Annual Manoeuvres of 1914

The Royal Navy's Annual Manoeuvres of 1914 were cancelled on 20th February 1914 and replaced by a Test Mobilisation of the Reserve Fleet. This decision was to prove fortuitous as the international tensions of the summer made war with Germany seem increasingly possible, and finally inevitable.

Though some preparations began on 13 July, the schedule for this exercise was planned to be as follows:

Wednesday 15th July	Reserve called up
16th and 17th July	Mobilise
Saturday 18th July	Proceed to rendezvous
19th to 23rd July	At rendezvous and tactical exercises at sea
Friday 24th July	Arrive Home Ports
Saturday 25th July, 9am	Discharge reserves

On July 23, Austria presented its ultimatum to Serbia following the assassination of the Archduke at Sarajevo. As a result the British government, at the last minute, cancelled the dispersal of the reserve fleet. The First Fleet was ordered to remain at Portland, and those reserve ships which had begun to disperse were ordered to retain their full crews and take on coal, stores and ammunition. These changes were achieved as quietly as possible, to avoid enflaming an already very tense political situation. As a result, the Royal Navy was more ready for the start of the Great War than it might otherwise have been.

An indication of the care taken to ensure that the maintenance of the Fleet remained secret is given in these orders quoted by Winston Churchill:

"To-morrow, Wednesday (July 29), the First Fleet is to leave Portland for Scapa Flow. Destination is to be kept secret except to flag and commanding officers. As you are required at the Admiralty, Vice-Admiral 2nd Battle Squadron (Warrender) is to take command. Course from Portland is to be shaped to southward, then a middle Channel course to the Straits of Dover. The Squadrons are to pass through the Straits without lights during the night and to pass outside the shoals on their way north. Agamemnon is to remain at Portland, where the Second fleet will assemble."

Order of Battle

The ships of the reserve formed the Second and Third Fleets as follows under fleet flagship Lord Nelson:

Bibliography

• M11959/14 From Admiralty to C-in-C, Home Fleets, dated 20th February 1914. Backhouse Papers, Naval Historical Branch, Portsmouth, UK.
• Vice-Admiral Cecil Burney. Second and Third Fleets Serial Orders, 11 June 1914, Backhouse Papers, Naval Historical Branch, Portsmouth, UK
• Churchill, Winston."The World Crisis.", London: Macmillan, 1923
• Corbett, J S. Naval Operations: History of the Great War based on Official Documents, Uckfield: Imperial War Museum and Naval & Military Press, 2009 [1938],