending of unauthorised wireless messages.	Cancelled by Grand Fleet order No. 603 of 19 September, 1916.
22.	1 January, 1914.	Foreign officers under training—Particulars of armament and construction to be regarded as confidential.
23.	28 May, 1914.	Employment of signal ratings in action, and for night defence. (Part II dated 21st March 1912).
24.	24 November, 1913.	Orders for the conduct of the fleet at night in time of war.
25.	30 April, 1912.	Lectures to be given by Medical Officers of ships.
26.	3 June, 1912.	Active service ratings not to take part in public performances for hire.
27.	3 June, 1912.	Acceptance of private engagements by Naval and Marine Bands.
28.	3 June, 1912.	Important "en clair" signals not to be made in presence of foreign-men of-war.
29.	3 June, 1912.	Case of Confl Documents in Ships with not more than 2 Acct officers.	Cancelled by F.M.63/1914.
30.		Choice of projectiles in action (Will be issued shortly).
31.	20 December, 1913.	War Routine.
32.	15 November, 1913.	Gunnery training.
33.	7 December, 1913.	Manœuvring orders.	Cancelled by Grand Fleet Order No. 466 of 19 May, 1916.
34.	22 February, 1913.	Stations and duties of officers in action in armoured ships.
35.	19 March, 1913.	Preparation for War.
36.	27 March, 1913.	Rules for exercises between ships and submarines.
37.	27 June, 1913.	Procedure as regards toasts at official dinners when Foreign Officers are present.
38.	15 September, 1913.	Suppression of disorder arising out of labour disputes.
39.	15 September, 1913.	Local Control.
40.	29 September, 1913.	Gunnery and Torpedo organisation of light cruisers.
41.	4 October, 1913.	Special W/T Memoranda.	Cancelled by G.F.O. 209, 1915.
42.	4 November, 1913.	Employment of Destroyers for protection of heavy ships against submarines by day.	Cancelled by H.F.0197 of 13 July, 1914.

Home Fleets General Order No. 30

In the papers of Commander (later Admiral of the Fleet Sir) Roger R. C. Backhouse is a copy of what is evidently a printed draft of H.F.G.O. No. 30., dated 1914. At the time Backhouse was Flag Commander to the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleets. In the index to the Home Fleets General Orders held at The National Archives, showing those orders in force on 15 May, 1914, No. 30 is listed but has no date, and is followed by the statement, "Will be issued shortly." If the order was ever issued, it post-dates the Admiralty Confidential Interim Order of 19 July, 1914, which is mentioned on page 2, and wasn't in force on 1 October, 1916. If it was issued then another order must have been made to cancel it. The only mention of cancellations in Grand Fleet Orders, made in September, 1916, does not include No. 30.

Order

CONFIDENTIAL.

Home Fleets General Orders.

“Iron Duke” at 
1914.

30. Choice of Projectiles in Action.

The enclosed summary of the penetrative power, effect, and ranging qualities of the various natures of 13.5-inch and 12-inch projectiles has been furnished by the Admiralty.

2. The information contained in the summary, though written for the 13.5-inch and 12-inch guns, applies in principle to all guns.

3. It is not proposed to give any definite orders as to the choice of projectiles, but ships are not advised to change the nature of projectile after an action has commenced, until the supplies of that nature are exhausted; this is because differences exist in ranging and drift which would probably add to the difficulties of spotting. It may, however, be desirable for different ships to use different natures.

4. The general effect and perforative power of the shell supplied to a ship should, be known by all control officers, and officers of quarters, who should also know the appearance, armour protection, and general distribution of armament of the ships of foreign powers which their own ships might be expected to meet in action.

5. Memorandum H.F. 0271 of 14th December 1911 is hereby cancelled, and all copies of it are to be destroyed.

(G.0648/11 of 18th November 11).

(G.0144/14 of 20th March 14).

CONFIDENTIAL.

Page 2.

Enclosure No. 1 to Home Fleets General Order No. 30.

