Commander-in-Chief, North American Station

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Residence of the Commander-in-Chief, Admiralty House, Halifax (built 1819) Admiralty House Halifax.jpg
Residence of the Commander-in-Chief, Admiralty House, Halifax (built 1819)
Admiralty House, Bermuda, at Mount Wyndham (the location from 1810 to 1816) Admiralty House Bermuda at Mount Wyndham 1818.jpg
Admiralty House, Bermuda, at Mount Wyndham (the location from 1810 to 1816)
On lookout for U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic, October 1941 Officers on the bridge.jpg
On lookout for U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic, October 1941

The Commander-in-Chief, North American Station commanded the North America and West Indies Station of the Royal Navy.

North America and West Indies Station

The North America and West Indies Station was a formation or command of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed in North American waters from 1745 to 1956. The North American Station was separate from the Jamaica Station until 1830 when the two combined to form the North America and West Indies Station. It was briefly abolished in 1907 before being restored in 1915. It was renamed the America and West Indies Station in 1926. It was commanded by the Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies Station and subsequently by the Commander-in-Chief, America and West Indies Station.

Royal Navy Maritime warfare branch of the United Kingdoms military

The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against the Kingdom of France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is known as the Senior Service.

Contents

Commanders

Commanders of the station have included: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Commander-in-Chief, North American Station

Admiral Sir James Douglas, 1st Baronet was a Scottish naval officer and Commodore of Newfoundland.

Charles Watson (Royal Navy officer) Royal Navy admiral

Vice Admiral Charles Watson was an officer of the Royal Navy, who served briefly as colonial governor of Newfoundland, and died at Calcutta, India.

Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel Royal Navy admiral

Admiral Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, PC was a Royal Navy officer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1755 to 1782. He saw action in command of various ships, including the fourth-rate Maidstone, during the War of the Austrian Succession. He went on to serve as Commodore on the North American Station and then Commander-in-Chief, Jamaica Station during the Seven Years' War. After that he served as Senior Naval Lord and then Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet.

Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies Station

Vice-Admiral Sir William Charles Fahie KCB was a prominent British Royal Navy officer during the American War of Independence, French Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars. Unusually, Fahie's service was almost entirely spent in the West Indies, where he had been born and where he lived during the time he was in reserve and in his retirement. After extensive service in the Caribbean during the American War of Independence, during which Fahie impressed with his local knowledge, Fahie was in reserve between 1783 and 1793, returning to service to participate in Sir John Jervis' campaign against the French West Indian islands in 1794.

Admiral Sir Willoughby Thomas Lake KCB was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, North American Station.

Sir Charles Ogle, 2nd Baronet British Admiral of the Fleet

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Charles Ogle, 2nd Baronet was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer, he saw action leading storming parties at the capture of Martinique and at the capture of Guadeloupe during the French Revolutionary Wars. He also took part in the landings in Egypt in the later stages of the French Revolutionary Wars.

Vacant (1907–13)
Christopher Cradock Royal Navy admiral

Sir Christopher "Kit" George Francis Maurice Cradock was a British Rear-Admiral of the Royal Navy. He earned a reputation for great gallantry. Appointed to the royal yacht, he was close to the British royal family. Prior to the First World War, his combat service during the Mahdist War and the Boxer Rebellion was all ashore. Appointed Commander-in-Chief of the North America and West Indies Station before the war, his mission was to protect Allied merchant shipping by hunting down German commerce raiders. Late in 1914 he was tasked to search for and destroy the East Asia Squadron of the Imperial German Navy as it headed home around the tip of South America. Believing that he had no choice but to engage the squadron in accordance with his orders, despite his numerical and tactical inferiority, he was killed during the Battle of Coronel off the coast of Chile in November when the German ships sank his flagship.

Admiral Robert Stewart Phipps Hornby, CMG was a Royal Navy officer who briefly served as Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies Station in 1915.

George Edwin Patey Royal Navy admiral

Admiral Sir George Edwin Patey was a senior officer in the Royal Navy.

Commander-in-Chief, America and West Indies Station

Walter Cowan Royal Navy admiral

Admiral Sir Walter Henry Cowan, 1st Baronet,, known as Tich Cowan, was a British Royal Navy admiral who saw service in both World War I and World War II; in the latter he was one of the oldest British servicemen on active duty.

Admiral Sir Cyril Thomas Moulden Fuller was a senior Royal Navy officer who went on to be Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel.

Vernon Haggard Royal Navy admiral

Admiral Sir Vernon Harry Stuart Haggard, KCB, CMG was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, America and West Indies Station. His career in the Royal Navy spanned forty-four years, from his entry as a youth in 1888 to his promotion to admiral in 1932.

Of note:In 1942 the name of the station was changed to Western Atlantic until 1945 accordingly the title of C-in-C America and West Indies was re-styled Senior British Naval Officer, Western Atlantic. [7] [8] [9]

Senior British Naval Officer, Western Atlantic

Of note after the end of world war two the former name of the station is restored. [10]

Commander-in-Chief, America and West Indies Station

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Leeward Islands Station

The Leeward Islands Station and originally known as the Barbadoes and Leeward Islands Station was a formation or command of the Kingdom of Great Britain and then the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed at English Harbour, Antigua, Leeward Islands from 1743 to 1821.

The Newfoundland Station was a formation or command of, first, the Kingdom of Great Britain and, then, of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. Its official headquarters varied between Portsmouth or Plymouth in England where a squadron of ships would set sail annually each year to protect convoys and the British fishing fleet operating in waters off the Newfoundland coast and would remain for period of approximately six months based at St. John's Harbour. In 1818 the station became a permanent posting headquartered at St John's. It existed from 1729 to 1825.

The Downs Station also known as the Commander-in-Chief, the Downs or Admiral Commanding at the Downs was a former formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain and then the United Kingdom's Royal Navy based at Deal it was considered a major command of the Royal Navy from 1626 until 1834.

The Lisbon Station also known as Lisbon Station and Coast of Spain was a formation of the British Navy operating of the coast of Portugal from 1779 to 1782 before being disbanded and then again from 1783 until 1841.

Admiral Commanding, Reserves

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References

  1. Stout, Neil R. The Royal Navy in America, 1760-1775: A Study of Enforcement of British Colonial Policy in the Era of the American Revolution. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 1973, p.199 via Gaspee Virtual Archives: Research Notes on Admiral John Montagu
  2. Commanders-in-Chief, North America, 1830-99
  3. Commanders-in-Chief 1904 – 1975
  4. Bermuda's Royal Navy base at Ireland Island from 1815 to the 1960s
  5. Senior Royal Navy appointments Archived March 15, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times (36822). London. 17 July 1902. p. 9.
  7. Admiralty, Great Britain (August 1942). The Navy List. London, England: H.M. Stationery Office. p. 1337.
  8. Admiralty, Great Britain (October 1944). The Navy List. London, England: H.M. Stationery Office. p. 2260.
  9. Admiralty, Great Britain (July 1945). The Navy List. London, England: H.M. Stationery Office. p. 2349.
  10. Harris, Dr Edward (3 December 2011). "HERITAGE MATTERS The Royal Gazette:Bermuda Island09". The Royal Gazette. Bermuda: The Bermuda Press. Retrieved 10 October 2018.