Naval order of 24 October 1918

The naval order of 24 October 1918 was a plan made by the German Admiralty to provoke a decisive battle between the German High Seas Fleet and the British Grand Fleet in the southern North Sea in the final weeks of World War I. It was drawn up contrary to the wishes and without the knowledge of the German government. When the order to prepare for the sortie was issued on 29 October, mutiny broke out aboard some of the German ships stationed at Wilhelmshaven. Despite the cancellation of the operation, the sailors' revolt led to the more serious Kiel mutiny, which began the German Revolution of 1918-19 and the establishment of the Weimar Republic.

Armistice negotiations
Following the Allied successes during the Hundred Days Offensive, the new German government under Prince Max of Baden, at the insistence of the Supreme Army Command, asked President Woodrow Wilson on 5 October 1918 to mediate an armistice. One of his preconditions was the cessation of Germany's submarine war. Despite the objections of Admiral Scheer, the Chief of the German Admiralty Staff, the German government made the concession on 20 October. The submarines at sea were recalled on 21 October. In response, on 22 October Scheer, on his own authority and without the knowledge of the new German government, ordered Admiral Hipper, commander of the High Seas Fleet, to prepare for an attack on the British fleet by the main battle fleet and reinforced by the newly available U-boats. Hipper's order was promulgated on 24 October; Scheer approved it on 27 October. The fleet then began to concentrate at Schillig Roads off Wilhelmshaven to prepare for the battle.

German fleet
The High Seas Fleet in October 1918 was built around the core of 18 battleships and five battlecruisers, most of which had been completed before the outbreak of war. Since the Battle of Jutland in May 1916, the obsolete pre-dreadnoughts had been de-commissioned, two new battleships with 15-inch guns (SMS Baden and SMS Bayern) and the new battlecruiser SMS Hindenburg had joined the fleet, but one dreadnought battleship SMS Rheinland had been damaged beyond repair by running aground in the Baltic. The fleet had undertaken only three major sorties at full strength into the North Sea since June 1916: 18–19 August 1916, 18–19 October 1916, and 22–25 April 1918. This prolonged period of relative inactivity, at a time when all other branches of Germany's armed forces were very heavily engaged, did much to undermine the morale of the crews and the self-respect of the officers. Acts tantamount to mutiny took place on various occasions during 1917, the most noteworthy being the arrest of 200 men from the battleship SMS Prinzregent Luitpold in August, resulting in two executions.

Grand Fleet
In late October 1918 the British Grand Fleet, based at Rosyth in the Firth of Forth, had 35 dreadnought battleships and 11 battlecruisers (including two of the very lightly armoured Courageous-class battlecruiser). Twenty of these ships had been completed since the outbreak of war, and a third of them were armed with the highly effective 15-inch gun; the oldest capital ship in the fleet was HMS Indomitable (1907) (commissioned in June 1908) while HMS Dreadnought (1906) was put in reserve in July 1918. Five of these ships were from the United States Navy and one from the Royal Australian Navy.

The materiel problems which beset the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland and beyond (i.e. poor flash-protection in ammunition handling, lack of deck armour over magazines, deficient armour-piercing shells, and too few destroyers) had all been remedied to various extents. In particular, the newly designed "Green Boy" shells for the fleet's heavy guns were thought to be such a great improvement in offensive power that they nullified the advantage of the heavier armour protection of German battleships. Moreover, the fleet possessed new weapons (such as ship-borne torpedo aircraft and fast steam-driven submarines) for which the German fleet had no match.

The second wave of the Spanish Flu pandemic reached its peak in the Grand Fleet in autumn 1918; roughly 6% of the fleet's sailors were taken ill, and 1% died. For example, the sick list of the light cruiser HMS Cardiff (D58) peaked at 19 people (6% of her complement) on 23 October 1918; but it had returned to its usual level (two persons) by 31 October; the destroyer HMS Torch (1918) of the 12th Destroyer Flotilla was more seriously hit, with 37 (41%) of her crew on the sick list on 31 October.

The morale in the British fleet was high in anticipation of a re-match for Jutland, the personality and leadership of the commander-in-chief, Admiral Sir David Beatty, being an important reason for this.