I. PENETRATION.

Enclosure No. II shows the probable perforation of A.P. and C.P.C. shell for the 12-inch Marks X and XI and the 13.5-inch Mark V guns under battle conditions, i.e. allowing for striking the target at any angle up to 30° to the normal in the horizontal plane, and at an angle of 15° to the normal in the vertical plane in order to allow for the rolling of the ship and the angle of descent of the projectile.

The penetrative power of lyddite common shell is discussed under the heading “Effects of Fire.”

It will be noticed how closely the modern C.P.C. shell approaches the A.P. shell in penetrative power, and, when its larger bursting charge is taken into account, its value may be said to be almost equal to an A.P. shell filled powder; the later A.P. shell, however, are filled with high explosive and are considered the best general service projectile, particularly against thick armour.

The great superiority of the capped shell of 4 c.r.h over the same shell of 2 c.r.h. is evident from the tables for the 12-inch Mark X gun; this applies as much to common as to armour piercing shell.

II. EFFECTS OF FIRE. A.P.C. shell filled powder lyddite.

These shell seldom penetrate even medium armour unbroken if striking obliquely, and in the case of the A.P. filled lyddite this marked tendency to break up lessens materially the chance of obtaining detonation actually clear of and behind armour, under service conditions.

They will usually detonate in passing through a plate, unless the latter is very much overmatched, when detonation may take place entirely in rear of the plate, vide paragraph 8 below.

The effect behind armour of such thickness as will of itself break up the shell is much the same whether the burster consists of powder or lyddite.

An A.P. shell filled lyddite striking heavy armour normally with sufficient velocity to perforate unbroken (1960 f.s. For 12-inch A.P. against 12-inch K.C.) will detonate three-quarters of the way through the plate with very great all round effect, but an A.P. filled powder may be expected to travel on a few feet before bursting, the action of the lyddite being much quicker than that of powder.

A 13.5-inch heavy A.P.C. shell filled lyddite and fuzed with No. 16 fuze may be expected to perforate thick armour up to about 15 inches at the normal at any range up to about 8,000 yards, detonation probably occurring during the passage of the projectile through the plate and with considerable effect in rear. Similar results may be expected whether the shell is fuzed or plugged.

A 13.5-inch light A.P.C. shell filled lyddite and fuzed with No. 16 fuze will perforate a 10-inch plate at 20° to the normal at 10,000 yards with effect in rear as above, and it is thought probable that the same result would be obtained by the heavy shell against a 12-inch plate. Similar results may be expected whether the shell is fuzed or plugged.

The effect of A.P.C. shell when filled lyddite against lightly armoured structures is far greater than when filled powder, as they detonate with excellent fragmentation, whilst powder filled shell frequently fail to fragment owing to the blowing out of the fuze or adaptor.

A 13.5-inch heavy or light A.P.C. shell filled lyddite and fuzed with No. 16 fuze striking mild steel plates of 1-inch to 2-inch thickness will detonate in rear at a distance depending on the thickness of the plate varying from 8 ½ feet to 17 feet. When striking steel plates ½-inch thick the shell will probably not burst. Against 4-inch K.C. armour complete detonation may be expected at distances from 5 feet to 18 feet in rear of the plate.

Capped Common filled powder.

These shell, carrying a much larger burster than A.P. (about 9% against 2%), are weaker in the body and may be expected, under service conditions, to break up and explode when passing through armour, the amount of effect in rear depending upon how much the plate was overmatched. Against heavy armour a C.P.C. shell filled powder has a greater racking effect on the actual plate as compared with A.P.C. shell filled lyddite, but, on the other hand, the effect behind the plate is considerably greater in the case of the lyddite.

Against 3-inch K.C. and under, a 12-inch C.P.C. will probably perforate unbroken and burst 10 feet to 12 feet in rear with considerable effect.

Generally speaking they are more effective shell than A.P. filled powder when used at ranges where the medium or thin armour can be overmatched (but no perforation of the enemy's main armour can be expected), since their larger bursting charge will have a much greater effect.

Lyddite Common Shell. (Not to be confused A.P. shell filled lyddite.)

