During World War I the Royal Navy assembled the bulk of its fleet in Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. The purpose of this was to fight the German High Seas Fleet in a massive decisive battle. The fleet consisted of approximately 150 ships, 35-40 of these were state of the art capital ships. The fleet was originally commanded by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. He was later succeeded by Admiral Sir David Beatty.

The fleet was in organization from 1914 until 1919. The strength of the Grand Fleet grew during the war. Also as the war wore on the strength and training of the crews increased. Therefore, as training increased losses experienced at the beginning of the war dropped. Many losses experienced at the opening of the war were attributed to poor training and condition of the ships.

The Grand Fleet never was able to take part in the massive large scale battle it was hoping for. As a matter of fact it only took part in one major battle, the Battle of Jutland.