Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Chapter · 11:03-14:21

HMS Active as a Grand Fleet flotilla leader

HMS Active moved from battle-squadron duty to destroyer-flotilla leadership and early anti-submarine patrols around Scarborough and the Hebrides.

2nd Destroyer FlotillaActive Class Scout CruisersAnti-Submarine WarfareDestroyer Flotilla LeadersGrand FleetHMS ActiveRoyal NavyWorld War I
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Notes

After joining the Fourth Battle Squadron, Active became leader of the Second Destroyer Flotilla shortly before the First World War. Her flotilla screened the Grand Fleet and conducted what crews then understood as anti-submarine patrols around Scarborough. Reports in October 1914 sent Active and several destroyers to search the Minch between mainland Scotland and the Outer Hebrides. The waterway's difficult tides, currents, rocks, and Atlantic weather made it an unlikely place for a submarine to remain for long. Early wartime submarine alarms could still send surface forces into demanding waters even when no target was found.