The use of lyddite common shell of certain fillings (vide Admiralty Confidential Interim Order No. 11 of 19th July 1914) is definitely prohibited in peace and war, and ships having on board any of these shell are to return them at the first opportunity, keeping them locked up until they are able to do so.

Armour of rather less than one third calibre in thickness is sufficient to keep out the explosion of heavy lyddite common shell; e.g., 4-inch K.C. will keep out 12-inch or 13.5-inch lyddite common at 6,000 yards.

Although the whole blast effect of these shell when striking armour 4-inch and upwards is expended outside the ship, the racking effect of the ship's structure in the neighbourhood is considerable, especially when the blow is at or near the waterline.

Lyddite common shell penetrating the unarmoured parts of a ship and detonating inside have a tremendous smashing effect locally and break up the decks and bulkheads near the burst, so opening up a large part of the ship.

The blast may be very far reaching, and, with any high capacity lyddite shell, its splinters are extraordinarily numerous and very much scattered.

The effect of the dense smoke caused by the detonation of lyddite must not be overlooked, since it would probably obscure the view both from gun positions and conning tower.

The blast effect of a shell striking anywhere in the vicinity of the conning tower may also be expected to be serious.

Generally speaking, lyddite common shell will destroy material widely and also open up the ship in the vicinity of the explosion; powder filled common shell will show little in the neighbourhood of its explosion, but a bulkhead or deck which is proof against lyddite fragments will not be proof against those from powder filled common.

CONFIDENTIAL.

Page 3.

Enclosure No. I to Home Fleets General Order No. 30 (continued).

RANGING QUALITIES.
Relative Ranging of A.P.C. Filled Lyddite and C.P.C. Shell.
		Difference in yards of A.P.C. on C.P.C.
Gun.	Elevation.	Range.	Lateral Deviation.
13.5-inch (heavy)	4° 35'	+ 33	6.8 Right.
	6° 34'	+ 97	11.8 Right.
	10° 7'	+ 190	27.2 Right.
13.5-inch (light)	2° 30'	- 54	2.2 Right.
	6° 50'	- 70	12.6 Right.
12-inch (4 c.r.h.)	3° 30'	+ 44	5.0 Right.
	5° 30'	- 6	19.8 Right.

2. With 2 c.r.h. there are considerable differences in the ranging qualities of the various natures. These differences are overcome by means of projectile correctors, but, as these are liable to be forgotten in action, it is not considered advisable to change the nature of projectile.

3. Tabulated information on the subject of "drift" can be found in The Publications "Progress of Fire Control and Experiments" 1910 and 1911-1912.

CONFIDENTIAL.

Page 4.

Enclosure No. I to Home Fleets General Order No. 30 (continued).

TABLE SHOWING PROBABLE PERFORATIONS OF K.C. ARMOUR UNDER BATTLE CONDITIONS.
13.5-inch Mark V gun, 1400-lb. shell, will perforate between	A.P.C.	C.P.C.
12000 and 9000 yards.	11.7 inches.	10.7 inches.
9000 and under.	13.5 inches.	12.3 inches.
13.5-inch Mark V gun, 1250-lb. shell, will perforate between	A.P.C.	C.P.C.
12000 and 10000 yards.	10.6 inches.	9 inches.
10000 and 7000 yards.	11.7 inches.	10 inches.
7000 and under.	13.6 inches.	11.6 inches.
12-inch Mark XI gun, with 4 c.r.h. shell, will perforate between	A.P.C.	C.P.C.
12000 and 10000 yards.	9 inches.	7.5 inches.
10000 and 8000 yards.	9 inches.	8 inches.
8000 and 6000 yards.	10.5 inches.	9 inches.
6000 and under.	12 inches.	9.5 inches.
12.5-inch Marx X gun, with 2 c.r.h. shell, will perforate between	A.P.
12000 and 10000 yards.	5 inches.
10000 and 8000 yards.	7 inches.
8000 and 6000 yards.	9 inches.
6000 and under.	9.5 inches.

Primary Sources

• Backhouse Papers in the possession of the Admiralty Library, Portsmouth.
• The National Archives. ADM 137/260.
• The National Archives. ADM 137/4052.