Admiralty intelligence
In the First World War British naval intelligence in general, and code-breaking in particular, was highly efficient. It played a very important role in the battles of Dogger Bank and Jutland, in the American entry into the war on the Allied side and the defeat of the U-boats from 1917 to 1918. By late 1917 improvements in German communications security had made intelligence gathering more difficult, at least as far as the High Seas Fleet was concerned. Between October 1917 and April 1918, the Germans were able to launch three surprise sorties into Norwegian waters against mercantile traffic, on the last occasion (22–25 April 1918) employing their whole fleet. Each time the British did not receive a warning in time to mount an effective counter-operation.

High-power wireless communications were essential for the control of U-boats at sea; but this also allowed triangulation-based location of the U-boats by the Allies. In addition, U-boats employed a simpler cypher system than that used by the surface fleet, which Room 40, the British Admiralty's code-breaking section, could usually read with few difficulties. In October 1918 these methods allowed the Admiralty to track the U-boats operating in British Home Waters.

Operational order
The order of 24 October for the High Seas Fleet's attack is as follows:

U-boat operations
The command of the High Seas Fleet had 24 submarines at its disposal, which lay at their bases in the North Sea. The command tried to recall more boats from the missions and direct them to the planned locations. This succeeded with six more boats: U-43, U-108, UB-86, UB-96, UB-121, and UB-125. All boats were to form six lines in the North Sea on the presumed approach route of the British fleet and take up waiting positions in front of the ports of the British fleet in Scotland.

Two of these U-boats were lost. The first, SMU U-78 (Oblt. Johann Vollbrecht), sailed on 27 October from Heligoland for a minelaying mission off the Scottish East Coast, but she was torpedoed and sunk the same day by the British submarine HMS G2 in the central North Sea, roughly 280 nmi east of the Firth of Forth. All 40 crewmen were lost.

The other submarine to be sunk was SMU UB-116, which sailed from Heligoland on 25 October with special orders to attack the British fleet anchorage at Scapa Flow. She was commanded by the 26-year-old Oberleutnant zur See Hans Joachim Emsmann who, since first becoming a U-boat captain in February 1918, had sunk a total of 26 ships. She attempted to enter Scapa Flow submerged by the southern passage, Hoxa Sound, on the evening of 28 October. Hydrophones mounted ashore at Stanger Head, Flotta, alerted the British defences, and the sea-bed magnetometer loops, designed to detect the magnetic signatures of incoming vessels and thus trigger remote-controlled mines, were activated. Emsmann raised his periscope at 11:30 pm, presumably to check his position, and was spotted by look-outs on shore; the mines detonated shortly thereafter, leaving the submarine disabled on the sea bed. She was finished off by depth charges from defense trawlers shortly thereafter; all 37 crew members were lost.

Two other submarines, UB-98 and UB-118 were damaged in collision with each other on 28 October, and had to return to port. Five others, U-43, U-67, UB-86, UB-87, and UB-130 also aborted their missions due to breakdowns.

British reaction
The commanders of the British Fleet were anticipating action, and the fleet was warned to make preparations as early as 14 October 1918. On the afternoon of 23 October the Admiralty alerted Admiral Beatty that the situation was abnormal and that they would reinforce him by sending destroyers from the anti-submarine flotillas based at Plymouth and Buncrana. By late on 28 October the situation was reaching a climax, and Vice Admiral Sydney Fremantle, the Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff, and Rear Admiral Reginald Hall, the Director of Naval Intelligence, sent Beatty a full appreciation which read, in part:

"Dispositions of enemy submarines combined with positions of their large minefield recently laid and now clear constitutes fairly decisive evidence of his desire to draw the Grand Fleet out ... No evidence of how he proposes to achieve this object but evidence that no move of his battlefleet can take place before ... tomorrow night. No objective of the enemy is apparent that will not involve great risk for him. Therefore he may confine himself to emerging from the Bight and returning after making us aware of his exit by W/T signals. Unlikely the enemy will risk fleet action until the Armistice negotiations are settled one way or another. Press reports of German submarines proceeding home via the Norwegian Coast probably emanate from Germany and are intended to conceal existence of submarine trap."

For the next 48 hours, Fremantle was able to keep Beatty informed of developments, correctly describing the concentration of the High Seas Fleet at Schillig Roads on the evening of 29 October and its intention to sail on 30 October. Hipper's unexpected postponement of the operation on 30 October was initially ascribed to fog.

