Sixth Destroyer Flotilla (Royal Navy)

The Sixth Destroyer Flotilla was a formation of destroyers of the Royal Navy. The flotilla changed composition often as ships were damaged, retired or transferred.

On 1 November, 1911, the flotilla had eight 30-knotters and four 27-knotters at the Nore, two 30 knotters and four 27-knotters at Portsmouth, and four 27-knotters at Devonport.

Captains (D)

Dates of appointment.

• Captain Charles D. Johnson, 29 August, 1913
• Captain Charles A. Fremantle, 1 January, 1921
• Captain Sir Andrew B. Cunningham, 2 May, 1922 – 19 December, 1922

History

In November 1912, four destroyers were to be given Destroyer W/T Sets, part of an initiative to equip 26 destroyers in three patrol flotillas.

At outbreak of war, the Patrol Flotilla was operating out of Portsmouth, with eleven "Tribals" (all but Nubian, acting as a tender at Excellent), three "B"s and nine "C"s under leaders Adventure and Active. Upon taking up war station at Dover, Nubian rejoined the flotilla.

In 1916, it was comprised of a mish-mash of types. Assorted old torpedo boats ran seventeen 18-in cold torpedoes that year that were 94% likely to endanger the enemy, while some P-boats' six 14-in runnings that year resulted in shots that were 83% likely to be dangerous to the enemy. The backbone, however, was comprised of River and Tribal class destroyers, whose ten 18-in Mark VII test-fired torpedoes were 70% likely to be dangerous to the enemy.

July, 1914

In July 1914, one source claims twelve "Tribal" class destroyers joined twelve 30 knotters at Dover to comprise the flotilla, but a more detailed primary source seems to indicate one fewer destroyer (Nubian is absent) led by three scout cruisers, with Attentive seeming to be the one acting as tender to the T.B.Ds..

A nearly identical list of ships participating in the Test Mobilisation differs only in that it has Sentinel rather than Foresight, and notes that Firedrake, Lurcher and Nubian were to join on Mobilisation.

Amazon, Crusader, Maori and Viking were undergoing refit in Chatham Royal Dockyard until 8 July, 1914.

September, 1914

The flotilla is one of four patrol flotillas in Home and Atlantic Waters, with no attached depot ship. A mix of twenty-four Tribals and 30 knotters make up the core.

October, 1914

The destroyer roster remains unchanged, but submarine Sentinel has been transferred to the Eighth Destroyer Flotilla.

This roster lasted until November or December only.

December, 1914

The destroyer roster remains unchanged, but third class protected cruiser Sapphire has left, next to appear in Fifth Destroyer Flotilla in January, 1915.

This roster lasted until February or March, 1915.

March, 1915

The destroyer roster has been augmented by River Class destroyers Exe, Teviot and Ure as well as torpedo boats T.B. 4, T.B. 13, T.B. 15 and T.B. 24.

April, 1915

The destroyer roster has lost destroyers Exe and Teviot to the Portland Local Defence Flotilla.

This roster would last through May, 1915.

June, 1915

The flotilla is now part of the Dover Patrol. The destroyer roster has lost Maori to a mine on 7 May, and cruisers Foresight and Adventure to the Sixth Light Cruiser Squadron.

July, 1915

The flotilla now enjoys the support of the Menelaus, acting as a kit balloon ship.

August, 1915

The destroyer roster has lost Mohawk to repair mine damage sustained off Dover on June 1st. She was apparently not to return to service until August, 1916.

This roster was to remain in force until November, 1915.

November, 1915

The destroyer roster has dropped Zulu, though she was to return the next month. seaplane carrier Riviera has also joined. 95}}

December, 1915

Attentive is now flying the broad pendant of Commodore Charles Duncan Johnson, who took up duty in November, Zulu has returned to service after her one month hiatus and two gunboats have joined.

Part of the Dover Patrol
Flotilla Cruiser, flying broad pendant
Attentive
Destroyers
Afridi	Amazon	Cossack	Crane	Crusader	Falcon	Fawn
Flirt	Ghurka	Gipsy	Greyhound	Kangaroo	Leven	Mermaid
Myrmidon	Nubian	Racehorse	Saracen	Syren	Tartar	Ure
		Viking		Zulu
Torpedo Boats
	T.B. 4	T.B. 13	T.B. 15	T.B. 24
Kite Balloon Ship
Menelaus
Seaplane Carrier
Riviera
Gunboats
		Bustard		Excellent

January, 1916

Two more patrol boats have joined.

