Scouting Fleet

The Scouting Fleet was part of the United States Fleet in the United States Navy, and renamed the Scouting Force in 1930.

Established in 1922, the fleet consisted mainly of older battleships and initially operated in the Atlantic. Returning from European waters on 21 October 1922, USS Utah became the flagship of BatDiv 6, Scouting Fleet, and operated with the Scouting Fleet over the next 3½ years.

In 1931, it was redesignated as the "Scouting Force." At this time, it consisted of the remaining cruisers and destroyers that were not with the Battle Force and a "Training Squadron" of three old battleships and eight destroyers. This force operated exclusively in the Atlantic and Caribbean Sea.^[1]

In 1932, the force was moved to the Pacific. In 1940 it survived the division of the Fleet into the U.S. Pacific Fleet and the Atlantic Fleet, and served in the early part of World War II as an umbrella command for task forces.

Commanders

• John D. McDonald (1922–1923)
• Newton A. McCully (1923–1924)
• Josiah S. McKean (1924–?)
• Montgomery M. Taylor (1926-1927)
• Ashley H. Robertson (1927–July 1928)^[2]
• Montgomery M. Taylor (1928-1929)
• Arthur L. Willard (1930-1932)
• Adolphus Andrews (circa 1939)

References

1. Morison, 28.
2. "Taylor Commands Scouting Fleet." The Hartford Courant. July 13, 1928, p. 6.

Bibliography

• Morison, Samuel Eliot (1948). Volume III, The Rising Sun in the Pacific. Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown and Company.