Home Fleet, Cruise Warships, Sail To-Day - Destroyers in line ahead turn as they leave Portland harbour at the start of the Home Fleet's cruise to-day. More than 20 ships of the Home Fleet, sailed from Portland, Dorset, to-day (Thurs) for their 12-weeks' autumn cruise to the West Indies. The ships include the battleship H.M.S. Duke of York, flagship of the Home fleet (Commander-in-Chief, Vice Admiral Sir Rhoderick McGrigor), the cruisers Diadem, Cleopatra and Sirius, and more than a dozen destroyers and auxiliary vessels. The ships are expected to return to this country by the middle of December. September 23, 1948.