Cancellation of the plan
The High Seas Fleet had assembled in Schillig Roads on the afternoon of 29 October in preparation for sailing the following day, 30 October. A ruse that the operation was a training sortie was employed for security, as was usual practice. The raid on the Thames and the Flanders Coast was scheduled for dawn on 31 October and the battle with the British Fleet in the afternoon and evening of the same day. The evening of 29 October was marked by unrest and serious acts of indiscipline in the German Fleet, as the men became convinced their commanders were intent on sacrificing them to sabotage the armistice negotiations. A large number of stokers from Derfflinger and Von der Tann failed to return from shore leave and were rounded up by the authorities; mass insubordination occurred on Thüringen, Kaiserin, Helgoland and Regensburg; and mutinous demonstrations took place in König, Kronprinz Wilhelm and Markgraf. Even in the fleet flagship Baden the mood of the crew was dangerous. The mutinous behavior was confined to the crews of the larger ships; the crews of torpedo-boats, submarines, and minesweepers remained loyal. Admiral Hipper canceled the operation on 30 October and ordered the fleet to disperse, in the hope of quelling the insurrection. When ships of the III Battle Squadron, arrived at Kiel via the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal on 1 November, their men helped spark the Kiel mutiny on 3 November.

Analysis
The detailed orders of battle are given in the Appendix, and are summarised in the table below. The disparity in forces was roughly 2-to-1 in favour of the British. Had the battle been joined, it would have involved some 69 capital ships (in comparison with 58 involved at Jutland).

Writing after the war, Admiral Scheer asserted that "it was highly probable an expedition of the Fleet might achieve a favourable result. If the Fleet suffered losses, it was to be assumed that the enemy's injuries would be in proportion, and that we should still have sufficient forces to protect the U-boat campaign in the North Sea, which would have to be resumed if the negotiations should make imperative a continuation of the struggle with all the means at our disposal." The High Seas Fleet had undertaken similar diversionary attacks intended to draw British units into a submarine/mine ambush before: the action of 19 August 1916 was the one occasion when this tactic came closest to succeeding. On 27 October, the German Government had agreed to surrender the fleet as part of the armistice; thus in strictly material terms, the German Navy had nothing to lose.

Admiral Beatty's intentions are not recorded but there seems no doubt that he would have sailed as soon as the Germans were reported to be at sea and would have aggressively pursued battle. Given the distances involved, if the German sortie were reported promptly and the Grand Fleet sailed immediately on receipt of such a report, there was every possibility that they could have cut off the German line of retreat and forced a fight to the finish. Admiral Hipper and his staff seemed well aware of the risk in this plan, and his chief of staff Adolf von Trotha expressed a sanguinary attitude about it: "a battle for the honour of the fleet in this war, even if it were a death battle, it would be the foundation for a new German fleet".

Henry Newbolt, the official historian of the Royal Navy during the First World War, compared Hipper's planned operation with Michiel de Ruyter's Raid on the Medway in June 1667, when the Dutch Fleet launched a surprise attack on the English naval bases in the Thames estuary, inflicting a serious defeat and in consequence securing a more favourable peace treaty for the Netherlands at the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

More recently, it has been argued that the plan was a deliberate act of counter-revolution by the German Naval High Command against Prince Max of Baden and the peace party: regardless of the outcome of the battle, the launching of the attack would have hopelessly compromised the armistice negotiations and the credibility of Prince Max's government. Historian Michael Epkenhans describes the action as a mutiny by the admirals:"When we think of the end of the war in 1918, we have to imagine admirals who had hoped throughout the war to be able to fight a major naval battle, perhaps even to defeat the British. The naval leadership was basically itself mutinous; it was an admirals' rebellion, because contrary to the orders of the political Reich leadership to hold back, especially in regard to the armistice, it made plans that were not politically legitimized."

