Sturdee sailed as a squadron but gathered a task force

Was Sturdee's force at the Battle of the Falkland Islands a task force or a squadron?

He sailed south as a battlecruiser squadron commander, but the additional local ships gathered under his senior command would now make the enlarged formation look like a task force.

The period's formal description was a squadron: Doveton Sturdee took his battlecruisers south as an established unit. His seniority then allowed other ships and local commands to gather around that squadron. In modern language, the enlarged mixed formation would be readily described as a task force. The historical label remained a squadron because Sturdee's rank and original command supplied the administrative identity. Operational function and official terminology do not always align.