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Time to read 6 min
Empire Cruise: The Special Service Squadron 1923-24 is an authoritative and illustrative study at the Cruise of the Special Service Squadron as it toured the British Empire.
A journey to the heart of the Royal Navy in the immediate aftermath of the First World War
Beautifully illustrated with many rare and unpublished photographs
A must-have for military and historians, enthusiasts, modellers, gamers, and those interested in the complexities of naval warfare during the Second World War
In November 1923, the Royal Navy dispatched what was named the Special Service Squadron on a ten-month tour around the British Empire.
Led by the battlecruiser HMS Hood – the pride of the Royal Navy and the largest ship in the world at the time – and comprising of the battlecruiser HMS Renown and the First Light Cruiser Squadron, the role of the Special Service Squadron was to ‘show the flag’ during a public relations exercise and strengthen ties across the Empire.
Much publicised, the Empire Cruise served as a subtle reminder that in the aftermath of the First World War, Britannia still ruled the waves.
Empire Cruise: The Special Service Squadron 1923-24 follows the situation faced by Great Britain and the Royal Navy in the years immediately after the Great War and details the origins of the cruise before charting the course of the expedition.
Contents
On 22 May 2021, the UK Carrier Strike Group set sail from Britain to ‘fly theflag for Global Britain’.
The largest and most powerful European-led maritime force in two decades (centred around the largest ship ever constructed for, and flagship of, the Royal Navy, the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth), the Carrier Strike Group embarked upon a twenty-eight-week deployment to project British influence and signalling power while engaging with allies and reaffirming Britain’s commitment to addressing security challenges around the globe.
During the course of the deployment, the Carrier Strike Group covered 29,920 miles, visited more than forty countries, and partook in more than seventy engagements including engagements and exercises to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Five Power Defence Arrangement.
Empire Cruise: The Special Service Squadron 1923-24 focuses on the cruise of the Special Service Squadron, which came to be known informally as the ‘Matelot’s world booze’. In this, a comprehensive overview of the events involving the squadron during the course of the cruise has sought to be portrayed and a fair description of the events aboard each of the vessels involved provided. It must be noted, however, that this has not been possible owing to the weightedness and availability of source material. Many of the contemporary accounts of the cruise of the Special Service Squadron focus on the battlecruisers, in particular HMS Hood.
The cruise of the Special Service Squadron occurred at a time when the historical value of the voices of the lower deck was not considered to be as great as those of senior officers.
During the interwar period, perceptions of the Royal Navy both at home andaboard were conditioned by four principal factors: international competition,technological change, operational overstretch, and economic constraints.
The end of the First World War saw the world’s major naval powers—Great Britain, the United States, and Japan—embark upon a new naval arms race, the likes of which had contributed to the so-called ‘War to End All Wars’. At the end of the war, Japan remained the dominant power in Asia, as she had been ever since the annihilation of the Russian Fleet at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905.
Japanese naval ambitions were based on the Eight-Eight Plan, which envisaged a fleet of eight modern battleships alongside eight modern battlecruisers in service at anyone time to help pursue and secure its future ambitions in the Pacific.
"The question arises of a suitable title for the combined squadron. Titles traditional in the Royal Navy for squadrons sent on detached service are ‘Particular Service Squadron’ or ‘Special Service Squadron’. Of these the latter is considered preferable."
The previous chapter has detailed how the ships that composed the Special Service Squadron were selected for inclusion in the cruise. It is the purpose of this chapter to briefly outline the history of each of the vessels which composed the squadron.
It is the purpose of this chapter to provide an overview of the admirals and captains of the vessels that formed the Special Service Squadron.
Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick Field
Rear Admiral Sir Hubert Brand
Captain John Im Thurn
Captain Henry Parker
Captain James Pipon
Captain Francis Austin
Captain Charles Round-Turner
Captain Bernard Fairbairn
Captain Alister Beal
Captain John Stevenson
"On the eve of your departure on the Empire Cruise, I wish you, the officers and ships’ companies of the Squadron, a happy, successful voyage and safe return. My thoughts and good wishes will always be with you."
On the morning of 27 November 1923, at Devonport and Portsmouth, the Hood and Repulse along with HMS Delhi, Dauntless, and Dunedin weighed anchor. Shortly before the ships set sail, the final preparations for the cruise were made when known troublemakers were landed. The five ships slipped out of harbour without ceremony, their departure stirring scarcely a ripple upon the calm surface of English life. Shortly before the Hood weighed anchor, Field had received amessage of farewell from King George V:
On the eve of your departure on the Empire Cruise, I wish you, the officers and ships’ companies of the Squadron, a happy, successful voyage and safe return. My thoughts and good wishes will always be with you.
Similar messages of encouragement and farewell were received from the board of the Admiralty, Admiral Sir John de Robeck, the commander-in-chief of the Royal Navy’s Atlantic Fleet, William Massey, the prime minister of New Zealand, and many others. While there was something of a muted atmosphere in Britain, forthose who crewed the ships that comprised the squadron, the departure of the ships, by and large for most, was the beginning of an unforgettable adventure, one which would be the zenith of the peacetime navy. Leading Stoker William Stone was one who described the prospect of the cruise and the adventure that lay ahead as ‘wonderful’. Arthur Russell of HMS Repulse recorded his feelings at being part of the cruise in his diary following an announcement made by CaptainParker: ‘[H]e tells us that H.M. the King is very interested in this cruise (so am I)’
→ Hardback with dust jacket
→ 248 x 172 mm
→ 320 pages on matt coated paper
→ 410 black-and-white photographs
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DANIEL KNOWLES
DANIEL KNOWLES graduated from the University of Northumbria with an honours degree in history and politics and is part of a new generation of historians. His previous works have been the critically acclaimed Tirpitz: The Life and Death of Germany’s Last Great Battleship (2018), HMS Hood: Pride of the Royal Navy (2019), The Battle of the Denmark Strait (2020) and Yamato: Flagship of the Imperial Japanese Navy (2021). Empire Cruise: The Special Service Squadron 1923-24 is his eight book for Fonthill Media. He resides in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Comments
What a fantastic read this looks to be. I’m definitely ordering the book. I like that there is more information contents and images, of what’s in the book., MR