Part of the Dover Patrol
Flotilla Cruiser, flying broad pendant
Attentive
Flotilla Leader
Swift
Destroyers
Afridi	Amazon	Cossack	Crane	Crusader	Falcon	Fawn
Flirt	Ghurka	Gipsy	Greyhound	Leven	Mermaid
Myrmidon	Nubian	Racehorse	Saracen	Syren	Tartar	Ure
		Viking		Zulu
Torpedo and Patrol Boats
T.B. 4	T.B. 15	T.B. 24	P11	P17	P24
Kite Balloon Ship
Menelaus
Seaplane Carrier
Riviera
Gunboats
		Bustard		Excellent

This roster would last until March, 1915.

March, 1916

A fourth patrol boat has joined.

Part of the Dover Patrol
Flotilla Cruiser, flying broad pendant
Attentive
Flotilla Leader
Swift
Destroyers
Afridi	Amazon	Cossack	Crane	Crusader	Falcon	Fawn
Flirt	Ghurka	Gipsy	Greyhound	Leven	Mermaid
Myrmidon	Nubian	Racehorse	Saracen	Syren	Tartar	Ure
		Viking		Zulu
Torpedo and Patrol Boats
T.B. 4	T.B. 15	T.B. 24	P11	P12	P17	P24
Kite Balloon Ship
Menelaus
Seaplane Carrier
Riviera
Gunboats
		Bustard		Excellent

April, 1916

Menelaus has left, to be attached to the Grand Fleet in May and been replaced by the former fleet messenger ship, City of Oxford.

Part of the Dover Patrol
Flotilla Cruiser, flying broad pendant
Attentive
Flotilla Leader
Swift
Destroyers
Afridi	Amazon	Cossack	Crane	Crusader	Falcon	Fawn
Flirt	Ghurka	Gipsy	Greyhound	Leven	Mermaid
Myrmidon	Nubian	Racehorse	Saracen	Syren	Tartar	Ure
		Viking		Zulu
Torpedo and Patrol Boats
T.B. 4	T.B. 15	T.B. 24	P11	P12	P17	P24
Kite Balloon Ship
City of Oxford
Seaplane Carrier
Riviera
Gunboats
		Bustard		Excellent

May, 1916

Cossack, Greyhound, Saracen, Tartar, Viking have been detached for unknown purposes, though they would all eventually reattach. Kangaroo has returned.

Part of the Dover Patrol
Flotilla Cruiser, flying broad pendant
Attentive
Flotilla Leader
Swift
Destroyers
Afridi	Amazon	Crane	Crusader	Falcon	Fawn	Flirt
Ghurka	Gipsy	Kangaroo	Leven	Mermaid	Myrmidon	Nubian
	Racehorse	Syren	Ure	Zulu
Torpedo and Patrol Boats
T.B. 4	T.B. 15	T.B. 24	P11	P12	P17	P24
Kite Balloon Ship
City of Oxford
Seaplane Carrier
Riviera
Gunboats
		Bustard		Excellent

June, 1916

Cossack, Greyhound and Tartar have reattached after a one month hiatus.

Part of the Dover Patrol
Flotilla Cruiser, flying broad pendant
Attentive
Flotilla Leader
Swift
Destroyers
Afridi	Amazon	Cossack	Crane	Crusader	Falcon	Fawn
Flirt	Ghurka	Gipsy	Greyhound	Kangaroo	Leven	Mermaid
Myrmidon	Nubian	Racehorse	Syren	Tartar	Ure	Zulu
Torpedo and Patrol Boats
T.B. 4	T.B. 15	T.B. 24	P11	P12	P17	P24
Kite Balloon Ship
City of Oxford
Seaplane Carrier
Riviera
Gunboats
		Bustard		Excellent

July, 1916

Swift has been removed, to reappear in October. Falcon and P17 have been temporarily detached (they will rejoin in the coming month), and four more patrol boats have joined.

Part of the Dover Patrol
Flotilla Cruiser, flying broad pendant
Attentive
Destroyers
Afridi	Amazon	Cossack	Crane	Crusader	Fawn
Flirt	Ghurka	Gipsy	Greyhound	Kangaroo	Leven	Mermaid
Myrmidon	Nubian	Racehorse	Syren	Tartar	Ure	Zulu
Torpedo Boats
		T.B. 4	T.B. 15	T.B. 24
Patrol Boats
P11	P12	P19	P21	P23	P24	P34
Seaplane Carrier
Riviera
Gunboats
		Bustard		Excellent

August, 1916

City of Oxford has been removed, and Falcon and T.B. 17 have returned from their one month hiatus, as has Saracen, which had detached in May and Mohawk which left a considerable time ago.

