Fleet reviews in the Commonwealth realms are typically observed by the reigning monarch or their representative, a practice allegedly dating back to the 15th century. Such an event is not held at regular intervals and originally only occurred when the fleet was mobilised for war or for a show of strength to discourage potential enemies, or during periods of commemorations. Since the 19th century, they have often been held for the
coronation or for special royal jubilees and increasingly included delegates from other national navies. Traditionally, a fleet review will have participating ships dressed in flags and pennants of their respective countries, and anchored in two or more lines with an open passage between them. The crew of participating anchored ships are positioned on the upper decks, while their officers and captains are at the bridge. As the reviewing vessel sails passes the anchored ships, their crew will give three cheers and wave their caps to the reviewing officials, while their officers and captain will render a salute.
Australia enter
Sydney Harbour during the second day of the
2013 International Fleet Review in Australia Australia has a history of Fleet Reviews, the last Fleet Review took place in Australia in October 2024. • Port Phillip royal review, 1921 – Reviewed by
Edward, Prince of Wales. •
Royal Australian Navy 25th birthday review, 1936 • 50th Anniversary Fleet Review, 1961 • The 75th fleet review, 1986 – Led by , the fleet was reviewed by
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. • Bicentennial naval salute, 1988 – Led by • Centennial naval review 2001 – Cancelled due to
terrorist attacks in the United States. • Sydney freedom of entry review, 14 March 2009 – The fleet review also consisted of a freedom of entry parade in
Sydney; the fleet was reviewed by
Marie Bashir,
Governor of New South Wales, and the parade by
Quentin Bryce,
Governor-General of Australia. •
International Fleet Review, 4–5 October 2013 – To commemorate the centenary of the Royal Australian Navy's fleet arrival in Sydney Harbour; led by , the fleet was reviewed by Governor-General
Quentin Bryce and
Prince Harry, who took the royal salute on board HMAS
Leeuwin. Approximately 20 foreign nations participated, activities including a tall ships parade, naval gun salutes, aerial flypasts, fireworks and lightshow spectacular, ships open to visitors, and a combined Naval march. •
Royal Fleet Review – King
Charles III conducted a royal fleet review in Sydney Harbour on 22 October 2024. The King conducted the review on board the Admiral's Barge
Admiral Hudson with
HMAS Hobart,
HMAS Arunta,
HMAS Warramunga,
HMAS Gascoyne and
HMAS Yarra taking part in the review.
Canada in
Halifax, Nova Scotia a day prior to reviewing the fleet assembled there to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the
Royal Canadian Navy In Canada, fleet reviews may take place on either the Atlantic or Pacific coasts, typically in
Halifax Harbour for the former and
Victoria Harbour for the latter. • July 1958 – To mark the 100th anniversary of
British Columbia's entry into
Canadian Confederation; the
Royal Canadian Navy review was conducted by
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon. • June 1959 – Held at
Montreal to mark the opening of the
Saint Lawrence Seaway; attended by ships from the
Royal Canadian Navy and
United States Navy; the former was reviewed by
Queen Elizabeth II. • 29 June 2010 – An International Fleet Review was held to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Canadian Navy and held at the
Bedford Basin. Ships of the Royal Canadian Navy, Brazilian Navy, Royal Danish Navy, French Navy, German Navy, Royal Netherlands Navy, Royal Navy, and United States Navy were reviewed by Queen Elizabeth II.
New Zealand There have been several Fleet Reviews hosted by the
Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). These include the following: • International Fleet Review, 5 October 1991 – To mark the 50th anniversary of the RNZN. • International Naval Review, 18 November 2016 – To mark the Royal New Zealand Navy's 75th birthday. In a break with tradition the RNZN mistakenly described the Review as a "Naval Review" rather than as the customary "Fleet Review".
United Kingdom Because of the need for a natural large, sheltered and deep anchorage, UK fleet reviews have usually been held in the
Solent off
Spithead, although
Southend,
Torbay, the
Firth of Clyde and some overseas ports have also hosted reviews. In the examples below, the venue is Spithead unless otherwise noted. A list follows of fleet reviews in England, Great Britain, and later the UK since the 14th century.
