Home Squadron

James Rentfrow examines the transformation of the U.S. Navy as a fighting organization that took place on the North Atlantic Station between 1874 and 1897. At the beginning of this period, the warships assigned to the station were collectively administered by a rear admiral, but they were operationally deployed as individual units, each of whose actions were directed by their captains. By 1897 the North Atlantic, or Home Squadron, as it was known, consisted of a group of warships constituting a protean battle fleet--that is, an organized body moving and fighting in close order, which meant that the actions of the captains were directed by a commanding admiral. >>