Part of the Dover Patrol
Flotilla Cruiser, flying broad pendant
Attentive
Destroyers
Afridi	Amazon	Cossack	Crane	Crusader	Falcon	Fawn
Flirt	Ghurka	Gipsy	Greyhound	Kangaroo	Leven	Mermaid
Mohawk	Myrmidon	Nubian	Racehorse	Saracen	Syren	Tartar
		Ure		Zulu
Torpedo Boats
		T.B. 4	T.B. 15	T.B. 24
Patrol Boats
P11	P12	P17	P19	P21	P23	P24
P34
Seaplane Carrier
Riviera
Gunboats
		Bustard		Excellent

September, 1916

Falcon and Fawn have been removed.

Part of the Dover Patrol
Flotilla Cruiser, flying broad pendant
Attentive
Destroyers
Afridi	Amazon	Cossack	Crane	Crusader	Flirt	Ghurka
Gipsy	Greyhound	Kangaroo	Leven	Mermaid	Mohawk	Myrmidon
Nubian	Racehorse	Saracen	Syren	Tartar	Ure	Zulu
Torpedo Boats
		T.B. 4	T.B. 15	T.B. 24
Patrol Boats
P11	P12	P17	P19	P21	P23	P24
P34
Seaplane Carrier
Riviera
Gunboats
		Bustard		Excellent

October, 1916

Swift, Falcon, Fawn and Viking have returned, and it was noted that the two gunboats were "to pay off".

Part of the Dover Patrol
Flotilla Cruiser, flying broad pendant
Attentive
Flotilla Leader
Swift
Destroyers
Afridi	Amazon	Cossack	Crane	Crusader	Falcon	Fawn
Flirt	Ghurka	Gipsy	Greyhound	Kangaroo	Leven	Mermaid
Mohawk	Myrmidon	Nubian	Racehorse	Saracen	Syren	Tartar
	Ure	Viking	Zulu
Torpedo Boats
		T.B. 4	T.B. 15	T.B. 24
Patrol Boats
P11	P12	P17	P19	P21	P23	P24
P34
Seaplane Carrier
Riviera
Gunboats
		Bustard*		Excellent*

November, 1916

The gunboats are now gone. Flirt was torpedoed and lost on 27 October.Lapwing and Phoenix, recently of the First Destroyer Flotilla have joined.

Part of the Dover Patrol
Flotilla Cruiser, flying broad pendant
Attentive
Flotilla Leader
Swift
Destroyers
Afridi	Amazon	Cossack	Crane	Crusader	Falcon	Fawn
Ghurka	Gipsy	Greyhound	Kangaroo	Lapwing	Leven	Mermaid
Mohawk	Myrmidon	Nubian	Phoenix	Racehorse	Saracen	Syren
	Tartar	Ure	Viking	Zulu
Torpedo Boats
		T.B. 4	T.B. 15	T.B. 24
Patrol Boats
P11	P12	P17	P19	P21	P23	P24
P34
Seaplane Carrier
Riviera

December, 1916

flotilla leader Broke has joined from the Eleventh Destroyer Flotilla as a second flotilla leader, and Acasta class destroyers Ambuscade, Paragon, Porpoise, Unity and Victor have joined from the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla.

Offsetting these additions, Ure has been removed, to appear in an escort flotilla operating out of Portsmouth in January. Nubian has been removed, following her torpedo damage on 27 October. P12, P19 and P34 have been removed to the Portsmouth local defence flotilla.

Part of the Dover Patrol
Flotilla Cruiser, flying broad pendant
Attentive
Flotilla Leaders
		Swift		Broke
Destroyers
Afridi	Amazon	Ambuscade	Cossack	Crane	Crusader	Falcon
Fawn	Ghurka	Gipsy	Greyhound	Kangaroo	Lapwing	Leven
Mermaid	Mohawk	Myrmidon	Paragon	Phoenix	Porpoise	Racehorse
Saracen	Syren	Tartar	Unity	Victor	Viking	Zulu
Torpedo Boats
		T.B. 4	T.B. 15	T.B. 24
Patrol Boats
	P11	P17	P21	P23	P24
Seaplane Carrier
Riviera

January, 1917

The flotilla receives an influx of leaders. Active has "temporarily" joined, recently of the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla. Faulknor has joined from the Twelfth Destroyer Flotilla. Zulu has been removed in late reflection of her mining on 8 November; she was soon to be combined, in halves, with the Nubian to create a single replacement ship, Zubian.

March, 1917

Afridi Ghurka Greyhound have left temporarily, but would soon rejoin. Melpomene, Mentor, Meteor, and Morris have joined from the Tenth Destroyer Flotilla.

April, 1917

The flotilla gains tremendous strength with the arrival of Laertes, Landrail, Lark, Laverock, Linnet, Llewellyn, Lochinvar, Lucifer and Lydiard from the Ninth Destroyer Flotilla along with Mastiff, Mermaid, Moorsom and Myngs from the Tenth Destroyer Flotilla.