Pre-1700 • June 1346 –
Edward III, before sailing to war with France • 1415 – Generally acknowledged as the first fleet review on record, by
Henry V, at
Southampton, before sailing for his first French campaign that ended in the
Battle of Agincourt • May 1662 –
Charles II on the occasion of his wife
Catherine of Braganza's arrival in
Portsmouth • February 1693 –
William III and
Mary II, after the
Battles of Barfleur and La Hougue 1700–1837 • March 1700 – On
Peter the Great's visit to
England, a show of strength • 23–27 June 1773 –
King George III set out from
Kew, in a Royal coach with scarlet outriders, for what some call the first formal Royal Review. On his arrival he was saluted by a "triple discharge of cannon", and proceeded to the dockyard where admirals and captains were assembled, each with his barge, to escort the King to Spithead. They had dressed their crews in fancy colours, each to his own taste (at that time the
crews were not issued uniforms), whilst they themselves were resplendent in the full dress designed for them by
George II in 1748. The ships on show were those that had fought the French in the
Seven Years' War and were soon to join the
War of American Independence, and were led by , of 90 guns, built only 5 years before. • May 1778 –
George III, before France joined
American War of Independence • 1781 • June 1794 – After the
Glorious First of June • 25 June 1814 – The last to consist solely of sailing ships. It was to celebrate the
Treaty of Paris (1814), and to show the
visiting Allied Sovereigns, including the Czar of Russia and the King of Prussia, "the tremendous naval armaments which has swept from the ocean the fleets of France and Spain and secured to Britain the domain of the sea." 15
ships of the line and 31
frigates were present, all of them veterans of the
Napoleonic Wars. It was reviewed not by
George III, but by the
Prince Regent • September 1820 –
George IV, first Coronation Review. One ship in attendance was , later made famous by
Charles Darwin.
Queen Victoria 17 occurred during her reign, the most for any monarch. • March 1842 – Her first, held by herself and
Prince Albert as a "Grand Naval Review." • May 1844 – Visit of the
King of Saxony; and October, on the visit of
Emperor Nicholas I, King
Louis-Philippe of France and
Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, both were a show of strength • 19 June 1845 – Inspecting the
experimental squadron, from the new . The Board of Admiralty attended in their steam yacht,
Black Eagle. Some place
this not 1814 as the last time that a Royal Review consisted only of sailing ships, and nearly the last time that the Queen could watch 's men run aloft and set the sails "with feline agility and astonishing celerity." • 11 August 1853 – Two reviews that year, firstly on 15 July 1853, the fleet mobilisation for the
Crimean War, and a full Review on 11 August including for the first time steam screw ships of the line. • 10 March 1854 – Wary of a Russian break out into the
North Sea, due to the numbers of their ships in the
Baltic Sea, the British Admiralty brought together a force to contain them. This first division of the Baltic fleet was commanded by
Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Napier. Napier's task was to find naval recruits and train them as quickly as possible. From the screw yacht-tender, , and two months before her 35th birthday (which it was perhaps also intended to commemorate), Queen Victoria reviewed Napier's fleet at Spithead, shortly before it set sail, including (on 10 March 1854) a review of the first part of the fleet to set sail only eighteen days before Britain declared war on Russia. According to reports in the
London Illustrated News (which printed a special edition for the occasion, with drawings of various scenes from the day of the Review),
Fairy reviewed the fleet as it steamed up a path created by the ships anchored on each side, then a day later led the fleet out of Spithead as it began its journey to the Baltic. • 23 April 1856 – Of the Baltic fleet on its return. First recorded example of the evening illumination of the fleet. Showed lessons learnt from the Crimean War, with the first of the
ironclad ships present in the form of 4 1,500-ton floating batteries. Over 100
gunboats were present, "puffing about like
locomotive engines with wisps of white steam trailing from their funnels." • August 1865 – On a visit of the French fleet • 17 July 1867 – Held for
Abdulaziz, and his
Khedive of Egypt,
Ismail of Egypt. For the first time every ship flew the
White Ensign, after the dissolution of the old
Red,
White and
Blue Squadrons. New designs were the five-masted with her powerful broadside, and the graceful 14-knot ironclad sister-ships and . on 26 June 1897 • 23 June 1873 – For the visit of
Nasser-al-Din Shah (1848–1896), the
Shah of Persia • August 1878 – Of the
reserve squadron • 25 July 1887 –
Golden Jubilee. Notable for the appearance of a
Nordenfelt submarine (though the first RN submarine would be 20 years later) • 4 August 1889 – On the visit of
Kaiser Wilhelm II and his
Admiral von Tirpitz, a show of strength • August 1891 – On visit of the French fleet • August 1896 – On visit of MPs and
Li Hung Chang • 26 June 1897 –
Diamond Jubilee, notable for being presided over by the Prince of Wales (later
Edward VII) since she was too frail to attend in person. The ships formed two lines seven miles long; the 170 British ships included 50 battleships.
Parsons made an unscheduled and dramatic appearance with his
Turbinia showing power of steam turbine. • August 1899 – Her last, notable for being presided over by the Prince of Wales (later
Edward VII) since she was too frail to attend in person, and for the visit of a squadron from the
German Navy.
Edward VII and
Atlantic Fleet • 16 August 1902 – Coronation Review, the first time in the modern era that a review was used to mark the coronation • 9 August 1905 – Review of the British and French fleets by King Edward VII at Spithead • August 1907 – Review of the reconstituted
Home Fleet • 12 June 1909 – Review of
Home Fleet and
Atlantic Fleet, including • 16 July 1909 – Home and Atlantic fleets assemble off Southend prior to display
Southend, including HMS
Invincible • 17–24 July 1909 – Home and Atlantic Fleets on display from Westminster to the Nore.
