Annual Manoeuvres of 1899
The Royal Navy's Annual Manoeuvres of 1899 pitted the Red (or hostile Fleet "A", comprised of ships of the Channel Fleet along with a large torpedo boat flotilla) against the Blue (or British Fleet "B", ships of the Reserve Fleet, along with a large destroyer flotilla). A small third group of ships represented a convoy.
The primary objects of the exercise were to:[1]
- learn how to best use cruisers in support of a fleet
- learn how speed and fighting strength trade off against each other
- learn how to employ destroyers and torpedo boats
These manoeuvres were also noteworthy in that three warships were experimentally equipped with crude quarter-Watt Marconi wireless-telegraphy (W/T) sets. These performed very well and encouraged the fitting of W/T in forty-two warships, and the creation of eight shore stations, over the next twelve months.[2]
The umpires for the manoeuvres were Vice-Admiral Cyprian Arthur George Bridge and Rear-Admirals John Fellowes and Swinton Colthurst Holland assisted by Commander Hubert Grant-Dalton acting as secretary.[3]
Order of Battle
Bibliography
- Naval Manœvres 1899 Cd. 92.
- Lambert, Nicholas A., "Strategic Command and Control for Manoeuvre Warfare: Creation of the Royal Navy's "War Room" System, 1905-1915", The Journal of Military History, Vol. 69, No. 2, pp.361-410.
Footnotes
- ↑ Naval Manœvres 1899, p. 9.
- ↑ Nicholas A. Lambert, "Strategic Command and Control for Manoeuvre Warfare: Creation of the Royal Navy's "War Room" System, 1905-1915", The Journal of Military History, Vol. 69, No. 2, p.373.
- ↑ Naval Manœvres 1899, p. 14.
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