Mediterranean Fleet (United Kingdom)

Mediterranean Fleet redirects here. For the Mediterranean Fleets of other countries, see Mediterranean Fleet (disambiguation).

The British Mediterranean Fleet was part of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, historically 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, Mediterranean, may have been named as early as 1665, and the Fleet was in existence until 1967.

Malta, a part of the British Empire since 1814, was used as a shipping waystation and headquarters for the Mediterranean Fleet until the mid-1930s.

In 1893, Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon drowned as his flagship, HMS Victoria, sank within fifteen minutes of a collision with HMS Camperdown. About this time, 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 vessels.

Of the three original Invincible class battlecruisers which entered service in the first half of 1908, two (HMS Inflexible and Indomitable) joined the Mediterranean Fleet in 1914. They and HMS Indefatigable formed the nucleus of the fleet at the start of the First World War when British forces pursued the German ships Goeben and Breslau.

A recently-modernised HMS Warspite became the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief and Second-in-Command, Mediterranean Fleet in 1926.

The Mediterranean Fleet achieved an especially high degree of professional excellence under the leadership of Admiral Roger Keyes from 1926 to 1929. He had under his command such strong figures as Dudley Pound as Chief of Staff, Ginger Boyle, commanding a cruiser squadron and Augustus Agar,V.C. commanding a destroyer flotilla.

Second World War

The fleet was moved to Alexandria, Egypt just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War due to the perceived threat of air-attack from the Italian mainland, a decision which would prove to be costly during the Siege of Malta but which would ensure the continuing safety of the Fleet to enable a sustained fight against the Axis forces.

Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham took command of the fleet in 1939 and in 1940 successfully attacked the Italian Fleet at Taranto by air.

The Fleet had to block Italian and later German reinforcements and supplies for the North African Campaign.

Post War

One of the first major Cold War incidents for the Fleet was the Corfu Channel Incident of mid 1946, in which, after HMS Saumarez was mined in a sweep during October, 'Operation Recoil' cleared the channel of mines in November in which eleven minesweepers were covered by HMS Ocean, two cruisers, three destroyers, and three frigates. More onerous was the prevention of Jews trying to surreptitiously emigrate to Palestine. When Sir Arthur Power took over as Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean, in May 1948, virtually his first act was to arrange a show of force in which Ocean, four destroyers, and two frigates escorts the High Commissioner out of territorial waters aboard the cruiser HMS Euryalus. The force stayed to cover the evacuation of British troops into the Haifa enclave and south via Gaza. In July 1947, after the main force, headed by two carriers, Ocean and Triumph, had visited Istanbul, HMSs Liverpool, HMS Chequers, and Chaplet visited Sevastopol. The battleship Vanguard briefly served with the Fleet in 1949 for six months. Vanguard was back in the Mediterranean briefly in 1954 during combined exercises with the Home Fleet.

From 1952 until 1967, the post of Commander in Chief Mediterranean Fleet was given a dual-hatted role as NATO Commander in Chief Mediterranean in charge of all forces assigned to NATO in the Mediterranean Area. The British made strong representations within NATO discussions over the developing NATO command structure, and wished to retain their direction of NATO naval command in the Mediterranean due to their need to protect their sea lines of communication running through the Mediterranean to the Middle East and Far East. When a NATO naval commander, Admiral Robert B. Carney, C-in-C Allied Forces Southern Europe, was appointed, relations between him and the incumbent British C-in-C, Admiral (Sir John?) Edlesten, were frosty. An apparent friendly offer of communications facilities from Edlesten to Carney, as Carney did not initially have secure communications facilities, was met by the response 'I'm not about to play Faust to your Mephistopheles through the medium of communications!'

Ships of the Fleet took part in the Suez War against Egypt in 1956.

In the 1960s, with the decrease in importance of maintaining the link between the United Kingdom and the Empire East of Suez, as a result of the dismantling of the Empire, and the increasing focus in the Cold War on the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean Fleet was drawn down over a period of time, finally disbanding in June 1967. Eric Groves, 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.' Deployments to the Beira Patrol and elsewhere reduced the escort total in 1966 from four to two ships and then for a period to no frigates at all. The Fleet's assets and area of responsibility were given to the new Western Fleet. As a result of this change, the UK relinquished the NATO post of Commander in Chief Mediterranean, which was disbanded. The Royal Navy maintains a presence with the deployment of a warship to the NATO multi-national squadron Standing Naval Force Mediterranean (STANAVFORMED). The Navy also usually provides a warship to the NATO Mine Countermeasures Force (South).

Commanders in Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet

S.W.C. Pack's Sea Power in the Mediterranean has a complete list of fleet commanders.

