‘Conqueror’, ‘Ajax’ and ‘Benbow’, all armed with 13.5 inch guns, were completed between 19. ‘Colossus’ with 12 inch guns was begun at Scott’s yard in 1909 and completed in 1911. However, only one-fifth of 28 dreadnought battleships were Clyde-built. Not only was the majority of Britain’s naval capacity in home waters based in Scotland, but of 150 ships that fought at Jutland, no fewer than 63 (over 40%) had been constructed in shipyards on the River Clyde. Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Collection, Crown copyright, National Records of Scotland, UCS1/116/16/38 HMS ‘Barham’ and the destroyers ‘Mons’ (left) and ‘Medusa’, The remainder of the Rosyth force consisted of twelve light cruisers in three squadrons, and three destroyer flotillas. In place of the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron which had been detached to Scapa for gunnery practice, in May 1916 Beatty had the 5th Battle Squadron of four fast battleships to complement his six serviceable battlecruisers. Beatty’s Battlecruiser Fleet at Rosyth was built around three squadrons of battlecruisers, fast and heavily-armed but less well protected than battleships. At the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916 Admiral Jellicoe’s Battle Fleet joined forces with the Battlecruiser Fleet commanded by Vice-Admiral Beatty.Īt Jellicoe’s disposal at Scapa and Invergordon were 24 battleships, three battlecruisers, eight heavy cruisers, eleven light cruisers, and three flotillas of destroyers.
During the First World War Britain’s Grand Fleet dominated the North Sea from its bases at Scapa Flow in Orkney, Invergordon on the Cromarty Firth and Rosyth on the Forth, while smaller forces operated from east coast ports in England.
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