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Flotilla

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A Spanish flotilla being engaged by the Royal Navy in the action of 5 October 1804
A Spanish flotilla being engaged by the Royal Navy in the action of 5 October 1804

A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small flota (fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet.

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Spanish language

Spanish language

Spanish is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula. Today, it is a global language with about 486 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain. Spanish is the official language of 20 countries. It is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese; the world's fourth-most spoken language overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu); and the world's most widely spoken Romance language. The largest population of native speakers is in Mexico.

Naval fleet

Naval fleet

A fleet or naval fleet is a large formation of warships – the largest formation in any navy – controlled by one leader. A fleet at sea is the direct equivalent of an army on land.

Tactical formation

Tactical formation

A tactical formation is the arrangement or deployment of moving military forces such as infantry, cavalry, AFVs, military aircraft, or naval vessels. Formations were found in tribal societies such as the pua rere of the Māori, and ancient or medieval formations which include shield walls, phalanxes, testudo formation and skirmishers. Tactical formations include:Flight Formations Box Coil: Similar to the Herringbone formation, the coil formation allows for 360 degree security while at the halt. This type of formation is also used when refueling aircraft as well as during resupply. Sometimes platoon leaders also use it when briefing to platoon sergeants. Air guards and dismounted fire teams are also in position while this formation is being used. Column Echelon Herringbone Line Skirmish Square Staggered column V formation Vanguard Wedge and inverted wedge File: The file formation is used in elements of up to a platoon size. A file formation is used for close terrain, often in dense vegetation or when there is low visibility. The file formation is easiest to control, and provides fire to the ranks should an ambush from the side occur. Diamond: Similar to the Wedge and inverted wedge, the diamond formation allows for the fourth section to follow the lead element. The advantages to this formation include having the ability to control elements even in a tight terrain, and allows for quick maneuverability to assign squads as the assaulting element, and assign certain squads to support-by-fire.

Warship

Warship

A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are typically faster and more maneuverable than merchant ships. Unlike a merchant ship, which carries cargo, a warship typically carries only weapons, ammunition and supplies for its crew. Warships usually belong to a navy, though they have also been operated by individuals, cooperatives and corporations.

Composition

A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class of warship, such as frigates, destroyers, torpedo boats, submarines, gunboats, or minesweepers. Groups of larger warships are usually called squadrons, but similar units of non-capital ships may be called squadrons in some instances, and flotillas in others. Formations including more than one capital ship, e.g. men-of-war, battleships, and aircraft carriers, typically alongside smaller ships and support craft, are typically called fleets, each portion led by a capital ship being a squadron or task force (see reference below).

A flotilla is usually commanded by a rear admiral, a commodore or a captain, depending on the importance of the command (a vice admiral would normally command a squadron). A flotilla is often divided into two or more divisions, each of which might be commanded by the most senior commander, nearly always a lieutenant at the very least. A flotilla is often, but not necessarily, a permanent formation.

In modern navies, flotillas have tended to become administrative units containing several squadrons.[1] As warships have grown larger, the term squadron has gradually replaced the term flotilla for formations of destroyers, frigates and submarines in many navies.

A naval flotilla has no direct equivalent on land, but is, perhaps, the rough equivalent in tactical value of a brigade or regiment.

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Ship class

Ship class

A ship class is a group of ships of a similar design. This is distinct from a ship type, which might reflect a similarity of tonnage or intended use. For example, USS Carl Vinson is a nuclear aircraft carrier of the Nimitz class.

Capital ship

Capital ship

The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they are generally the larger ships when compared to other warships in their respective fleet. A capital ship is generally a leading or a primary ship in a naval fleet.

Man-of-war

Man-of-war

In Royal Navy jargon, a man-of-war was a powerful warship or frigate of the 16th to the 19th century. Although the term never acquired a specific meaning, it was usually reserved for a ship armed with cannon and propelled primarily by sails, as opposed to a galley which is propelled primarily by oars.

Battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Aircraft carrier

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a naval force to project air power worldwide without depending on local bases for staging aircraft operations. Carriers have evolved since their inception in the early twentieth century from wooden vessels used to deploy balloons to nuclear-powered warships that carry numerous fighters, strike aircraft, helicopters, and other types of aircraft. While heavier aircraft such as fixed-wing gunships and bombers have been launched from aircraft carriers, these aircraft have not landed on a carrier. By its diplomatic and tactical power, its mobility, its autonomy and the variety of its means, the aircraft carrier is often the centerpiece of modern combat fleets. Tactically or even strategically, it replaced the battleship in the role of flagship of a fleet. One of its great advantages is that, by sailing in international waters, it does not interfere with any territorial sovereignty and thus obviates the need for overflight authorizations from third-party countries, reduces the times and transit distances of aircraft and therefore significantly increase the time of availability on the combat zone.

Naval fleet

Naval fleet

A fleet or naval fleet is a large formation of warships – the largest formation in any navy – controlled by one leader. A fleet at sea is the direct equivalent of an army on land.

Rear admiral

Rear admiral

Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral.

Commodore (rank)

Commodore (rank)

Commodore is a senior naval rank used in many navies which is equivalent to brigadier and air commodore. It is superior to a navy captain, but below a rear admiral. It is either regarded as the most junior of the flag officers rank or may not hold the jurisdiction of a flag officer at all depending on the officer's appointment. Non-English-speaking nations commonly use the rank of flotilla admiral, counter admiral, or senior captain as an equivalent, although counter admiral may also correspond to rear admiral lower half abbreviated as RDML.

Captain (naval)

Captain (naval)

Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The rank is equal to the army rank of colonel and air force rank of group captain.

Division (naval)

Division (naval)

A naval division is a subdivision of a squadron or flotilla. It can also be a subdivision of a fleet. A division is the smallest naval formation, most commonly numbering between two to four ships.

Commander

Commander

Commander is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title or "billet" in many armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain.

Lieutenant (navy)

Lieutenant (navy)

Lieutenant is a commissioned officer rank in many English-speaking nations' navies and coast guards. It is typically the most senior of junior officer ranks. In most navies, the rank's insignia may consist of two medium gold braid stripes, the uppermost stripe featuring an executive curl in many Commonwealth of Nations; or three stripes of equal or unequal width.

Specific usage

United States Coast Guard Auxiliary

In the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, a flotilla is the basic organizational unit and consists of members at a local level where the majority of the work of the auxiliary is done. A flotilla is led by an elected flotilla commander assisted by an elected vice flotilla commander, who is in turn assisted by appointed flotilla staff officers.[2] A Coast Guard Auxiliary division consists of multiple flotillas and a district consists of multiple divisions. Auxiliary districts are organized along Coast Guard district lines and are administered by a Coast Guard officer (usually a commander or captain) who is called the "director of the auxiliary".

Russian and Soviet navies

In the Imperial Russian Navy, Soviet Navy, and Russian Federation Navy, the word flotilla has tended to be used for "brown-water" naval units – those operating not on the oceans and real seas, but on inland seas or rivers. Among the former are the present-day Caspian Flotilla, the early-20th-century Satakundskaya Flotilla, or the Aral Flotilla of the 1850s;[3] among the latter, the Don Military Flotilla (which was created several times over more than 200 years), the Dnieper Flotilla (also extant in the 18th and 20th centuries), the Red Volga Flotilla, which participated in the Kazan Operation during the Russian Civil War, and the Danube Flotilla. In the 18th century, the term also applied to the comparatively small fleets operating on those seas where Russia did not have much naval presence yet, e.g. the Okhotsk Flotilla.

Non-military usage

The word flotilla has also been used at times to refer to a small fleet of vessels, commercial or otherwise.[4] There is also such a thing as a "flotilla holiday", which is a group of chartered yachts that set sail together on the same route.

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Commander (United States)

Commander (United States)

In the United States, commander is a military rank that is also sometimes used as a military billet title—the designation of someone who manages living quarters or a base—depending on the branch of service. It is also used as a rank or title in non-military organizations; particularly in law enforcement.

Captain (United States O-6)

Captain (United States O-6)

In the United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (USPHS), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps, captain is the senior-most commissioned officer rank below that of flag officer. The equivalent rank is colonel in the United States Army, Air Force, Space Force, and Marine Corps.

