The Imperial Cruise of the Special Service Squadron

Facts and figures (Timeline research) Total no. miles: 38,152 Total no. visitors to all ships: 1,936,717 (1,803,855 were British subjects – 1,423,157 were from Australia/New Zealand) Total no. visitors to HMS Hood: 752,049 Cost of transit of Panama Canal: $22,399.50 Ships of the Special Service Squadron (Vice Admiral Sir Fredrick Field) Battlecruisers: HMS Hood (flagship) (Captain J Thurn), HMS Repulse (Captain H Parker) 1st Light Cruiser Squadron: (Rear Admiral Sir Hubert Brand), HMS Delhi (flagship) (Captain J Pipon), HMS Danae (Captain F Austin), HMS Dauntless (Captain C Round-Turner), HMS Dragon (Captain B Fairburn), HMS Dunedin (Captain A Ramsay) – Joined Squadron on 24th January in Indian Ocean and detatched after New Zealand for service in New Zealand naval forces. Additional ships: HMAS Adelaide – Joined the Squadron for the remainder of the cruise at Sydney and was first RAN ship to pass through the Panama Canal. Left UK 10 January 1925 and arrived at Sydney 7 April 1925. Route: Africa/Indian Ocean (outward): Sierra Leone, Cape Town, East London, Durban, Kilindini and Mombasa (1LCS), Zanzibar, Trincomalee (Ceylon), Port Swettenham (Kuala Lumpur); Indonesia: Singapore, Christmas Island; Australia: Fremantle, Albany, Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart (Tazmania), Jervis Bay, Sydney, Brisbane (1LCS); New Zealand: Lyttleton (Christchurch), Dunedin and Bluff (HMSs Dunedin & Dauntless), Napier (HMS Delhi, Danae and Dragon and HMAS Adelaide), Gisborne, Wellington, Auckland; Pacific: Suva (Fiji), Honululu (Hawaii); Canada (Western coast): Victoria (BC), Vancouver, Esquimalt (1LCS); United States (Western coast): San Francisco At this point the battlecruisers and 1LCS went on separate routes. Battlecruisers: Central America/Carribean: Balboa (Panama), Panama Canal, Kingston (Jamaica); Canada (Eastern Coast): Halifax (Nova Scotia), Quebec, Topsail Bay (Newfoundland) 1LCS: South America: Callao (Peru), Valparaiso (Chile – HMSs Delhi & Danae), Talcahuano (Chile – HMSs Dauntless & Dragon), Punta Arenas (Chile – visit abandoned due to poor weather), Falkland Islands (HMS Dauntless), Bahia Blanca (Argentina – HMS Dragon), Buenos Aires (Argentina – HMSs Delhi & Danae), Montevideo (Uruguay – HMSs Dauntless & Dragon), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Africa (return): Cape Verdi