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
British Isles waters, English Channel Fleet		Canopus, Crescent
West and Central Atlantic		Cornwall. Hermione
Cape Station		Astraea
South America		Glasgow
Mediterranean		Blenheim, Cornwall, Vindictive (1), Weymouth
East Indies Station, including Persian Gulf		Dartmouth, Fox
China Station		Bramble, Cadmus, Kennet, Merlin (1), Otter, Ribble, Rosario, Thistle (1), Usk, Welland, Yarmouth
Pacific		Pyramus, Psyche, Sealark
Delivery of Australian submarines AE.1 and 2 to Australia		Eclipse, Sydney (RAN)
World War 1
BRITISH HOME WATERS and NORTH SEA
Grand Fleet, including Harwich Force, North Sea sweeps, Norwegian convoys, shake-down cruises etc		Acacia, Achilles, Albemarle, Canterbury, Commonwealth, Devonshire, Inconstant, Invincible, Leviathan, Phaeton, Princess Royal, Renown, Warrior (1), Weymouth, Yarmouth
Battle of Heligoland Bight, 28 Aug 1914		Invincible
Battle of Dogger Bank, 24 Jan 1915		Princess Royal
10th Cruiser Squadron, Northern Patrol, old cruisers		Crescent,
10th CS, Armed Merchant Cruisers		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		Minerva, Venus
British waters, including Dover Patrol (German destroyer raid), Auxiliary Patrol, convoy escort, guardship		Amazon, Atalanta, Attack, Attentive, Jupiter, Parramatta, Sapphire, Tenby Castle, Thistle (2)
Zeebrugge Raid		Attentive
Minelaying, British waters		Orvieto
Kite Balloon ship operations		Patuca
Single ship action v Leopard 1917		Achilles,
ARCTIC
Arctic/North Russia		Acacia, Albemarle, Arlanza, Attentive, Cochrane, Cockchafer, Glory, Jupiter, Teutonic, Vindictive (1)
NORTH AMERICA and ATLANTIC
North America & West Indies Station		Achilles, Antrim, Bristol, Cochrane, Cumberland, Devonshire, Drake, Glory, Leviathan, Laurentic, Princess Royal, Warrior (2) (during flu epidemic), Weymouth
North Atlantic convoys (1917-18)		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		Highflyer, Knight Templar,
Central and Mid-Atlantic patrols, later convoy escort, incl Canaries, Cape Verdes, Sierra Leone		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		Astraea, Laurentic, Rinaldo, Thistle (1)
SE coast of America Station, incl. South Atlantic patrols and later, convoy escort		Africa, Bristol, Britannia, Canopus, Celtic, Dartmouth, Kent, Orama, Orvieto, Otranto, Vindictive (1)
German South West Africa campaign		Astraea,
Battle of the Falklands, 8 Dec 1914		Bristol, (Canopus), Carnarvon, Cornwall, Glasgow, Inflexible, Invincible, Kent, Macedonia
MEDITERRANEAN
Mediterranean, incl. convoy escort		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		Bristol, Britannia, Sapphire
Aegean, incl Dardanelles and Gallipoli		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		Empress, Venus
Defence of Suez Canal, to 4 Feb		Clio, Himalaya, Minerva, Proserpine, Swiftsure
EAST INDIES STATION
East Indies Station, incl Palestine campaign, Persian Gulf , German East Africa campaign, Indian Ocean escort		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		Mersey, Severn
Mesopotamian Campaign		Mantis, Odin,
CHINA STATION and PACIFIC
China Station		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		Algerine, Kent, Ophir, Orama, Otranto, Pyramus, Una (RAN)
Battle of Coronel		Glasgow, Otranto
MISCELLANEOUS CATEGORIES
Major ship damage or sinking reported in logs		Albemarle, Knight Templar, Motagua, Orama
Logs covering most or all World War 1 Service		Ark Royal, Bayano, Bramble, Carrigan Head, Coronado, Knight Templar,
post-War
Repatriating POWs		Trent
British Isles waters or in dock		Calliope, Caradoc, Erebus, Foyle, Weymouth, Yarmouth
Russian Intervention:
North Russian Expeditionary Force		Bacchus, Cicala, Cockchafer, Cricket, Erebus, Glowworm, M.23, M.24, M.25, M.31, M.33, Mantis
Baltic Sea		Calypso, Caradoc, Dauntless, Delhi, Dragon, Empress, Erebus, Fortol, Vindictive (2)
Black Sea		Ark Royal, Canterbury, M.29,
Siberia		Kent,
Rumania/Danube River		Aphis, Severn
Atlantic Fleet		Barham, Coventry, Delhi, Dragon, Malaya, Valiant, Warspite
North America & West Indies Station		Calcutta (including assistance to wrecked cruiser Raleigh), Cornwall, Dauntless, Fortol, Mutine
South America Station		Bristol, Dartmouth, Petersfield, Southampton
West Africa		Astraea, Thistle (1)
African Station		Birmingham, Dublin, Lowestoft
Mediterranean, including Aegean		Canterbury, Merlin (1)
Somaliland Campaign		Ark Royal
East Indies Station, incl Persian Gulf		Ark Royal, Bramble, Cairo, Caroline, Iroquois, Mantis, Merlin (1), Moth, Odin, Rapidol, Yarmouth
China Station, incl Yangste River		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		Una (RAN)
Round-the-World Tours (or in part) or Voyages		Malaya, New Zealand, Renown, Temeraire (as training ship), Warrego (RAN)