Imperial Russian Navy

Imperial Russian Navy

The Imperial Russian Navy operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from a smaller force that had existed prior to Tsar Peter the Great's founding of the modern Russian navy during the Second Azov campaign in 1696. It expanded in the second half of the 18th century and reached its peak strength by the early part of the 19th century, behind only the British and French fleets in terms of size.

Soviet Navy

Soviet Navy

The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with the opposing superpower, the United States, during the Cold War (1945–1991). The Soviet Navy played a large role during the Cold War, either confronting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in western Europe or power projection to maintain its sphere of influence in eastern Europe.

Brown-water navy

Brown-water navy

The term 'brown-water navy' or 'riverine navy' refers in its broadest sense to any naval force capable of military operations in littoral zone waters. The term originated in the United States Navy during the American Civil War, when it referred to Union forces patrolling the muddy Mississippi River, and has since been used to describe the small gunboats and patrol boats commonly used in rivers, along with the larger "mother ships" that supported them. These mother ships include converted World War II-era mechanized landing craft and tank landing ships, among other vessels.

Caspian Flotilla

Caspian Flotilla

The Caspian Flotilla is the flotilla of the Russian Navy in the Caspian Sea.

Satakundskaya Flotilla

Satakundskaya Flotilla

The Satakundskaya Flotilla was a brown-water navy unit of the Imperial Russian Navy, operating on Lake Näsijärvi, Finland, during the First World War from spring 1916 until winter 1917. In Finnish sources, the unit is often called Satakunta Fleet. The name of the unit derives from Satakunta, the historical province where Lake Näsijärvi was located at the time, but the Finnish version is likely a mistranslation of flotilla.

Don Military Flotilla

Don Military Flotilla

The Don Military Flotilla was established in 1723 in Tavrov for countering Turkish vessels in the Sea of Azov. By 1735, the Russians had built 15 prams, some 60 galleys and other ships. Under the command of Rear Admiral Pyotr Bredal, the Don Military Flotilla participated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1735-1739, capturing of Azov, supporting the Russian ground forces in the Crimea etc. In 1739, the Don Military Flotilla was disbanded.

Dnieper Flotilla

Dnieper Flotilla

The Dnieper Flotilla is the name given to the various naval flotillas on the Dnieper River. These were particularly active in four conflicts: the Russo-Turkish wars of 1735–39 and 1787–92, the Russian Civil War, and World War II.

Kazan Operation

Kazan Operation

Kazan Operation was the Red Army's offensive against the Czechoslovak Legion and the People Army of Komuch during the Russian Civil War.

Russian Civil War

Russian Civil War

The Russian Civil War was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the overthrowing of the monarchy and the new republican government's failure to maintain stability, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. It resulted in the formation of the RSFSR and later the Soviet Union in most of its territory. Its finale marked the end of the Russian Revolution, which was one of the key events of the 20th century.

Danube Flotilla (Soviet Union)

Danube Flotilla (Soviet Union)

The Danube Flotilla was a naval force of the Soviet Navy's Black Sea Fleet during World War II and afterwards, existing 1940–1941 and 1944–1960. The Flotilla operated on the Danube River and also, at times, on other rivers connected to the Black Sea.

Source: "Flotilla", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, November 24th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flotilla.

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References
  • Chief Director of Auxiliary (2007-02-15). "USCG G-PCX Web Site – Flotilla Organizational Structure". USCG Auxiliary Office of the Chief Director (CG-3PCX). Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
  1. ^ "military unit." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 16 Oct. 2010 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1346160/military-unit>: "Administratively, several ships of the same type (e.g., destroyers) are organized into a squadron. Several squadrons in turn form a flotilla, several of which in turn form a fleet. For operations, however, many navies organize their vessels into task units (3–5 ships), task or battle groups (4–10 ships), task forces (2–5 task groups), and fleets (several task forces)."
  2. ^ As described at the Flotilla Organization Archived 2007-03-17 at the Wayback Machine page of the U.S. Coast Guard.
  3. ^ Ram Rahul. "March of Central Asia". Published 2000. Indus Publishing. ISBN 81-7387-109-4. p.160. On Google Books
  4. ^ "OCSC Sailing School". OCSC. Archived from the original on 11 June 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
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