Seventh Cruiser Squadron (Royal Navy)
The Seventh Cruiser Squadron, also known as Cruiser Force C from 1914 to 1915, was a cruiser formation of the Royal Navy.
Rear-Admirals Commanding
Dates of appointment given:
- Rear-Admiral Archibald G. H. W. Moore, 15 July, 1913[1] – 9 August, 1913[2] (for manoeuvres)
- Rear-Admiral Arthur H. Christian, 13 July, 1914[3] – 26 July, 1914[4]
- Rear-Admiral Henry H. Campbell, 1 August, 1914[5] – 6 October, 1914[6]
- Rear-Admiral Arthur W. Waymouth, 14 January, 1915[7][8] – 6 April, 1915[9][10]
- Rear-Admiral Henry L. Tottenham, 7 April, 1915[11] – 25 October, 1915[12]
- Rear-Admiral Herbert L. Heath, 24 October, 1915[13] – 5 June, 1916[14]
- Rear-Admiral Edward de F. Renouf, 18 July, 1940[15] – 6 March, 1941[16]
- Rear-Admiral Irvine G. Glennie, 6 March, 1941 – 11 May, 1941
History
December, 1912
December, 1913
Hogue has been added to 1912's roster, from unknown prior assignment.[18]
July, 1914
Operating as part of Third Fleet.[19]
- Aboukir
- Bacchante
- Cressy
- Euryalus
- Hogue
- Sutlej (also listed under Sixth Cruiser Squadron. Trooping to Malta. will join when relieved by Leviathan)
Rear-Admiral Arthur H. Christian hauled down his flag at Sheerness on 26 July, 1914.[20] On 1 August, Henry H. Campbell was appointed in command.
5 August, 1914
In the southern North Sea, the squadron had the same ships as at the end of 1912, having seemingly lost Hogue and Sutlej seemingly yet to join in fact:[21]
On 13 August, it was made part of Rear-Admiral Arthur Henry Christian's new Southern Force, tasked with operations to protect the Belgian coast along with destroyers and submarines operating out of Harwich.[22]
10 September, 1914
The Supplement to the Monthly Navy List for September 1914 lists Cruiser Force C as follows, being but one component of an enormous "Cruiser Force A", which also entails the First and Second Battlecruiser Squadrons, three Cruiser Squadrons, the First Light Cruiser Squadron and Cruiser Force B:[23]
The formation has been assigned a routine patrol quite forward in "The Broad Fourteens", which reportedly earned it the monicker of "Live Bait Squadron".
10 October, 1914
In the wake of the torpedoing of Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue on 22 September, Bacchante, has been made part of Cruiser Force G in the North group of Atlantic Cruisers, and the formation will be temporarily disestablished until sometime around January, 1915.[24]
January, 1915
The former "Cruiser Force A" is no longer labelled as such, but the Seventh Cruiser Squadron has been reborn as a component of it. Minotaur has joined from the Cape of Good Hope, Donegal and Hampshire from the Sixth Cruiser Squadron and Lancaster is on its way to join from Cruiser Force H.[25]
No February 1915 list was found.
March, 1915 through May, 1915
Attached to the Grand Fleet, the composition is:Template:SMNLXXX15
June, 1915
Attached to the Grand Fleet, Essex has joined from an assignment I have not discovered:[26]
July, 1915
Still attached to the Grand Fleet, but Essex has left, now being assigned to Cruiser Force I in the North Atlantic.[27]
August, 1915 through late May, 1916
Still attached to the Grand Fleet, but Lancaster has left, now being assigned to "in Home Waters or on Detached Service".[28]
The formation may have been disbanded immediately before the Battle of Jutland, with Minotaur and Hampshire being assigned to the Second Cruiser Squadron, and Donegal being sent to detached service. However, there is explicit mention that formal abolition may have been on 5 June, 1916.[29]
Footnotes
- ↑ Moore Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/20. p. 645.
- ↑ Moore Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/20. p. 645.
- ↑ Christian Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/20. p. 435.
- ↑ Christian Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/20. p. 435.
- ↑ Campbell Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. p. 309.
- ↑ Campbell Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. p. 309.
- ↑ Squadrons and Senior Naval Officers in Existence on 11th November, 1918. f. 18.
- ↑ Waymouth Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 164.
- ↑ Squadrons and Senior Naval Officers in Existence on 11th November, 1918. f. 18.
- ↑ Waymouth Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 164.
- ↑ Tottenham Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/39. p. 1320.
- ↑ Tottenham Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/39. p. 1320.
- ↑ Squadrons and Senior Naval Officers in Existence on 11th November, 1918. f. 18.
- ↑ Squadrons and Senior Naval Officers in Existence on 11th November, 1918. f. 18.
- ↑ Renouf Service Record The National Archives. ADM 196/51/254. f. 268.
- ↑ Renouf Service Record The National Archives. ADM 196/51/254. f. 268.
- ↑ Albert Francis Barclay Bridges papers at The Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum. [BRG 1/1]
- ↑ Albert Francis Barclay Bridges papers at The Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum. [BRG 1/1]
- ↑ The Navy List. (July, 1914). p. 296d.
- ↑ "Naval and Military Intelligence" (Official Appointments and Notices). The Times. Monday, 27 July, 1914. Issue 40586, col B, p. 4.
- ↑ Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 15.
- ↑ See Southern Force (Royal Navy)
- ↑ Supplement to the Monthly Navy List. (September 1914). p. 9.
- ↑ Supplement to the Monthly Navy List. (October, 1914). pp. 9, 10 and December's Supplement.
- ↑ Supplement to the Monthly Navy List. (January, 1915). p. 9 and December 1914's Supplement, pp. 9, 10.
- ↑ Supplement to the Monthly Navy List. (July, 1915). p. 10 and Supplements through X.
- ↑ Supplement to the Monthly Navy List. (July, 1915). pp. 10 and 19.
- ↑ Supplement to the Monthly Navy List. (August, 1915). p. 10 and 14 and Supplements through May, 1916.
- ↑ Squadrons and Senior Naval Officers in Existence on 11th November, 1918. p. 18.
Bibliography
