Remember the Royal Navy
The naval history side of Old Weather is making tremendous progress. Our original set of logs covered Royal Navy warships and auxiliaries of the World War 1 era, a total of 317 ships of all types. We completed the transcription of these last year, but a dedicated group of volunteer editors are developing our transcriptions into full ship histories. Of these, 264 are formatted and online, 115 have been edited and a further 30 are being edited, which means we are close to editing 50 percent of the total. Bear in mind that some of the files are up to 4Mb in size, over 400 pages, and you will realise how much effort the editors are putting in, and of a standard that to my mind is simply professional.
Another way of looking at the scale of our work on the WW1 RN logs, is that of all the major British warships and auxiliaries – capital ships, cruisers, aircraft carriers, monitors, armed merchant cruisers – that served outside British waters from 1914 to 1918, the logs cover some 70 percent of movements.
Normally the RN ships are listed by name or by type, but the following list – still in preparation, gives some idea of just how much of World War 1 at sea outside British waters is covered including major campaigns, battles and actions, as well as the run up to War and after the armistice.
To my mind, of particular importance are the China Station ships (I imagine of great interest to modern Chinese historians), the patrols of the many armed merchant cruisers and their subsequent convoy escort duties in the WW1 equivalent of the 1939-45 Battle of the Atlantic, and the ships taking part in the various interventions against the Russian Bolsheviks in North Russia, the Baltic, Black Sea and Siberia in 1918-19.
Gordon
Pre-World War 1 |
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British Isles waters, English Channel Fleet |
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Canopus, Crescent |
West and Central Atlantic |
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Cornwall. Hermione |
Cape Station |
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Astraea |
South America |
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Glasgow |
Mediterranean |
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Blenheim, Cornwall, Vindictive (1), Weymouth |
East Indies Station, including Persian Gulf |
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Dartmouth, Fox |
China Station |
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Bramble, Cadmus, Kennet, Merlin (1), Otter, Ribble, Rosario, Thistle (1), Usk, Welland, Yarmouth |
Pacific |
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Pyramus, Psyche, Sealark |
Delivery of Australian submarines AE.1 and 2 to Australia |
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Eclipse, Sydney (RAN) |
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World War 1 |
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BRITISH HOME WATERS and NORTH SEA |
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Grand Fleet, including Harwich Force, North Sea sweeps, Norwegian convoys, shake-down cruises etc |
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Acacia, Achilles, Albemarle, Canterbury, Commonwealth, Devonshire, Inconstant, Invincible, Leviathan, Phaeton, Princess Royal, Renown, Warrior (1), Weymouth, Yarmouth |
Battle of Heligoland Bight, 28 Aug 1914 |
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Invincible |
Battle of Dogger Bank, 24 Jan 1915 |
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Princess Royal |
10th Cruiser Squadron, Northern Patrol, old cruisers |
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Crescent, |
10th CS, Armed Merchant Cruisers |
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Alcantara, Almanzora, Alsatian, Andes, Arlanza, Artois, Avenger, Changuinola, Columbella, Dryad, India, Kildonan Castle, Mantua, Motagua, Orcoma, Orotava, Orvieto, Otway, Patuca, Patia, Teutonic, Victorian, Virginian; believed to include trawler Tenby Castle |
11th CS, Irish waters |
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Minerva, Venus |
British waters, including Dover Patrol (German destroyer raid), Auxiliary Patrol, convoy escort, guardship |
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Amazon, Atalanta, Attack, Attentive, Jupiter, Parramatta, Sapphire, Tenby Castle, Thistle (2) |
Zeebrugge Raid |
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Attentive |
Minelaying, British waters |
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Orvieto |
Kite Balloon ship operations |
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Patuca |
Single ship action v Leopard 1917 |
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Achilles, |
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ARCTIC |
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Arctic/North Russia |
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Acacia, Albemarle, Arlanza, Attentive, Cochrane, Cockchafer, Glory, Jupiter, Teutonic, Vindictive (1) |
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NORTH AMERICA and ATLANTIC |
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North America & West Indies Station |
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Achilles, Antrim, Bristol, Cochrane, Cumberland, Devonshire, Drake, Glory, Leviathan, Laurentic, Princess Royal, Warrior (2) (during flu epidemic), Weymouth |
North Atlantic convoys (1917-18) |
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Achilles, Almanzora, Alsatian, Andes, Antrim, Arlanza, Artois, Bayano, Carrigan Head, Cochrane, Columbella, Cornwall, Coronado, Cumberland, Devonshire, Drake, Kildonan Castle, Knight Templar, Lepanto, Leviathan, Naneric, Orama, Orcoma, Orvieto, Otranto, Patuca, Teutonic, Victorian, Virginian |
Halifax explosion, 6 Dec 1917 |
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Highflyer, Knight Templar, |
Central and Mid-Atlantic patrols, later convoy escort, incl Canaries, Cape Verdes, Sierra Leone |
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Almanzora, Argonaut, Avenger, Britannia, Canopus, Celtic, Cornwall, Empress of Britain, Kent, Kildonan Castle, Mantua, Marmora, Minerva, Motagua, Ophir, Orama, Orotava, Otranto, Patia, Victorian |