German fleet
The German fleet was to be organised into three groups, plus supporting submarines and airships, as follows
 * High Seas Fleet
 * Commander-in-Chief, High Seas Fleet: Admiral Franz Ritter von Hipper in battleship Baden
 * Scouting forces
 * Commander, Scouting Forces: RAdm Ludwig von Reuter in battlecruiser Hindenburg
 * I. SG (RAdm Reuter) battlecruisers: SMS Hindenburg (F), SMS Derfflinger, SMS Moltke, SMS Von der Tann, SMS Seydlitz
 * II. SG (Cdre Viktor Harder) light cruisers: SMS Königsberg (1915) (F), SMS Karlsruhe (1916), SMS Pillau, SMS Nürnberg (1916), SMS Köln (1916), SMS Dresden (1916), SMS Graudenz
 * Deputy Leader of Torpedo-Boats FKpt Hans Quaet-Faslem in light cruiser SMS Frankfurt
 * II. TBF destroyers: (3. hf) SMS G101, SMS G104, SMS V100, SMS G103, SMS G102; (4. hf) SMS B97, SMS B111, SMS B109, SMS B110, SMS B112
 * I. TBF (detachment) torpedo boats: (2. hf) SMS V130, SMS S133, SMS S135, SMS S134, SMS S139 (1917)
 * VII. TBF (detachment) torpedo boats: (13. hf) SMS S138 (1918), SMS V83, SMS S65, SMS V78, SMS S56
 * Main body (under Commander-in-Chief)
 * III. BS (VAdm Hugo Kraft), battleships: SMS König (F), SMS Bayern, SMS Grosser Kurfürst (1913), SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm, SMS Markgraf
 * Fleet Flagship battleship: SMS Baden (F, Adm Hipper)
 * I. BS (VAdm Friedrich Boedicker) battleships: SMS Ostfriesland (F), SMS Thüringen, SMS Posen, SMS Nassau, SMS Oldenburg, SMS Westfalen, SMS Helgoland (1909)
 * IV. BS (VAdm Hugo Meurer) battleships: SMS Friedrich der Grosse (1911) (F), SMS König Albert, SMS Kaiserin, SMS Prinzregent Luitpold, SMS Kaiser (1911)
 * Leader of Torpedo-Boats Cdre Paul Heinrich(GE) in light cruiser SMS Emden (1916)
 * I. TBF torpedo boats: (1. hf) SMS V129, SMS G39, SMS G86, SMS G40, SMS G38, SMS S32 (1914)
 * V. TBF torpedo boats: (9. hf) SMS G11, SMS V6 (1913), SMS V3, SMS V2; (10. hf) SMS G8, SMS G10, SMS V5
 * VI. TBF torpedo boats: (11. hf) SMS V128, SMS V127, SMS S132, SMS S131, SMS V126, SMS V125; (12. hf) SMS V43, SMS V45, SMS V44, SMS S49 (1915), SMS S50, SMS V46
 * IX. TBF torpedo boats: (17. hf) SMS V80, SMS S52, SMS S51, SMS S60, SMS S36
 * Minelaying group
 * IV. SG (RAdm Johannes von Karpf(GE)) light cruisers: SMS Regensburg (F), SMS Bremse, SMS Brummer, SMS Strassburg, SMS Stralsund; attached minelayers: SMS Arcona (1902), SMS Möwe (1914)
 * VIII. TBF torpedo boats: (15. hf) SMS T180, SMS T193, SMS T192, SMS T195, T190, SMS T189; (16. hf) torpedo boats: SMS T178, SMS T179, SMS T176, SMS T186
 * Airships: L65, L64, L63, L52, L61, L56, SL22
 * Submarines: thirty U-boats were assigned to this operation, in six patrol lines: SMU U-43 (Germany), SMU U-52, SMU U-53, SMU U-62, SMU U-78, SMU U-86, SMU U-91, SMU U-94, SMU U-96, SMU U-100, SMU U-107, SMU U-108, SMU U-113, SMU U-162, SMU UB-64, SMU UB-67, SMU UB-80, SMU UB-86, SMU UB-87, SMU UB-93, SMU UB-96, SMU UB-98, SMU UB-116, SMU UB-118, SMU UB-121, SMU UB-125, SMU UB-126, SMU UB-130, SMU UB-131, SMU UC-58.

