The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. 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 India.
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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 India. General at Sea Robert Blake was appointed as the first commander in September 1654.2 The Fleet was in existence until 1967.
The fleet's 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 flag 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 until February 1943. HQ was changed again but this time in rotation between Algiers and Taranto until June 1944.3 It then moved back to Malta until it was abolished in 1967.
From the 1700s
The Royal Navy gained a foothold in the Mediterranean when Gibraltar was captured from Spain by Anglo-Dutch forces in August 1704 during the War of Spanish Succession and formally ceded to Britain in the 1713 Peace of Utrecht.4 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 , on the island of , as a . However, British control there was only temporary; Menorca changed hands numerous times, and was permanently ceded to Spain in 1802 under the .
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. The first Resident Commissioner of the Malta Dockyard, a serving RN captain, was appointed soon afterwards. Following Napoleon's defeat, the British continued their presence in Malta, and turned it into the main base for the Mediterranean Fleet. The commissioner of the dockyard was upgraded to a Rear-Admiral's position as Admiral Superintendent Malta in 1832.6 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.7
In 1884–85, Commodore Robert More-Molyneux commanded the ships in the Red Sea, seemingly the Red Sea Division, during the Mahdist War.8 He protected Suakin till the arrival of Sir Gerald Graham's expedition in 1885.9
In the last decade of the nineteenth century, the Mediterranean Fleet was the largest single force in the Royal Navy, with ten first-class battleships—double the number in the Channel Fleet—and a large number of smaller warships.10 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.11
In September 1910, the 6th Cruiser Squadron was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet, until a large fleet reorganisation in 1912. From May 1912, the 1st Cruiser Squadron operated in the Mediterranean.12
In 1915 the Allies sent a substantial invasion force of British, Indian, Australian, New Zealand, French and Newfoundland troops to attempt to open up the straits. In the Gallipoli campaign, Ottoman troops trapped the Allies on the coasts of the Gallipoli peninsula. The Ottomans mined the straits to prevent Allied ships from penetrating them but, in minor actions two submarines, one British and one Australian, did succeed in penetrating the minefields. The British submarine HMS E11 sank the Ottoman pre-dreadnought battleshipBarbaros Hayreddin off the Golden Horn on 8 August 1915. Sir Ian Hamilton's Mediterranean Expeditionary Force failed in its attempt to capture the Gallipoli peninsula, and the British cabinet ordered its withdrawal in December 1915, after eight months' fighting. Total deaths included 41,000 British and Irish,15 15,000 French, and over 11,000 others, in comparison to over 86,000 Turkish.16
After the beginning of the Dardanelles campaign, the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron later known as the British Aegean Squadron was based at Mudros.17 It then alternated between Mudros on the island of Lemnos and Salonika from 1917 until it was dispersed in 1919.1819 Thereafter there was a commodore stationed at Smyrna in 1919 to 1920.20
In August 1917 Vice-Admiral Somerset Gough-Calthorpe became Commander-in-Chief, commanding all British naval forces in the Mediterranean.21
Malta, a part of the British Empire from 1814, 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.23 From January 1937, the Flag Officer, Malta was a vice-admiral's position,3 the first being Vice-Admiral Sir Wilbraham Ford.24
This required early revision of the Mediterranean naval command areas. ..Admiral Cunningham.. would remain in supreme command of the maritime side of the next Allied assault. It was therefore logical that his authority should be extended to include the bases from which the expedition would be launched, and all the waters across which it would pass. Accordingly on the 20th of February Cunningham relinquished his title of Naval Commander, Expeditionary Force, and resumed his former, and perhaps more famous position as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean. His jurisdiction now extended not only over the whole of the western basin, but over the greater part of the former North Atlantic Command. Admiral Harwood became Commander-in-Chief, Levant instead of Mediterranean, and the boundary between Cunningham's and Harwood's commands was shifted further east. It now ran from the Tunis-Tripoli frontier to 35° North 16° East, and thence to Cape Spartivento on the 'toe' of Italy.3 Admiral Cunningham thus became responsible for the whole Tunisian coast, in whose ports part of the expedition against Sicily was to be prepared and trained, for the key position of Malta and for the waters around Sicily itself. All the naval forces based on Malta, including the famous 10th Submarine Flotilla and the hard hitting surface striking forces, came under him once more; and he was also given powers to arrange the distribution of naval forces between the Levant and Mediterranean commands to suit his requirements.