West Coast of Africa, incl. German Cameroons campaign |
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Astraea, Laurentic, Rinaldo, Thistle (1) |
SE coast of America Station, incl. South Atlantic patrols and later, convoy escort |
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Africa, Bristol, Britannia, Canopus, Celtic, Dartmouth, Kent, Orama, Orvieto, Otranto, Vindictive (1) |
German South West Africa campaign |
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Astraea, |
Battle of the Falklands, 8 Dec 1914 |
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Bristol, (Canopus), Carnarvon, Cornwall, Glasgow, Inflexible, Invincible, Kent, Macedonia |
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MEDITERRANEAN |
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Mediterranean, incl. convoy escort |
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Acacia, Africa, Bacchus, Blenheim, Bristol, Empress, Exmouth, Euryalus, Glory, Jupiter, Kennet, Mantis, Minerva, Raven II, Ribble, Sapphire, Usk, Welland, Wonganella |
Adriatic Force and Italian Fleet |
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Bristol, Britannia, Sapphire |
Aegean, incl Dardanelles and Gallipoli |
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Albion, Amethyst, Ark Royal, Bacchus, Ben-My-Chree, Blenheim, Canopus, Colne, Chatham, Dartmouth, Empress, Euryalus, Glory, Goliath, Grafton, Hibernia, Implacable, Inflexible, Jed, Kennet, Minerva, Phaeton, Pyramus, Ribble, Sapphire, Usk, Vengeance, Welland |
Egyptian waters |
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Empress, Venus |
Defence of Suez Canal, to 4 Feb |
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Clio, Himalaya, Minerva, Proserpine, Swiftsure |
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EAST INDIES STATION |
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East Indies Station, incl Palestine campaign, Persian Gulf , German East Africa campaign, Indian Ocean escort |
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Aphis, Astraea, Ben-My-Chree, Bramble, Cadmus, Cornwall, Dartmouth, Enterprise, Exmouth, Euryalus, Fox, Jupiter, Kent, Laurentic, Manica, Mantis, Mersey, Minerva, Northbrook, Odin, Ophir, Pyramus, Raven II, Rinaldo, Sapphire, Severn, Thistle (1), Trent, Venus, Weymouth, |
Single ship action v Königsberg |
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Mersey, Severn |
Mesopotamian Campaign |
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Mantis, Odin, |
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CHINA STATION and PACIFIC |
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China Station |
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Bee, Cadmus, Cornwall, Euryalus, Kennet, Kinsha, Laurentic, Ophir, Otter, Rosario, TB.37, Teal,, Thistle (1), Usk, Venus, Virago, Welland, Whiting, Woodcock, Woodlark |
Pacific, incl SW Pacific and coast of Americas |
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Algerine, Kent, Ophir, Orama, Otranto, Pyramus, Una (RAN) |
Battle of Coronel |
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Glasgow, Otranto |
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MISCELLANEOUS CATEGORIES |
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Major ship damage or sinking reported in logs |
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Albemarle, Knight Templar, Motagua, Orama |
Logs covering most or all World War 1 Service |
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Ark Royal, Bayano, Bramble, Carrigan Head, Coronado, Knight Templar, |
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post-War |
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Repatriating POWs |
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Trent |
British Isles waters or in dock |
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Calliope, Caradoc, Erebus, Foyle, Weymouth, Yarmouth |
Russian Intervention: |
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North Russian Expeditionary Force |
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Bacchus, Cicala, Cockchafer, Cricket, Erebus, Glowworm, M.23, M.24, M.25, M.31, M.33, Mantis |
Baltic Sea |
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Calypso, Caradoc, Dauntless, Delhi, Dragon, Empress, Erebus, Fortol, Vindictive (2) |
Black Sea |
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Ark Royal, Canterbury, M.29, |
Siberia |
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Kent, |
Rumania/Danube River |
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Aphis, Severn |
Atlantic Fleet |
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Barham, Coventry, Delhi, Dragon, Malaya, Valiant, Warspite |
North America & West Indies Station |
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Calcutta (including assistance to wrecked cruiser Raleigh), Cornwall, Dauntless, Fortol, Mutine |
South America Station |
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Bristol, Dartmouth, Petersfield, Southampton |
West Africa |
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Astraea, Thistle (1) |
African Station |
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Birmingham, Dublin, Lowestoft |
Mediterranean, including Aegean |
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Canterbury, Merlin (1) |
Somaliland Campaign |
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Ark Royal |
East Indies Station, incl Persian Gulf |
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Ark Royal, Bramble, Cairo, Caroline, Iroquois, Mantis, Merlin (1), Moth, Odin, Rapidol, Yarmouth |
China Station, incl Yangste River |
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Alacrity, Bee, Cadmus, Cairo, Carlisle, Cicala, Cockchafer, Cricket, Diomede, Hawkins, Hollyhock, Iroquois, Kent, Kinsha, Magnolia, Mantis, Merlin (1), Moth, Petersfield, Scarab, Tarantula, Teal, Titania, Virago, Whiting, Woodcock, Woodlark |
Pacific |
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Una (RAN) |
Round-the-World Tours (or in part) or Voyages |
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Malaya, New Zealand, Renown, Temeraire (as training ship), Warrego (RAN) |