| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Flotilla Leaders | 10| 2| 3| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Modern destroyers | 97|45|18|14|13| | | | | | | | | |29 |[A]| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Destroyers of River | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | class and earlier | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | construction | | |11| 6|16| 9| | 9|11|15| 4| | | | 8 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | P boats | | 2| 5| | 4|10| 4| 1| | | | | | | -- ------------------+---+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+--- June.

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Flotilla Leaders | 10| 3| 4| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Modern destroyers | 95|23|29|38|15| | | 5| | | | 4| 32| |29 |[A]| | | | | | | | | | | |[B]| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Destroyers of River | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | class and earlier | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | construction | | |10| 5|16| 7| |29| 1|11| 4| | | | 8 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | P boats | | 2| 6| | 8| 9| 4| 1| | | | | | 5| -- ------------------+---+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+--- November.

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Flotilla Leaders | 11| 4| 6| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Modern destroyers |101|24|26|37| 9| | | 4| | | |29| 35| |32 |[A]| | | | | | | | | | | |[B]| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Destroyers of River | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | class and earlier | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | construction | | |10| 4| 8|12| 2|30| |11| 4| | | | 8 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | P boats | | 2| 6| |31| | | 1| | | | | |10| -- ------------------+---+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+--- [Footnote A: Includes destroyers detached for protection work in other commands.] [Footnote B: Includes United States destroyers.] There was the possible alternative of bringing only a small portion of the trade under convoy by taking all the available fast small craft from patrol duty and utilizing them to escort this portion of the trade, but it was felt that as this would leave the _whole_ of the remaining trade entirely without protection, and no fast patrol craft would be on the trade routes to pick up the crews of any merchant ships that might be sunk by submarines, the step was not justified.
The next point for consideration was the possibility of obtaining destroyers or sloops from other sources with which to increase the forces for trade protection.

The only commands on which it was possible to draw further were the Grand Fleet, the Harwich and Dover forces, the destroyers of old types working on the East Coast, or the destroyers and "P" boats protecting our cross-Channel communications west of the Dover Command.
It was out of the question to reduce the Harwich or Dover flotillas materially, as we were already running the gravest risks from the inadequacy of these forces to deal with enemy destroyers and submarines operating in southern waters from Zeebrugge or from German ports, and in addition the Harwich Force furnished the sole protection for the weekly convoy running between the Thames and Dutch ports, besides being much required for reconnaissance and offensive operations in the Heligoland Bight so far as it could be spared for this purpose.

However, the emergency was such that destroyers were taken from Harwich, as the force obtained new vessels of a faster and more powerful type.