Post war
In 1946 the flag officer's position in Malta was downgraded to a rear admiral once more. 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.29
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.30
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.31 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!"31
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.33
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."34 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.35
Commanders-in-Chief, Mediterranean
The first Commander-in-Chief for the Mediterranean Fleet may have been named as early as 1665.36
The Chief of Staff Mediterranean Fleet 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. Post existed from 1893 to 1967.3
Senior Flag Officers
In 1938–39, Vice-Admiral J.C. Tovey held command of destroyers in the Mediterranean; from May 1941 to August 1942 Rear-Admiral I.G. Glennie served as Rear-Admiral, Destroyers; and from September 1942 to October 1943 Commodore P. Todd served as Commodore (Destroyers).3
Subordinate formations
At various times included the following:
Parts of the Admiral of Patrols' Auxiliary Patrol during World War One were within the Mediterranean. Several patrol zones were under British authority.
In addition, Rear-Admiral R.J.R. Scott served as the Rear-Admiral, Training Establishments Mediterranean, supervising the training base HMS Canopus at Alexandria, Egypt from May to August 1942.393
Shore sub-commands
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.
James, Admiral Sir William (1943). Admiral Sir William Fisher. Macmillan.
Pack, 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. ISBN0-213-00394-5.
Roskill, Stephen (1956). The War at Sea: Volume II: The Period of Balance. HM Stationery Office.
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.
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
Warlow, Ben (20 March 2000). "6". Shore establishments of the Royal Navy : being a list of the static ships and establishments of the Royal Navy (2nd ed.). Cornwall, England: Maritime. ISBN9780907771739. ↩
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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 India. General at Sea Robert Blake was appointed as the first commander in September 1654.2 The Fleet was in existence until 1967.
The fleet's 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 flag 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 until February 1943. HQ was changed again but this time in rotation between Algiers and Taranto until June 1944.3 It then moved back to Malta until it was abolished in 1967.
From the 1700s
The Royal Navy gained a foothold in the Mediterranean when Gibraltar was captured from Spain by Anglo-Dutch forces in August 1704 during the War of Spanish Succession and formally ceded to Britain in the 1713 . 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 , on the island of , as a . However, British control there was only temporary; Menorca changed hands numerous times, and was permanently ceded to Spain in 1802 under the .
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. The first Resident Commissioner of the Malta Dockyard, a serving RN captain, was appointed soon afterwards. Following Napoleon's defeat, the British continued their presence in Malta, and turned it into the main base for the Mediterranean Fleet. The commissioner of the dockyard was upgraded to a Rear-Admiral's position as Admiral Superintendent Malta in 1832.6 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.7
In 1884–85, Commodore Robert More-Molyneux commanded the ships in the Red Sea, seemingly the Red Sea Division, during the Mahdist War.8 He protected Suakin till the arrival of Sir Gerald Graham's expedition in 1885.9
In the last decade of the nineteenth century, the Mediterranean Fleet was the largest single force in the Royal Navy, with ten first-class battleships—double the number in the Channel Fleet—and a large number of smaller warships.10 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.11
In September 1910, the 6th Cruiser Squadron was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet, until a large fleet reorganisation in 1912. From May 1912, the 1st Cruiser Squadron operated in the Mediterranean.12
In 1915 the Allies sent a substantial invasion force of British, Indian, Australian, New Zealand, French and Newfoundland troops to attempt to open up the straits. In the Gallipoli campaign, Ottoman troops trapped the Allies on the coasts of the Gallipoli peninsula. The Ottomans mined the straits to prevent Allied ships from penetrating them but, in minor actions two submarines, one British and one Australian, did succeed in penetrating the minefields. The British submarine HMS E11 sank the Ottoman pre-dreadnought battleshipBarbaros Hayreddin off the Golden Horn on 8 August 1915. Sir Ian Hamilton's Mediterranean Expeditionary Force failed in its attempt to capture the Gallipoli peninsula, and the British cabinet ordered its withdrawal in December 1915, after eight months' fighting. Total deaths included 41,000 British and Irish,15 15,000 French, and over 11,000 others, in comparison to over 86,000 Turkish.16
