6th Battle Squadron
Active	1913–1917
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Navy
Type	Squadron

The 6th Battle Squadron was a squadron of the British Royal Navy consisting of Battleships serving in the Grand Fleet and existed from 1913 to 1917.

History

First World War

August 1914

In August 1914, the 6th Battle Squadron was based at Portland and comprised a number of the older pre-dreadnought battleships it was then assigned to the Second Fleet ^[1] these included:

• HMS Lord Nelson
• HMS Agamemnon
• HMS Russell
• HMS Albemarle
• HMS Cornwallis
• HMS Duncan
• HMS Exmouth
• HMS Vengeance

HMS Lord Nelson and Agamemnon transferred to the 5th Battle Squadron in late 1914. HMS Revenge briefly joined the squadron in 1915, before the squadron was broken up. Most of the ships were sent to the Mediterranean.

Reformation

On 13 November 1917, Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman broke his flag in USS New York as Commander, Battleship Division 9. After preparations for "distant service", USS Wyoming, New York, Delaware, and Florida sailed for the British Isles on 25 November and reached Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, on 7 December 1917. Although retaining their American designation as Battleship Division 9, those four dreadnoughts became the Sixth Battle Squadron of the British Grand Fleet upon arrival in British waters. The 6th Battle Squadron operated from Scapa Flow and Rosyth.

The U.S. Battleships serving in the 6th Battle Squadron were:

• USS Florida
• USS Wyoming
• USS New York
• USS Delaware
• USS Texas - arrived January 1918
• USS Arkansas - replaced USS Delaware July 1918

Vice and Rear-Admirals commanding

Post holders as follows: ^{[2] [3]}

	Rank	Flag	Name	Term	Notes
Vice/Rear-Admiral, Commanding, 6th Battle Squadron
1	Vice-Admiral		Sir Alexander Bethell	15 July 1913	as 6BS 2FL
2	Rear-Admiral		Charles H. Dundas	1913 - 20 December 1914	as 6BS 2FL
3	Rear-Admiral		Stuart Nicholson	5 December 1913 - 12 April 1916	as RADMHFSNORE
4	Rear Admiral		Hugh Rodman	13 November, - December, 1917	BS DIV9 USN

Note: RADMHFSNORE Rear-Admiral, Home Fleets at the Nore.

References

Sources

• Dittmar, F.J & Colledge J.J., British Warships 1914-1919 Ian Allan, London. 1972; ISBN  0-7110-0380-7
• McMahon, William E., Dreadnought Battleships and Battle Cruisers University Press of America, 1978; ISBN  0-8191-0465-5

External links

• Sixth Battle Squadron at DreadnoughtProject.org