The interesting First Balkan War and Great War 3rd Battle Squadron 1914-1915 Trio and Silver War Badge awarded to Leading Seaman J.T.V. Cook, Royal Navy who saw service aboard H.M.S. Zealandia before and during the Great War taking part in the blockade against Montenegro during the First Balkan War and in various raids into the North Sea during the first three years of the Great War. He would be discharged on 20th September 1917 and received the Silver War Badge.
Group of 4: 1914-1915 Star; (196658 J.T.V. COOK. L.S. R.N.) British War Medal and Victory Medal; (196658 J.T.V. COOK. L.S. R.N.) Silver War Badge, the reverse numbered ‘RN 37075’
Condition: Nearly Extremely Fine
James Thomas Vernon Cook was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire and joined the Royal Navy as a 15 year old on 26th November 1897, initially serving as a Boy 2nd Class, before being promoted to Boy 1st Class on 11th July 1898. He would formerly join the Royal Navy for 12 years service on 18th June 1900 with the rank of Ordinary Seaman whilst serving aboard H.M.S. Barham and was promoted Able Seaman on 14th April 1901.
He would still be serving at the outbreak of the Great War and having joined H.M.S. Zealandia (which was the renamed H.M.S. New Zealand) on 1st August 1911 and would serve aboard the ship until his discharge on 20th September 1917.
To release her name for use by the new battlecruiser New Zealand, which had been presented to the Royal Navy by the government of New Zealand, it became necessary to rename New Zealand in 1911. At first the name Caledonia, the Roman name for Scotland, was favoured, but this met opposition in New Zealand. Eventually, the name Zealandia, a personification of New Zealand, was agreed upon, and the ship was renamed Zealandia on 1 December 1911.
Under a fleet reorganisation in May 1912, Zealandia and all seven of her sisters (Africa, Britannia, Commonwealth, Dominion, Hibernia, Hindustan, and King Edward VII) were assigned to form the 3rd Battle Squadron, part of the First Fleet, Home Fleet. The squadron was detached to the Mediterranean Sea in November because of the First Balkan War (October 1912 – May 1913); it arrived at Malta on 27 November and subsequently participated in a blockade by an international force of Montenegro and in an occupation of Scutari. The squadron returned to the United Kingdom in 1913 and rejoined the Home Fleet on 27 June.
Upon the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the 3rd Battle Squadron, at the time under the command of Vice Admiral Edward Bradford, was assigned to the Grand Fleet and based at Rosyth, where it was reinforced with the five Duncan-class battleships, It was used to supplement the Grand Fleet's cruisers on the Northern Patrol On 6 August, the day after Britain declared war on Germany, elements of the Grand Fleet sortied to inspect the coast of Norway in search of a German naval base violating Norwegian neutrality. Zealandia and the rest of the 3rd Battle Squadron provided distant support to the operation. No such base was found, and the ships returned to port the next day. On 14 August, the ships of the Grand Fleet went to sea for battle practice before conducting a sweep into the North Sea later that day and into 15 August. During sweeps by the fleet, she and her sisters often steamed at the heads of divisions of the far more valuable dreadnoughts, where they could protect the dreadnoughts by watching for mines or by being the first to strike them. On 2 November 1914, the squadron was detached to reinforce the Channel Fleet and was rebased at Portland. It returned to the Grand Fleet on 13 November 1914.
On 14 December, the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron, 2nd Battle Squadron, and accompanying cruisers and destroyers left port to intercept the German forces preparing to raid Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby. On the first reports of contact with German units on the morning of 16 December, the Grand Fleet commander, Admiral John Jellicoe, ordered Bradford to take the 3rd Battle Squadron to support the ships in contact at 10:00. Four hours later, they met the 1st and 4th Battle Squadrons, en route from Scapa Flow, though they failed to reach the German High Seas Fleet before the latter withdrew. The Grand Fleet remained at sea until late on 17 December, at which point the 3rd Battle Squadron was ordered back to Rosyth. Zealandia and the rest of the squadron joined the Grand Fleet for another sweep into the North Sea on 25 December. The fleet returned to its ports two days later, having failed to locate any German vessels.
