Squadron (Naval)

--Were you looking for an air force unit of the same name?--

Squadrons are small naval units and consist of capital ships only. Squadrons contain a varying amount of crew members, ranging from a medium-sized crew aboard a cruiser (300+ seamen) to an immense carrier-board crew (1,000+ seamen).

Structure
A squadron usually contains from one two four task elements, or vessels, all of which are capital ships. These capital ships, which are led by captains and are usually cruiser, battleship, or aircraft carrier class ships are together in a unit led by a commodore. A commodore will also lead the non-capital equivalent of a squadron, a flotilla.

Integration
Squadrons contain any number of capital ships from two to four, and rarely have any more than that. These capital ships, which are from task element units, are led by captains, while the squadron is overall commanded by a commodore. The commander of the squdron usually resides on the largest or most renowned ship in the squadron, but the captain still retains command of the ship. A squadron, like a flotilla will be named after a river, lake, sea or other body of water. For example, the Lake Superior Squadron could be a name for a squadron.

Marine Company
The ships within a squadron will usually have an embarked marine force aboard. The number of marines aboard a capital ship may range from two or so platoons to a company or two. Although two companies is rare. With this in mind, a squadron may contain one or two battalions on all of its ships together.