Grand Fleet returns to Scapa Flow

The British chronicle of the events of the war recorded under 3 November 1914 the order for the Grand Fleet to return to Scapa Flow in the Orkneys. For two weeks the fleet’s main forces had been stationed in Lough Swilly in the north of Ireland and in Loch na Keal on the island of Mull, where Admiral John Jellicoe had moved them for fear of U-boats.

Jellicoe spent 2 November at a conference at the Admiralty with the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, and the new First Sea Lord, John Fisher. Among other things they discussed the defence of the fleet’s bases and the number of trawlers needed to patrol the waters around the Orkneys and Shetlands. When he returned to Lough Swilly at noon on 3 November, he found the fleet under an Admiralty order to sail at once for Scapa Flow. The order was most probably issued in response to news of the German raid on Yarmouth. After Jellicoe’s arrival it was cancelled, and the decision on the fleet’s movements was left to him.

That same afternoon Jellicoe put to sea with three battle squadrons. The next day the ships carried out gunnery practice off the coast of County Galway, and then cruised between the Hebrides, the Faroe Islands and the Shetlands. The anchorage in Loch na Keal was given up. On 7 November the 1st Battle Squadron entered Scapa Flow to coal, the 2nd Battle Squadron a day later, and on 9 November the flagship Iron Duke with the 4th Battle Squadron.

The return to Scapa Flow did not mean that the base had become safe. Jellicoe noted with disappointment that work on permanent anti-submarine booms had hardly progressed for lack of materials. Before the fleet arrived, the crews therefore prepared makeshift nets of rope intended to detect submarines. They were stretched across the Hoxa, Switha and Hoy entrances, and each section was guarded by armed trawlers. The fears were not exaggerated. On 23 November the German U-18 tried to break into Scapa Flow, but was detected and lost.