George V . The painting depicts the arrival of the fleet at Spithead to celebrate the
coronation of King George V and Queen Mary in 1911 • 24 June 1911 –
Coronation Fleet Review. sailed 4 June from America and appeared at the review from 19 June to 28 June. • The cruiser
Hai Chi of the
Imperial Chinese Navy appeared to participate in the fleet review. • 9 May 1912 – For
Houses of Parliament, at
Weymouth, featured the first take-off of a plane from a ship which was underway - on 4 May Commander
Charles Samson became the first man to take off from a ship which was underway. He did this in a
Short S.27 biplane whilst steamed at 10.5 knots (19 km/h). •
18–20 July 1914 –
fleet mobilisation for World War I. No fewer than 59 warships and 17
seaplanes • 21–22 July 1919 – At
Southend, to mark the end of World War I • Saturday 26 July 1924, including • 16 July 1935 – Silver Jubilee. 160 warships including .
Dudley Davenport, at the time a young cadet serving on board (he later went on to a successful naval career, eventually reaching the rank of
rear admiral), noted his impressions of this event in his diary: :"Turned out at 0545 and scrubbed
focsle…after breakfast we gave all the brightwork a final polish and generally cleaned up… after lunch we fell in on deck ... All the ships with saluting guns fired a royal salute of 21 guns the noise was not as bad as we were led to expect. But the smoke screened most of the ships for some minutes… After tea ‘Clean Lower Deck’ was sounded and we had to fall in for manning ship my position on Y Turret grid on the Quarter Deck was an excellent one as we could see the yacht approaching… as
the V&A approached the band played ‘
God Save the King’ and the guard presented arms in the Royal Salute. When the King was halfway past we gave 3 cheers. You could just see the King on the Bridge, Saluting …About ½ hour later we fell in again as he passed the other side. After supper we watched the illuminations... after half hour all the lights were turned off and red flares were lit on deck, each held by a sailor at the guardrail. These did not look very good except for the first few seconds... the ships remained illuminated for the rest of the time until midnight... We turned in about 2345 very tired."
George VI is aboard the
Bulolo, saluting as the fleet of LCAs passes by. • 20 May 1937 –
Coronation Fleet Review. The largest assembly of warships since the coronation review of 1911, it has been described by
military historian Hedley Paul Willmott as "the last parade of the Royal Navy as the world's greatest and most prodigious navy". Ten British
battleships and
battlecruisers were present, and for the first time at a coronation review, four
aircraft carriers. Altogether, there were 101 surface warships, 22
submarines and 11
auxiliaries drawn from the
Home,
Mediterranean and
Reserve Fleets. The Review Procession included the
royal yacht,
HMY Victoria and Albert, two
minesweepers and a
survey ship. The Commonwealth and Empire were represented by two warships from Canada and one each from New Zealand and India. A large complement of British merchant ships ranging from
ocean liners to
paddle steamers were also present. By tradition, foreign navies were invited to send a single warship each to the review and seventeen were present. Described by one naval officer in a letter to a friend - :"The day was quite as bad as I feared but my sisters are insistent that they enjoyed it all" It was also the occasion of the infamous "
Woodrooffe Incident" [https://web.archive.org/web/20120125030102/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,847864,00.html in the
BBC Radio coverage (known by the phrase 'The Fleet's Lit Up!')
HMY Victoria and Albert III took part in this review, her second and last before being scrapped in 1939. • 9 August 1939 – Including • May 1944 – In secret, of the
D-Day invasion fleet: the largest review to date (800 vessels, ranging from capital vessels to small minesweeper and landing craft).
Elizabeth II • 15 June 1953 – Coronation Fleet Review,
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The first post-war review, with all the ongoing technical innovations the war had produced on display (). Present were 197 Royal Navy warships, together with 13 from the Commonwealth and 16 from foreign navies, as well as representative vessels from the British
Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets. • 27–28 May 1957 – Review of the fleet off
Invergordon,
Scotland. • 7–11 August 1965 – Partial review at the
Tail of the Bank on
Firth of Clyde. First RN nuclear submarine appeared. • 16 May 1969 –
NATO review (NATO's 20th anniversary),
Spithead: 64 ships from the 11 NATO countries participated: British contingent included and ; United States - . • July 1969 – Fleet Review: Ships of the
Western Fleet (14 ships) and
Queen's Colour presentation aboard in
Torbay • 28 June 1977 –
Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II. and both appeared. • 1993 – Commemoration of
Battle of the Atlantic anniversary, as flagship of the event (off North Wales). • 1994 –
D-Day 50th anniversary, including . • 1999 –
Battle of the Atlantic commemoration. • 28 June 2005 –
International Fleet Review for
Trafalgar 200, also held in lieu of the 2002
Golden Jubilee Review, the latter of which was cancelled on cost grounds. ==India==