The 3rd Battle Squadron went to sea on 12 January 1915 for gunnery training, steaming north and passing to the west of Orkney on the night of 13–14 January. After completing training on the 14th, they returned to Rosyth on 15 January. On 23 January, the 1st and 2nd Battlecruiser Squadrons sortied to ambush the German I Scouting Group in what resulted in the Battle of Dogger Bank the following day. Later on the 23rd, the rest of the Grand Fleet, including Zealandia, sortied to support the battlecruisers. The 3rd Squadron ships left first and steamed at full speed to reach ships of the Harwich Force, which had reported contact with German vessels. The battlecruisers intervened first, and Zealandia and her sisters arrived around 14:00, by which time the battlecruisers had sunk the armoured cruiser Blücher and the surviving German ships had fled. The 3rd Battle Squadron patrolled the area with the rest of the Grand Fleet over the night before being detached at 08:00 on 25 January to steam to Rosyth.
Elements of the Grand Fleet went to sea repeatedly over the next few months. The 3rd Battle Squadron patrolled the central North Sea in company with the 3rd Cruiser Squadron from 10 to 13 March. The two units again went to sea to sweep the central North Sea from 5 to 8 April. A major fleet operation followed on 11 April, with the entire Grand Fleet sortieing for a sweep of the North Sea on 12 and 13 April. The squadrons returned to their ports on 14 April to replenish their fuel. Another such operation followed on 17 April, which also failed to find any German ships. The 3rd Battle Squadron returned to Rosyth late on 18 April. The fleet sortied again on 21 April, returning to port two days later. The 3rd Battle Squadron, joined by the 3rd Cruiser Squadron, patrolled the northern North Sea from 5 to 10 May, during which a German U-boat attacked the battleships but failed to score a hit.
Another sweep into the North Sea took place on 17–19 May, and no German forces were encountered. The fleet went to sea again on 29 May for a patrol south to the Dogger Bank before returning to port on 31 May, again without having located any German vessels. The Grand Fleet spent much of June in port conducting training, but the most modern units went to sea on 11 June for gunnery practice to the northwest of Shetland. While they were training, Zealandia and the rest of the 3rd Battle Squadron, along with the 3rd Cruiser Squadron, patrolled the central North Sea. Fleet activities were limited in July, owing to a threatened strike by coal miners, which began on 18 July and threatened the supply of coal for the fleet's ships. The strike continued into August, which led Jellicoe to continue to limit fleet activities to preserve his stocks of coal. The fleet saw little activity in September, and during this period, the Grand Fleet began to go to sea without the older ships of the 3rd Battle Squadron.
On 6 November 1915, a division of the 3rd Battle Squadron, consisting of the battleships Zealandia, Hibernia (the flagship), Russell, and Albemarle, was detached from the Grand Fleet to serve in the Gallipoli Campaign. Albemarle had to return for repairs, assisted by Hibernia and accompanied by Zealandia, after suffering severe damage in heavy seas on the first night of the outbound voyage. Zealandia incurred damage to her gun ports, which also necessitated repairs. After work on Zealandia was completed, she, Russell, and Hibernia pressed on and arrived at the Dardanelles on 14 December 1915. In late January 1916, Zealandia and Hibernia left the eastern Mediterranean to return to the United Kingdom, arriving at Portsmouth Dockyard on 6 February 1916. Zealandia underwent a refit there that lasted until March 1916, after which the ship rejoined the 3rd Battle Squadron and the Grand Fleet on 26 March 1916.
On 29 April 1916, the 3rd Battle Squadron was rebased at Sheerness, and on 3 May 1916 it was separated from the Grand Fleet, being transferred to the Nore Command. Zealandia remained there with the squadron until September 1917, undergoing a refit at Chatham Dockyard from December 1916 to June 1917, which saw the 6-inch guns removed from their casemate mounts, four of which were re-mounted in shielded pivot mounts where the 12-pounder guns had been located on the upper deck. On 20 September 1917, Zealandia left the 3rd Battle Squadron and paid off into reserve at Portsmouth Dockyard.