British
This is the administrative order of battle of the Grand Fleet and other important commands in Home Waters on 11 November 1918. Excluded from this list are ships on detached service and minor vessels of war such as minesweepers, sloops and older vessels employed on patrol duties; it includes only forces likely to have been engaged had the German sortie gone ahead. Some of these ships may not in fact have been available to sail on 30 October due to breakdowns or routine maintenance. The Grand Fleet was based at Rosyth, with usually one Squadron detached to Scapa Flow for gunnery training.
 * Grand Fleet
 * Commander-in Chief: Adm Sir David Beatty in battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth (1913) (attached destroyer: HMS Oak (1912))
 * 1st BS (Adm Sir Charles Madden) battleships: HMS Revenge (06) (F), HMS Emperor of India, HMS Iron Duke (1912), HMS Benbow (1913), HMS Marlborough (1912), HMS Canada (1913), HMS Ramillies (07), HMS Resolution (09), HMS Royal Oak (08), HMS Royal Sovereign (05) (attached cruiser: HMS Blonde (1910))
 * 2nd BS (VAdm Sir John de Robeck) battleships: HMS King George V (1911) (F), HMS Orion (1910), HMS Ajax (1912), HMS Centurion (1911), HMS Conqueror (1911), HMS Monarch (1911), HMS Thunderer (1911), HMS Agincourt (1913), HMS Erin (attached cruiser: HMS Bellona (1909))
 * 4th BS (VAdm Sir Montague Browning) battleships: HMS Hercules (1910) (F), HMS Colossus (1910), HMS Bellerophon (1907), HMS Collingwood (1908), HMS Neptune (1909), HMS St. Vincent (1908) (attached cruiser: HMS Boadicea (1908))
 * 5th BS (VAdm A C Leveson) battleships: HMS Barham (04) (F), HMS Malaya, HMS Valiant (1914), HMS Warspite (03) (attached cruiser: HMS Blanche (1909))
 * 6th BS (RAdm H Rodman) battleships: USS New York (BB-34)(USN) (F), USS Arkansas (BB-33)(USN), USS Florida (BB-30)(USN), USS Texas (BB-35)(USN), USS Wyoming (BB-32)(USN)
 * Cruisers (with main body)
 * 2nd CS (RAdm E F Bruen) armoured cruisers: HMS Minotaur (1906) (F), HMS Cochrane (1905), HMS Shannon (1906)
 * 4th LCS (RAdm A F Everett) light cruisers: HMS Calliope (1914) (F), HMS Cambrian (1916), HMS Caroline (1914), HMS Comus (1914), HMS Cordelia (1914), HMS Constance (1915)
 * 7th LCS (RAdm G H Borrett) light cruisers: HMS Carysfort (1914) (F), HMS Aurora (1913), HMS Penelope (1914), HMS Undaunted (1914), HMS Cleopatra (1915)
 * Flying Squadron (RAdm R F Phillimore) aircraft carriers: HMS Furious (47) (F), HMS Argus (I49), HMS Vindictive (1918), HMS Nairana (1917), HMS Pegasus (1917), HMS Campania (1914)
 * Battlecruiser force
 * Commander-in-Chief: VAdm Sir William Pakenham in battlecruiser HMS Lion (1910)
 * 1st BCS (RAdm Sir Henry Oliver) battlecruisers: HMS Repulse (1916) (F), HMS Renown (1916), HMS Tiger (1913), HMS Princess Royal (1911)
 * 2nd BCS (RAdm Sir Lionel Halsey) battlecruisers: HMS New Zealand (1911) (F), HMAS Australia (1911)(RAN), HMS Inflexible (1907), HMS Indomitable (1907)
 * 1st CS (VAdm T D W Napier) battlecruisers: HMS Courageous (50) (F), HMS Glorious
 * 1st LCS (RAdm W H Cowan): HMS Inconstant (1914) (F), HMS Galatea (1914), HMS Royalist (1915), HMS Phaeton (1914), HMS Caledon (D53)
 * 2nd LCS (RAdm J A Fergusson): HMS Birmingham (1913) (F), HMS Dublin (1912), HMAS Melbourne (1912)(RAN), HMAS Sydney (1912)(RAN), HMS Yarmouth (1911)
 * 3rd LCS (RAdm A T Hunt): HMS Chatham (1911) (F), HMS Southampton (1912), HMS Chester (1915), HMS Birkenhead (1915)
