The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy.[1] The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between the United Kingdom and the majority of the British Empire in the Eastern Hemisphere. The first Commander-in-Chief for the Mediterranean Fleet was the appointment of General at Sea Robert Blake in September 1654 (styled as Commander of the Mediterranean Fleet).[2] The Fleet was in existence until 1967.
Pre-Second World War
The Royal Navy gained a foothold in the Mediterranean Sea when Gibraltar was captured by the British in 1704 during the War of Spanish Succession, and formally allocated to Britain in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.[3] Though the British had maintained a naval presence in the Mediterranean before, the capture of Gibraltar allowed the British to establish their first naval base there. The British also used Port Mahon, on the island of Menorca, as a naval base. However, British control there was only temporary; Menorca changed hands numerous times, and was permanently ceded to Spain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens.[4] In 1800, the British took Malta, which was to be handed over to the Knights of Malta under the Treaty of Amiens. When the Napoleonic Wars resumed in 1803, the British kept Malta for use as a naval base. Following Napoleon's defeat, the British continued their presence in Malta, and turned it into the main base for the Mediterranean Fleet. Between the 1860s and 1900s, the British undertook a number of projects to improve the harbours and dockyard facilities, and Malta's harbours were sufficient to allow the entire fleet to be safely moored there.[5][6]
In the last decade of the nineteenth century, the Mediterranean Fleet was the largest single squadron of the Royal Navy, with ten first-class battleships—double the number in the Channel Fleet—and a large number of smaller warships.[7]
On 22 June 1893, the bulk of the fleet, eight battleships and three large cruisers, were conducting their annual summer exercises off Tripoli, Lebanon, when the fleet's flagship, the battleship HMS Victoria, collided with the battleship HMS Camperdown. Victoria sank within fifteen minutes, taking 358 crew with her. Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon, commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, was among the dead.[8]
Malta, as part of the British Empire from 1814, was a shipping station and was the headquarters for the Mediterranean Fleet until the mid-1930s. Due to the perceived threat of air-attack from the Italian mainland, the fleet was moved to Alexandria, Egypt, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.[11]
In October 1946, Saumarez hit a mine in the Corfu Channel, starting a series of events known as the Corfu Channel Incident. The channel was cleared in "Operation Recoil" the next month, involving 11 minesweepers under the guidance of Ocean, two cruisers, three destroyers, and three frigates.[14]: 154
In May 1948, Sir Arthur Power took over as Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean, and in his first act arranged a show of force to discourage the crossing of Jewish refugees into Palestine. When later that year Britain pulled out of the British Mandate of Palestine, Ocean, four destroyers, and two frigates escorted the departing High Commissioner, aboard the cruiser Euryalus. The force stayed to cover the evacuation of British troops into the Haifa enclave and south via Gaza.[15]
From 1952 to 1967, the post of Commander in Chief Mediterranean Fleet was given a dual-hatted role as NATOCommander in Chief of Allied Forces Mediterranean in charge of all forces assigned to NATO in the Mediterranean Area. The British made strong representations within NATO in discussions regarding the development of the Mediterranean NATO command structure, wishing to retain their direction of NATO naval command in the Mediterranean to protect their sea lines of communication running through the Mediterranean to the Middle East and Far East.[16] When a NATO naval commander, Admiral Robert B. Carney, C-in-C Allied Forces Southern Europe, was appointed, relations with the incumbent British C-in-C, Admiral Sir John Edelsten, were frosty. Edlesten, on making an apparently friendly offer of the use of communications facilities to Carney, who initially lacked secure communications facilities, was met with "I'm not about to play Faust to your Mephistopheles through the medium of communications!"[16]: 261
From 1957 to 1959, Rear Admiral Charles Madden held the post of Flag Officer, Malta, with responsibilities for three squadrons of minesweepers, an amphibious warfare squadron, and a flotilla of submarines stationed at the bases around Valletta Harbour. In this capacity, he had to employ considerable diplomatic skill to maintain good relations with Dom Mintoff, the nationalistic prime minister of Malta.[18]
