Admiral Commanding, Orkneys and Shetlands Admiral Commanding, Orkneys and Shetlands The Admiral Commanding, Orkneys and Shetlands was an operational commander of the Royal Navy. His subordinate units, establishments, and staff were sometimes informally known as the Orkneys and Shetlands Command; they were charged with the administration of the Orkney and Shetland Islands and operating and defending the fleet base at Scapa Flow that was the main anchorage for both the Home Fleet and Grand Fleet at various times. The Orkney and Shetland command was usually only formed at the outbreak of war to provide for the defence and administration of the main base for the
United States Battleship Division Nine (World War I) squadron augmented the strength of the Grand Fleet to the point where any confrontation attempted by the Germans would likely have been futile. Admiral Beatty put it best in his farewell speech to the American sailors, on 1 December: United States Battleship Division Nine (World War I) United States Battleship Division Nine was a division of four, later five, dreadnought battleships of the United States Navy's Atlantic Fleet that constituted the American contribution to the British Grand Fleet during World War I. Although the U.S. entered the war on 6 April 1917, hesitation among senior officers of the U.S. Navy