 * 6th LCS (RAdm E S Alexander-Sinclair): HMS Cardiff (D58) (F), HMS Calypso (D61), HMS Caradoc (D60), HMS Cassandra (1916), HMS Ceres (D59)
 * Destroyer Command
 * Commodore (Destroyers): Cdre H J Tweedie in light cruiser HMS Castor (1915)
 * 3rd DF leaders: HMS Nimrod (1915), HMS Talisman (1915); destroyers: HMS Maenad (1915), HMS Mameluke (1915), HMS Marvel (1915), HMS Menace (1915), HMS Michael (1915), HMS Munster, HMS Napier (1915), HMS Noble (1915), HMS Nonsuch (1915), HMS Onslaught (1915), HMS Petard (1916); temporarily attached from 4th DF (Devonport): HMS Lawford (1913), HMS Nizam (1916), HMS Norseman (1916), HMS Oracle (1915), HMS Oriana (1916), HMS Orpheus (1916)
 * 11th DF leaders: HMS Valorous (L00), HMS Seymour (1916), HMS Kempenfelt (1915); destroyers: HMS Romola (1916), HMS Sarpedon (1916), HMS Tancred (1917), HMS Tenacious (1917), HMS Tormentor (1917), HMS Vancouver (1917), HMS Vanessa (D29), HMS Vanity (D28), HMS Versatile (D32), HMS Viscount (1917), HMS Vittoria (1917), HMS Vivacious (D36), HMS Vortigern (1917), HMAS Voyager (D31), HMS Walker (D27), HMS Walrus (1917), HMS Watchman (D26)
 * 12th DF leaders: HMS Valhalla (1917), HMS Saumarez (1916); destroyers: HMS Scimitar (1918), HMS Scotsman (1918), HMS Scout (1918), HMS Scythe (1918), HMS Seabear (1918), HMS Sepoy (1918), HMS Simoom (1916), HMS Sirdar (1918), HMS Speedy (1918), HMS Tomahawk (1918), HMS Torch (1918), HMS Trinidad (1918), HMS Tryphon (1918), HMS Vivien (1918), HMAS Waterhen (D22), HMS Winchester (L55), HMS Wolsey (1918), HMS Wrestler (D35)
 * 13th DF light cruiser: HMS Champion (1915), leaders: HMS Valentine (1917), HMS Valkyrie (1917); destroyers: HMS Vimiera (1917), HMS Vega (1917), HMS Vectis (D51), HMS Violent (1917); HMAS Vendetta (D69), HMS Verulam (1917), HMS Wakeful (H88), HMS Westminster (L40); HMS Verdun (1917), HMS Viceroy (1917), HMS Vesper (D55), HMS Venetia (1917); HMS Wolfhound (L56), HMS Ursa (1917), HMS Ursula (1917), HMS Urchin (1917); HMS Umpire (1917), HMS Ulster (1917), HMS Tower (1917), HMS Tristram (1917); HMS Vidette (D48), HMS Winchelsea (D46), HMS Westcott (D47); HMS Windsor (D42), HMS Whitley (L23), HMS Woolston (1918), HMS Walpole (D41), HMS Wessex (D43)
 * 14th DF leaders: HMS Vampire (D68), HMAS Anzac (1917); destroyers: HMS Medina (1916), HMS Norman (1916), HMS Octavia (1916), HMS Opportune (1915), HMS Orford (1916), HMS Paladin (1916), HMS Patriot (1916), HMS Pellew (1916), HMS Penn (1916), HMS Peregrine (1916), HMS Peyton (1916), HMS Plover (1916), HMS Plucky (1916), HMS Pylades (1916), HMS Relentless (1916), HMS Sabre (1918), HMS Seafire (1918), HMS Seraph (1918), HMS Somme (1918),  HMS Sparrowhawk (1918), HMS Splendid (1918), HMS Tactician (1918), HMS Tobago (1918), HMS Tyrant (1917), HMS Velox (1917), HMS Warwick (D25), HMS Whirlwind (D30); due to transfer to 1st DF but temporarily retained by 14th DF: HMS Nonpareil (1916), HMS Observer (1916), HMS Offa (1916), HMS Orestes (1916)
 * 15th DF leaders: HMS Parker (1916), HMS Grenville (1916); destroyers: HMS Patrician (1916), HMS Radstock (1916), HMS Raider (1916), HMS Rapid (1916), HMS Ready (1916), HMS Restless (1916), HMS Rigorous (1916), HMS Rob Roy (1916), HMS Rocket (1916), HMS Rosalind (1916), HMS Rowena (1916), HMS Sable (1916), HMS Sabrina (1916), HMS Salmon (1916), HMS Sorceress (1916), HMS Tirade, HMS Trenchant (1916), HMS Undine (1917); temporarily attached from 2nd DF (Buncrana): HMS Marne (1915), HMS Medway (1916), HMS Michael (1915), HMS Mystic (1915), HMS Nicator (1916), HMS Pelican (1916)
