4th Battle Squadron


The 4th Battle Squadron was a squadron of the British Royal Navy consisting of battleships. The 4th Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet and then the Grand Fleet after the outbreak of the First World War. The squadron changed composition often as ships were damaged, retired or transferred.

August 1914

On 5 August 1914, the squadron was constituted as follows:
By January 1915, the composition had changed slightly:
As an element in the Grand Fleet, the squadron participated in the Battle of Jutland. During the battle, the composition of the 4th Battle Squadron was as follows:
Following the Battle of Jutland, the 4th Battle Squadron was reorganized, with Colossus, Hercules, St. Vincent, Collingwood and Neptune all transferred from the 1st Battle Squadron. In January 1917, the squadron was constituted as follows:
After the loss of HMS Vanguard in July 1917, HMS Superb and HMS Temeraire were detached to the Mediterranean in 1918. HMS Dreadnought rejoined the squadron as flagship in March 1918.

Postwar

The squadron was dispersed in February 1919, appears to have been formally dissolved in March 1919, but then reformed.
In September 1920 Rear Admiral Richard Webb was posted to the Mediterranean as Rear-Admiral 4th Battle Squadron and Second-in-Command, Mediterranean Fleet. He served there until 1922.

Admirals commanding

Post holders as follows:

Rear-Admirals, Second-in-Command

Post holders as follows: