Submarines were also sighted during the day by the Antrim in Lat. 57.18 N., Long. 1.2 E., and by the Battle Cruiser Fleet in Lat. 58.15 N., Long. 2.40 E., but no successful attack resulted.
The Grand Fleet proceeded to sea again for a sweep in southern waters on the 17th, and at 8 A.M. on the 18th the Dreadnought Battle Fleet, with the 1st, 2nd, and 7th Cruiser Squadrons looking out ahead and the 2nd and 4th Flotillas screening, was in Lat. 57.25 N., Long. 1.4 E., steering at 18 knots’ speed for a position in Lat. 56.30 N., Long. 3.30 E., where it was intended to meet the 3rd Battle Squadron and 3rd Cruiser Squadron from Rosyth.
The junction took place at 4 P.M., the Battle Cruiser Fleet, which had been ordered to a position a little farther south, arriving there at this time. No enemy vessels having been sighted, the whole Fleet was turned to the northward shortly before dusk, when in the vicinity of the Little Fisher Bank, to the westward of Northern Denmark. During the night the 3rd Battle Squadron and 3rd Cruiser Squadron were detached to return to Rosyth, and the 2nd and 4th Flotillas to Scapa; the Vice-Admiral, Battle Cruiser Fleet, was directed to cruise independently on the 19th; and the Dreadnought Battle Fleet, with the 1st, 2nd and 7th Cruiser Squadrons, proceeded to the eastward of the Shetlands; target practice was carried out during daylight of the 19th and the night of the 19th–20th, and the Battle Fleet returned to its bases at Scapa and Cromarty during the night of the 20th–21st and fuelled. During the cruise the Achilles, of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron, reported sighting a submarine at 2.40 P.M. on the 18th.
On the 19th the Albemarle and Russell, of the 6th Battle Squadron, which had rejoined the 3rd Battle Squadron from the Channel ports, were detached from Rosyth to Scapa for practices.
The Grand Fleet again proceeded to sea on the night of the 21st for another sweep towards the Danish coast, and at 8 A.M. on the 22nd the forces from Scapa and Cromarty, comprising the 1st, 2nd and 4th Battle Squadrons, Russell and Albemarle, 1st, 2nd and 7th Cruiser Squadrons, and the 2nd and 4th Flotillas, were in position Lat. 58.4 N., Long. 0.27 E.
At 4.30 P.M. the 3rd Battle Squadron and 3rd Cruiser Squadron joined the Commander-in-Chief, and the Battle Cruiser Fleet took station ahead of the cruiser screen. At dusk no enemy ships had been sighted and the Fleet turned to the northward again, the Iron Duke’s position being Lat. 57.11 N., Long. 4.53 E.
The 3rd Battle Squadron, 3rd Cruiser Squadron and the Battle Cruiser Fleet were detached to return to Rosyth during the night, and the remainder of the Fleet arrived at the Scapa and Cromarty bases on the 23rd.
During these two southerly sweeps the Fleet sighted a large number of neutral steamers and trawlers which were closely examined, but nothing suspicious was found, although the interception of German wireless messages, when the Fleet was in the vicinity of the trawlers, raised suspicions that they were acting as look-out vessels; this suspicion was strengthened by carrier pigeons being sighted from various ships.
One Norwegian steamer which was found to be carrying magnetic ore to Rotterdam was sent to the Firth of Forth.
Movements of interest of individual ships during April included the arrival of the Lion at Rosyth on the 7th after completion of all repairs, the arrival of the new Battleship Warspite, of the “Queen Elizabeth” class, at Scapa on the 13th, and the commissioning on the 26th of four more mercantile vessels to join the 10th Cruiser Squadron.