After the beginning of the Dardanelles campaign, the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron later known as the British Aegean Squadron was based at Mudros.17 It then alternated between Mudros on the island of Lemnos and Salonika from 1917 until it was dispersed in 1919.1819 Thereafter there was a commodore stationed at Smyrna in 1919 to 1920.20
In August 1917 Vice-Admiral Somerset Gough-Calthorpe became Commander-in-Chief, commanding all British naval forces in the Mediterranean.21
Malta, a part of the British Empire from 1814, 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.23 From January 1937, the Flag Officer, Malta was a vice-admiral's position,3 the first being Vice-Admiral Sir Wilbraham Ford.24
This required early revision of the Mediterranean naval command areas. ..Admiral Cunningham.. would remain in supreme command of the maritime side of the next Allied assault. It was therefore logical that his authority should be extended to include the bases from which the expedition would be launched, and all the waters across which it would pass. Accordingly on the 20th of February Cunningham relinquished his title of Naval Commander, Expeditionary Force, and resumed his former, and perhaps more famous position as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean. His jurisdiction now extended not only over the whole of the western basin, but over the greater part of the former North Atlantic Command. Admiral Harwood became Commander-in-Chief, Levant instead of Mediterranean, and the boundary between Cunningham's and Harwood's commands was shifted further east. It now ran from the Tunis-Tripoli frontier to 35° North 16° East, and thence to Cape Spartivento on the 'toe' of Italy.3 Admiral Cunningham thus became responsible for the whole Tunisian coast, in whose ports part of the expedition against Sicily was to be prepared and trained, for the key position of Malta and for the waters around Sicily itself. All the naval forces based on Malta, including the famous 10th Submarine Flotilla and the hard hitting surface striking forces, came under him once more; and he was also given powers to arrange the distribution of naval forces between the Levant and Mediterranean commands to suit his requirements.
Post war
In 1946 the flag officer's position in Malta was downgraded to a rear admiral once more. 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.29
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.30
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.31 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!"31
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.33
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."34 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.35
Commanders-in-Chief, Mediterranean
The first Commander-in-Chief for the Mediterranean Fleet may have been named as early as 1665.36
The Chief of Staff Mediterranean Fleet 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. Post existed from 1893 to 1967.3
Senior Flag Officers
In 1938–39, Vice-Admiral J.C. Tovey held command of destroyers in the Mediterranean; from May 1941 to August 1942 Rear-Admiral I.G. Glennie served as Rear-Admiral, Destroyers; and from September 1942 to October 1943 Commodore P. Todd served as Commodore (Destroyers).3
Subordinate formations
At various times included the following:
Parts of the Admiral of Patrols' Auxiliary Patrol during World War One were within the Mediterranean. Several patrol zones were under British authority.
In addition, Rear-Admiral R.J.R. Scott served as the Rear-Admiral, Training Establishments Mediterranean, supervising the training base HMS Canopus at Alexandria, Egypt from May to August 1942.393
Shore sub-commands
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.
James, Admiral Sir William (1943). Admiral Sir William Fisher. Macmillan.
Pack, 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. ISBN0-213-00394-5.
Roskill, Stephen (1956). The War at Sea: Volume II: The Period of Balance. HM Stationery Office.
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.
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
Warlow, Ben (20 March 2000). "6". Shore establishments of the Royal Navy : being a list of the static ships and establishments of the Royal Navy (2nd ed.). Cornwall, England: Maritime. ISBN9780907771739. ↩