0 a large group of boats or small ships
1 a large group of boats or small ships, esp. military ships
At one time quite a flotilla of boats lay around us, looking very pretty with all their flags flying.
Here, a flotilla of canoes lay concealed where he had been hunting wild-fowl but a few hours before.
In this engagement, the best schooner belonging to the American flotilla was burnt, and a gondola was sunk.
One night we had lain with our flotilla on the Virginia coast.
When the races were over, the yachts were towed back to the city by a large steamer, escorted by a whole flotilla of every kind of craft loaded with sightseers.
After they had lain hove-to for 14 hours, the wind slackened, the seas became less violent, and the small flotilla got under way again.
In three days two flotillas of destroyers burn nearly 5,000 tons of oil.
One flotilla leader and eight destroyers have been sent out.