In the 1960s, as the importance of maintaining the link between the United Kingdom and British territories and commitments East of Suez decreased as the Empire was dismantled, and the focus of Cold War naval responsibilities moved to the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean Fleet was gradually drawn down, finally disbanding in June 1967. Eric Grove, in Vanguard to Trident, details how by the mid-1960s the permanent strength of the Fleet was "reduced to a single small escort squadron [appears to have been 30th Escort Squadron with HMS Brighton, HMS Cassandra, HMS Aisne plus another ship] and a coastal minesweeper squadron."[14]: 297 Deployments to the Beira Patrol and elsewhere reduced the escort total in 1966 from four to two ships, and then to no frigates at all. The Fleet's assets and area of responsibility were absorbed into the new Western Fleet. As a result of this change, the UK relinquished the NATO post of Commander in Chief, Allied Forces Mediterranean, which was abolished.[19]
Principal officers
Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Sea
Note: This list is incomplete. The majority of officers listed were appointed as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Sea sometimes Commander-in-Chief, at the Mediterranean Sea earlier officers appointed to command either fleets/squadrons stationed in the Mediterranean for particular operations were styled differently see notes next to their listing
During World War I plans were put in place to separate the Mediterranean into specific areas of responsibility. The British were charged with responsibility for Gibraltar, Malta, Egyptian coast, and Aegean in August 1917 Vice Admiral Somerset Gough-Calthorpe became CinC, MF commanding all British forces in the Mediterranean. Overall allied command would remain under the control of the Allied Commander in Chief, who was the head of the French Navy. Vice-Admiral Somerset Gough-Calthorpe was also responsible for coordinating other allied forces in Mediterranean. British forces were divided into a number of sub-commands namely Gibraltar, Malta, the British Adriatic Squadron, the British Aegean Squadron, the Egypt Division and Red Sea and the Black Sea and Marmora Force.[81] Post titles have been put in bold in the notes column.
Warspite August 1939 HMS St Angelo (base, Malta) April 1940 Warspite February 1941
Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet. Vice-Admiral Cunningham was given acting rank of Admiral on 1 June 1940, and promoted to Admiral on 3 January 1941.
Naval Commander Expeditionary Force (NCXF) North Africa and Mediterranean
In February 1943 the Fleet was divided into a command of ships and a command of ports & naval bases: Mediterranean Fleet: Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean Fleet, 15th Cruiser Squadron, Cdre. (D) Levant: Commander-in-Chief, Levant, Alexandria, Malta, Port Said, Haifa, Bizerta, Tripoli, Mersa Matruh, Benghazi, Aden, Bone, Bougie, Philippeville C-in-C Levant was renamed C-in-C Levant and Eastern Mediterranean in late December 1943.[95]
In January 1944 the two separate commands were re-unified with the Flag Officer, Levant and East Mediterranean (FOLEM) reporting to the C-in-C Mediterranean.[96]
The Chief of Staff was the principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-Chief.
The Mediterranean Fleets shore headquarters was initially based at Port Mahon Dockyard, Minorca for most of the eighteenth century. It rotated between Gibraltar and Malta from 1791 to 1812. From 1813 to July 1939 it was permanently at Malta Dockyard. In August 1939 the C-in-C Mediterranean Fleet moved his HQ afloat on board HMS Warspite until April 1940. He was then back onshore at Malta until February 1941. He transferred it again to HMS Warspite until July 1942. In August 1942 headquarters were moved to Alexandria where they remained from June 1940 to February 1943. HQ was changed again but this time in rotation between Algiers and Taranto until June 1944.[94] It then moved back to Malta until it was abolished in 1967.
Parts of the Admiral of Patrols' Auxiliary Patrol during World War One were within the Mediterranean. Several patrol zones were under British authority.
^The Chief of Staff was the principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-Chief.
^The Additional Chief of Staff was the staff officer responsible for providing administrative support to the principle staff officer (PSO).
^Command of the Mediterranean Fleets destroyer flotillas rotated between flag officers different ranks such as Vice-Admiral (D)
^Command of the Mediterranean Fleets destroyer flotillas rotated between flag officers different ranks such as Rear-Admiral (D)
^Command of the Mediterranean Fleets destroyer flotillas rotated between flag officers different ranks such as Commodore (D)
^Commodore, Algeria reported to the C-in-C, Med Fleet from December 1942 to February 1943 the officer then reports to C-in-C, Levant until December 1943
^The Flag Officer, Gibraltar and North Atlantic was elevated to the rank of Admiral from November 1939 until 1943 and did not report to the C-in-C, Med Fleet during this period
^The Senior Officer, Red Sea Force was established in 1939 who reported to the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station. On 21 October 1941 the title is changed to the Flag Officer Commanding, Red Sea and his command but now reporting to the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet until 17 May 1942. On 18 May 1942 the title is changed again to Flag Officer, Commanding Red Sea and Canal Area and his reporting line changed again to the Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Fleet.