Recently detached Afridi and Greyhound have returned.

P50 has also joined.

Lapwing and Phoenix transferred out to Second Destroyer Flotilla.

Paragon and Myrmidon were removed, having been lost in a collision on 18 and 26 March, respectively. Ambuscade, Porpoise, Unity and Victor have left to join the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla.

May, 1917

Botha has joined as a fourth flotilla leader. T.B. 24 has been dropped, after a collision way back in January. Destroyer strength is now at 32. Lark and Linnet have left to join the First Destroyer Flotilla. {{UK-Crusader}, Llewellyn and Meteor have been dropped but would rejoin over the next two months. Tartar has been dropped, not to reappear until being attached in January to the Eleventh Submarine Flotilla. Matchless, Minos and Miranda recently of the Tenth Destroyer Flotilla have joined, as has the recently commissioned Nugent.

June, 1917

Destroyer strength has grown to 35. Crusader and Llewellyn have returned after a month off the roster. Lance, recently of the Ninth Destroyer Flotilla has joined, and Manly Mansfield Milne have joined from the Tenth Destroyer Flotilla. Landrail and Lydiard have left to join the escort flotilla at Portsmouth, and Laverock has left to join the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla.

July, 1917

T.B. 4 has been removed, and destroyer strength has been reduced to 34 by six departures and five arrivals.

Amazon has been removed from the roster for just this one month. Laertes, Lance and Lochinvar have transferred to the Fourth Destroyer Flotilla while Lucifer and Llewellyn have gone over to the First Destroyer Flotilla.

Meteor has returned from a short hiatus and Murray, North Star and Phoebe have come in from the Tenth Destroyer Flotilla. Lastly, the new Zubian, fashioned from the hulks of heavily damaged former flotilla members, has joined. P49 has joined.

August, 1917

Marksman has joined from the Twelfth Destroyer Flotilla.

Amazon has returned from her one month unexplained absence.

Cossack has disappeared, not to reappear until March 1918 in the First Destroyer Flotilla.^{[Fact Check]}

Riviera is not listed, but appears next month.

P23 has gone to the Nore Local Defence Flotilla.

The strength is two cruisers, five leaders, thirty-four destroyers, a T.B. and six patrol boats.

September, 1917

Kempenfelt has joined, recently from the Eleventh Destroyer Flotilla.

T.B. 4 has joined, and Riviera has reappeared.

The strength is two cruisers, six flotilla leaders, thirty-four destroyers, two T.B.s, six patrol boats and a seaplane carrier.

October, 1917

Flotilla leader Lightfoot has come from the Tenth Destroyer Flotilla and seventeen monitors and nine paddle mine sweepers have been attached.

The strength is two cruisers, seven flotilla leaders, thirty-four destroyers, two T.B.s, six patrol boats, seventeen monitors, nine paddle sweepers and a seaplane carrier.

November, 1917

Flotilla cruiser Active has detached temporarily to Queenstown, but is still administratively a member of the flotilla. Flotilla leader Lightfoot is now marked as being expected to join shortly.

Miranda has left to join the Second Destroyer Flotilla, and Mohawk has left to swap places with Termagant in the Tenth Submarine Flotilla. Trident has joined from the Eleventh Submarine Flotilla (or possibly the Thirteenth Submarine Flotilla. The monitors Roberts and Prince Rupert have left after just one month. Roberts has moved under the command of the Captain-in-Charge, Lowestoft, and Prince Rupert, perversely, to the Third Submarine Flotilla off the East Coast of England.

The strength is two cruisers, seven flotilla leaders, thirty-four destroyers, two T.B.s, six patrol boats, fifteen monitors, nine paddle sweepers and a seaplane carrier.

December, 1917

Flotilla cruiser Active has been removed, following her one month temporary detachment. She is now to be the temporary flagship of Queenstown's Southern Division of the Coast of Ireland Station. Flotilla leader Lightfoot is now fully a part of the flotilla. Miranda returned from her one month assignment to the Second Destroyer Flotilla, and Minos has been dispatched there in her place.

The strength is one cruiser, seven flotilla leaders, thirty-four destroyers, two T.B.s, six patrol boats, fifteen monitors, nine paddle sweepers and a seaplane carrier.

[TO BE CONTINUED - TONE]

July, 1918

Along with some monitors, the Flotilla was the heart of the Dover Patrol, tender to depot ship Arrogant, which also served as flagship. Those that were paid off are marked with an asterisk.

Bibliography

• Dittmar, F.J.; Colledge, J.J. (1972). British Warships 1914–1919. London: Ian Allan.
• March, Edgar J. (1966). British Destroyers: A History of Development, 1892-1953. London: Seeley Service & Co. Limited. (on Bookfinder.com).