On December 7th Rear-Admiral Sir A. G. W. Moore, K.C.B., assumed command of the newly constituted 1st Cruiser Squadron, and the _Leviathan_ and _Duke of Edinburgh_ arrived at Scapa on that date; the _Warrior_ and _Black Prince_, with the above ships, comprised the squadron. On December 7th, two merchant ships, the s.s. _Michigan_ and _City of Oxford_, disguised as men-of-war, arrived at Scapa. These vessels, with several others, had been fitted out at Belfast by Admiralty orders with dummy turrets and guns, and altered with a view to representing certain British battleships and battle cruisers. The whole of these were formed into a squadron under the command of Commodore Haddock, C.B., R.N.R., of _Olympic_ fame, and termed the Special Service Squadron. The disguise of the ships was carried out very cleverly, though presumably at considerable expense. They would have been of value had it been possible to select vessels of a suitable speed, but the highest speed attainable by any vessel in the squadron was not more than nine to ten knots, whilst the speed of the squadron as a whole did not exceed seven knots. The ships could not under these conditions accompany the Fleet to sea, and it was very difficult to find a use for them in home waters. Commodore Haddock was, later, detached with the squadron to Loch Ewe, where the ships were worked up to carry out fleet movements. This he did most successfully, so that, had the ships possessed the requisite speed, use might have been made of them as a squadron for various decoy purposes. But, under the conditions existing, this was impossible, and eventually the squadron was disbanded with the exception of one vessel; the experiment was tried of sending her to sea disguised as a disabled man-of-war with a considerable heel to one side, and with patrol craft accompanying her as if for protection, in the hope that a submarine might be induced to attack her and so afford the patrols an opportunity of sinking the submarine. This scheme, however, met with no success. All the vessels were restored to their original conditions for trading purposes, with the exception of some which were sent to the Mediterranean and to North America, where it was reported that they were of some use. On December 8th another gale was experienced. The _Thunderer_, which had developed condenser defects, left for Devonport on the 8th for refit and for retubing condensers; yet another case of this defect! On December 9th the 1st Battle Squadron proceeded to sea to cruise to the north-westward of the Shetland Islands and to carry out gunnery practices as convenient. In consequence of bad weather the Vice-Admiral sent the attached cruiser _Bellona_ back to Scapa for shelter.