Order of Battle
Not all the Grand Fleet was available to put to sea at any one time, because ships required maintenance and repairs. For a list of ships which were present at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 see the article, Order of battle at Jutland. A number of others missed the battle for one reason or another. Actual strength of the fleet varied through the war as new ships were built and others were sunk, but the numbers steadily increased as the war progressed and the margin of superiority over the German fleet progressed with it. This led to a slowly less cautious approach to the war as the strength increased. The fleet was at its weakest at the start of the war, when it was also least experienced at this sort of warfare and a number of minor but embarrassing losses occurred because of this inexperience. After the United States entered the war, United States Battleship Division Nine was attached to the Grand Fleet as the Sixth Battle Squadron, adding four, and later five, dreadnought battleships.
Read more about this topic: Grand Fleet
Famous quotes containing the words order of, order and/or battle:
“This entire most beautiful order of good things is going to pass away after its measure has been exhausted; for both morning and evening were made in them.”
—St. Augustine (354–430)
“The sick man is taken away by the institution that takes charge not of the individual, but of his illness, an isolated object transformed or eliminated by technicians devoted to the defense of health the way others are attached to the defense of law and order or tidiness.”
—Michel de Certeau (1925–1986)
“Oh, who will now be able to relate how Pantagruel behaved in face of these three hundred giants! Oh my muse, my Calliope, my Thalie, inspire me now, restore my spirits, because here is the ass’s bridge of logic, here is the pitfall, here is the difficulty of being able to describe the horrible battle undertaken.”
—François Rabelais (1494–1553)