Grand Fleet Grand Fleet The Grand Fleet was the main fleet of the Royal Navy during the First World War. Formed in August 1914 from the First Fleet and elements of the Second Fleet of the Home Fleets, the Grand Fleet included 25–35 state-of-the-art capital ships. It was initially commanded by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. He was succeeded by Admiral Sir David Beatty in December 1916. The Grand Fleet was based first at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands and later at Rosyth on the Firth of Forth. It took part in the biggest fleet action of the war – the Battle
Naval warfare in the Mediterranean during World War I Naval warfare in the Mediterranean during World War I There was sporadic naval warfare in the Mediterranean during World War I between the Central Powers' navies of Austria-Hungary, Germany and the Ottoman Empire and the Allied navies of Italy, France, Greece, Japan, America and the British Empire. Austria-Hungary was a medium-sized naval power in 1914. It had a coastline from Trieste (in present-day Italy) to below Cattaro in Montenegro. The Austro-Hungarian Navy had nine pre-dreadnought and four dreadnought s and a number of submarines. In addition, the Germans managed to send some U-boats to the Mediterranean which operated from Austrian