Eyes of the Fleet: A Destroyer Flotilla Scouting

A fleeting (sorry) but reassuring glimpse of a flotilla of Royal Navy destroyers on the skyline during WWI.

The flotilla of destroyers glimpsed from afar in this brief, incomplete, film were dubbed 'the eyes of the fleet' to convey their function as the naval equivalent of skirmishers - a light, fast unit intended to sweep for enemy torpedo boats in advance of the main fleet of the Royal Navy. In 1915 these flotillas would be on constant patrol to scout for German ships.