SQUADRON, (I) a military term referring to the sub division of a cavalry regiment, (2) a naval term referring to a detachment of war vessels, and (3) an air force term denoting a unit of a "group." Literally the term means a body of fighting men formed into a square. In 1656 the term was appropriated by horsemen but even in 1810 Scott in The Lady of the Lake re fers to "squadrons tramping." The earliest use of the word in the military sense appears to be in 1562 and in 1581 Styward in Martial Discipline gives a clue to its origin : "The poore Swizers not being able to furnishe themselves with horse, were the first devisers of the pike and the squadrone," from which it is inferred that a body of pikemen formed into a square were employed on the flanks of a formation. This appears to be confirmed by Bul lokar who wrote in 1616 that a squadron was a "square form in a battel." Previous to this, Sir John Smyth in 1590 refers to squadrons in reference to infantry, as also does Ward as late as 1639. Moryson in 1617 mentions "two squadrons of foot 25o men each." In 1702 a squadron of horse was anything between ioo and 200 men but by 1779 the number had been reduced to 8o-12o. At
that date the squadron was composed of three complete troops.
The Cavalry Regulations (British) of 1832 state that "Two or more squadrons compose a regiment." In the modern military sense a squadron is one of the principal units into which a regi ment of cavalry is divided, corresponding to a company of in fantry, the normal being three or four squadrons, sub-divided into "troops." Squadrons are usually between 120 and 200 men. (See CAVALRY.) In the naval sense the term refers to a part of a fleet usually commanded by a flag-officer, or it may be applied loosely to any number of vessels less than a whole fleet.
For its application to the air force see GROUP CAPTAIN and AIR FORCES.
In British military use, "squad" (a shortened form of "squad ron") is used of any small detachment of men temporarily formed for drill or fatigue work or other duty. In the U.S. army, however, the squad is the basic infantry unit.