^Rear-Admiral, Alexandria reported to the C-in-C, Med Fleet from November 1939 to February 1943 the officer then reports to C-in-C, Levant until December 1943
^The British Adriatic Squadron was later renamed British Adriatic Force
^In February 1943 all existing shore based commands were transferred under the Commander-in-Chief, Levant until January 1944 they then came back under the control of the C-in-C Med Fleet.
^Hawke, Baron Edward Hawke; Mackay, Ruddock F. (1990). The Hawke papers: a selection, 1743–1771. Riga, Latvia: Scolar Press for the Navy Records Society. p. 4. ISBN9780859678308.
^Richmond, Rear-Admiral H. W. (1930). "VI". the navy in the war of 1739–48. Cambridge, England: CUP Archive.
^ abcdefghijklmnPack, S. W. C. (1971). Sea Power in the Mediterranean: A study from the struggle for sea power in the Mediterranean from the seventeenth century to the present day. London: Arthur Barker. p. 232. ISBN0-213-00394-5.
^"Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36781. London. 30 May 1902. p. 10.
^Harley, Simon; Lovell, Tony (23 August 2018). "Suez – The Dreadnought Project". www.dreadnoughtproject.org. Harley and Lovell. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
^Harley, Simon; Lovell, Tony (19 August 2018). "Mudros – The Dreadnought Project". www.dreadnoughtproject.org. Harley and Lovell. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
^Harley, Simon; Lovell, Tony (19 August 2018). "Mudros – The Dreadnought Project". www.dreadnoughtproject.org. Harley and Lovell. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
^Harley, Simon; Lovell, Tony (23 August 2018). "Mudros – The Dreadnought Project". www.dreadnoughtproject.org. Harley and Lovell. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
^Harley, Simon; Lovell, Tony (19 July 2017). "Brindisi – The Dreadnought Project". www.dreadnoughtproject.org. Harley and Lovell. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
^Harley, Simon; Lovell, Tony. "Gibraltar – The Dreadnought Project". www.dreadnoughtproject.org. Harley and Lovell, 26 November 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
^Harley, Simon; Lovell, Tony (19 August 2018). "Mudros – The Dreadnought Project". www.dreadnoughtproject.org. Harley and Lovell. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
^Harley, Simon; Lovell, Tony (23 August 2018). "Taranto – The Dreadnought Project". www.dreadnoughtproject.org. Harley and Lovell. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
^Harley, Simon; Lovell, Tony (21 August 2018). "Trieste – The Dreadnought Project". www.dreadnoughtproject.org. Harley and Lovell. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
Further reading
Corbett, Julian Stafford. England in the Mediterranean; a study of the rise and influence of British power within the Straits, 1603–1713 (1904) online
D'Angelo, Michela. "In the 'English' Mediterranean (1511–1815)." Journal of Mediterranean Studies 12.2 (2002): 271–285.
Dietz, Peter. The British in the Mediterranean (Potomac Books Inc, 1994).
Haggie, Paul. "The royal navy and war planning in the Fisher era." Journal of Contemporary History 8.3 (1973): 113–131. online
Halpern, Paul, ed. (2011). The Mediterranean Fleet, 1919–1929. Publications of the Navy Records Society. Vol. 158. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate for the Navy Records Society. ISBN978-1-409427-56-8.
Hattendorf, John B., ed. Naval Strategy and Power in the Mediterranean: Past, Present and Future (Routledge, 2013).
Holland, Robert. Blue-water empire: the British in the Mediterranean since 1800 (Penguin UK, 2012). excerpt
Holland, Robert. "Cyprus and Malta: two colonial experiences." Journal of Mediterranean Studies 23.1 (2014): 9–20.
Pack, S.W.C Sea Power in the Mediterranean – has a complete list of fleet commanders
Syrett, David. "A Study of Peacetime Operations: The Royal Navy in the Mediterranean, 1752–5." The Mariner's Mirror 90.1 (2004): 42–50.
Williams, Kenneth. Britain And The Mediterranean (1940) online free
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