 * 21st DF (transferring from 6th DF, Dover) leaders: HMS Botha, HMS Douglas (D90), HMS Swift (1907); destroyers: HMS Mansfield (1914), HMS Melpomene (1915), HMS Milne (1914), HMS Miranda (1914), HMS Moorsom (1914), HMS Murray (1914), HMS Nugent, HMS Phoebe (1916)
 * Harwich Force
 * 5th LCS (RAdm Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt) light cruisers: HMS Curacoa (D41) (F), HMS Coventry (D43), HMS Curlew (D42), HMS Concord (1916), HMS Centaur (1916), HMS Conquest (1915), HMS Danae (D44), HMS Dragon (D46)
 * 10th DF leaders: HMS Spenser (1917), HMS Shakespeare (1917), HMS Bruce (D81), HMS Montrose (D01); destroyers: HMS Radiant (1916), HMS Redgauntlet (1916), HMS Redoubt (1916), HMS Retriever (1917), HMS Satyr (1916), HMS Sceptre (1917), HMS Sharpshooter (1917), HMS Skate (1917), HMS Skilful (1917), HMS Springbok, HMS Starfish (1916), HMS Stork (1916), HMS Sturgeon (1917), HMS Swallow (1918), HMS Sybille (1917), HMS Sylph (1916), HMS Taurus (1917), HMS Teazer (1917), HMS Tempest (1917), HMS Tetrarch (1917), HMS Thisbe (1917), HMS Thruster (1917), HMS Torrid (1917), HMS Truculent (1916)
 * Dover Force
 * 6th DF (Dover) leader: HMS Broke (1914); modern destroyers: HMS Manly (1914), HMS Mastiff (1914), HMS Meteor (1914), HMS Morris (1914), HMS Termagant (1915), HMS Trident (1915), HMS Afridi (1907), HMS Amazon (1908), HMS Cossack (1907), HMS Crusader (1909), HMS Viking (1909), HMS Zubian
 * Minelaying destroyers
 * 20th DF (Immingham) leaders: HMS Abdiel (1915), HMS Gabriel (1915), destroyers: HMS Tarpon (1917), HMS Telemachus (1917), HMS Vanoc (1917), HMS Vanquisher (D54), HMS Venturous (1917), HMS Ferret (1911), HMS Legion (1914), HMS Prince (1916), HMS Sandfly (1911)
 * Submarines operating with the Battle Fleet
 * 12th S/MF: light cruiser: HMS Fearless (1912); submarines: HMS K2, HMS K3, HMS K5, HMS K6, HMS K7, HMS K8, HMS K15
 * 13th S/MF: leader: HMS Ithuriel (1916); HMS K9, HMS K10, HMS K11, HMS K12, HMS K14, HMS K16, HMS K22
 * North Sea patrols
 * 8th S/MF (Yarmouth) submarines: HMS H21, HMS H28, HMS H29, HMS H30, HMS V1, HMS V2
 * 9th S/MF (Harwich) submarines: HMS E29, HMS E31, HMS E41, HMS E43, HMS E45, HMS E51, HMS E52, HMS E53, HMS E56, HMS L9, HMS L15, HMS L14, HMS L17, HMS C23, HMS C25
 * 10th S/MF (Tees) submarines: HMS E27, HMS E33, HMS E39, HMS E40, HMS E42, HMS E44, HMS G6, HMS G12, HMS G13, HMS L11, HMS L12, HMS L16
 * 11th S/MF (Blyth) submarines: HMS G1, HMS G2, HMS G3, HMS G4, HMS G5, HMS G10, HMS J2, HMS J3, HMS J4, HMS J5, HMS J6, HMS J7
 * 14th S/MF (Blyth) submarines: HMS H8, HMS H11, HMS H12, HMS H14, HMS H15, HMS H22, HMS H23, HMS H24, HMS H25, HMS H26, HMS L8, HMS R1, HMS R2, HMS R9, HMS R12

Abbreviations

 * Adm: Admiral
 * BCS: Battle Cruiser Squadron
 * BS: Battle Squadron (German: Geschwader)
 * Cdre: Commodore (German: Kommodore)
 * CS: Cruiser Squadron
 * DF: Destroyer Flotilla
 * F: Flagship
 * FKpt: Fregattenkapitän (frigate captain)
 * hf: half-flotilla (German: halbflottille)
 * LCS: Light Cruiser Squadron
 * RAdm: Rear Admiral (German: Konteradmiral)
 * (RAN): Denotes a ship of the Royal Australian Navy
 * S/MF: Submarine Flotilla
 * SG: Scouting Group (German: Aufklärungsgruppe)
 * TBF: Torpedo-Boat Flotilla (German: Torpedoboot Flottille)
 * (USN): Denotes a ship of the United States Navy
 * VAdm: Vice Admiral (German: Vizeadmiral)