Commander-in-chief	From	To	Flagship	Note
John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent	1796	1799
Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson	May 1803	January 1805		Died after Battle of Trafalgar
	1805	1831
Vice-Admiral Henry Hotham	30 March 1831	19 April 1833		Died 19 April 1833.
Vice-Admiral Pulteney Malcolm	3 May 1833	18 December 1833
Vice-Admiral Josias Rowley	18 December 1833	9 February 1837
Admiral Robert Stopford	9 February 1837	14 October 1841
Vice-Admiral Edward Rich Owen	14 October 1841	27 February 1845
Vice-Admiral William Parker	27 February 1845	17 January 1852
Rear-Admiral James Dundas	17 January 1852	1854		Vice-Adm. 17 December 1852
Rear-Admiral Edmund Lyons	1854	22 February 1858		Vice-Adm. 19 March 1857
Vice-Admiral Arthur Fanshawe	22 February 1858	19 April 1860	Marlborough
Vice-Admiral William Martin	19 April 1860	20 April 1863	Marlborough
Vice-Admiral Robert Smart	20 April 1863	28 April 1866	Marlborough then Victoria
Vice-Admiral Lord Clarence Paget	28 April 1866	28 April 1869	Victoria then Caledonia
Vice-Admiral Alexander Milne	28 April 1869	25 October 1870	Lord Warden	Adm. 1 April 1870
Vice-Admiral Hastings Reginald Yelverton	25 October 1870	13 January 1874	Lord Warden
Vice-Admiral James Drummond	13 Jan 1874	15 Jan 1877	Lord Warden then Hercules
Vice-Admiral Geoffrey Hornby	15 Jan 1877	5 Feb 1880	Alexandra	Adm. 15 Jun 1879
Vice-Admiral Frederick Beauchamp Paget Seymour	5 Feb 1880	7 Feb 1883	Inconstant and Alexandra	Adm. 6 May 1882
Vice-Admiral Lord John Hay	7 Feb 1883	5 Feb 1886	Alexandra	Adm. 8 Jul 1884
Vice-Admiral H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh	5 Feb 1886	11 Mar 1889	Alexandra	Adm. 18 Oct 1887
Vice-Admiral Anthony Hiley Hoskins	11 Mar 1889	20 Aug 1891	Alexandra Mar 89 - Dec 89 Camperdown Dec 89 - May 90 Victoria May 90 onwards	Adm. 20 Jun 1891
Vice-Admiral George Tryon	20 Aug 1891	22 Jun 1893	Victoria	Died in commission; lost in Victoria
Admiral Michael Culme-Seymour	29 Jun 1893	10 Nov 1896	Ramillies
Admiral John Hopkins	10 Nov 1896	1 Jul 1899
Admiral John Fisher	1 July 1899	1902	Renown
Admiral Compton Domvile	1902	June 1905
Admiral Lord Charles Beresford	June 1905	February 1907	Bulwark
Admiral Sir Charles Drury	February 1907	1908
Vice-Admiral Sir Assheton Curzon-Howe	1908	1910
Vice-Admiral Sir Edmund Samuel Poe	1910	November 1912
During World War I, the station was divided up in different ways at different times. There was an overall Allied Commander in Chief, who was from the French Navy and is not listed here. Post titles have been put in bold in the notes column.
Admiral Sir Archibald Milne	Nov 1912	27 Aug 1914	Inflexible	Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean
Vice Admiral Sir Sackville Carden	Sep 1914	Feb 1915		Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean
Vice Admiral Sir Sackville Carden	February 1915	16 March 1915		Aegean
Rear-Admiral Sir John de Robeck	17 March 1915	January 1916 (or May 1916?)	Lord Nelson	Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Mediterranean
Rear Admiral Cecil Thursby	August 1916	August 1917		Eastern Mediterranean. Vice Admiral from April 1917
Rear Admiral Cecil Thursby	April? 1915	May? 1915		Aegean
Rear Admiral Sydney Freemantle	August 1917	9? January 1918		Aegean
Rear Admiral Arthur Hayes-Sadler	January 1918			Aegean
Rear Admiral Cecil Lambert	2 April 1918	?		Aegean
Rear Admiral Michael Culme-Seymour	May 1918	?		Aegean
Rear Admiral Richard Peirse		December 1915		C-in-C East Indies. Vice Admiral from 24 October 1914.
Rear Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss	December 1915	June 1917	Euryalus	Commander-in-Chief, East Indies and Egypt Station
Rear Admiral Ernest Gaunt	June 1917	?		C-in-C East Indies.
Rear Admiral Thomas Jackson	July 1917	?		Egypt & Red Sea
Vice Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss	June 1917	July 1917		Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean Never took up appointment.
Admiral Somerset Gough-Calthorpe	26 August 1917	25 July 1919		Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean
Vice-Admiral Sir John de Robeck	26 July 1919	14 May 1922	Iron Duke
Vice Admiral Sir Osmond de Beauvoir Brock	15 May 1922	7 June 1925		Admiral 31 July 1924
Admiral Roger Keyes	8 June 1925	7 June 1928	Warspite
Admiral Sir Frederick Field	8 June 1928	28 May 1930
Admiral Ernle Chatfield	27 May 1930	31 October 1932	Queen Elizabeth
Admiral William Fisher	31 October 1932	19 March 1936	Resolution later Queen Elizabeth
Admiral Sir Dudley Pound	20 March 1936	31 May 1939
During World War II, the Mediterranean Station was split between commands some of the time. Post titles in the notes column.
A/Admiral Sir Andrew B. Cunningham	1 June 1939 6 Jun 1939 assumed command	March 1942	Warspite Aug 1939 HMS St Angelo (base, Malta) Apr 1940 Warspite Feb 1941	Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet. Vice-Admiral Cunningham was given acting rank of Admiral on 1 June 1930, and promoted to Admiral on 3 January 1941.
A/Admiral Sir Henry H. Harwood	22 April 1942	February 1943	Warspite HMS Nile (base, Alexandria) Aug 1942	Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet. Vice-Admiral Harwood was given acting rank of Admiral.
Admiral Sir Andrew B. Cunningham	1 November 1942	20 February 1943	HMS Hannibal (base, Algiers)	Naval Commander Expeditionary Force (NCXF) North Africa and Mediterranean
In the first half of 1943 the Mediterranean Fleet Command was split into a command of ships and a command of ports & naval bases: Mediterranean Fleet: C-in-C Med Fleet, 15th Cruiser Squadron, Cdre. (D) Levant: C-in-C Levant, Alexandria, Malta, Port Said, Haifa, Bizerta, Tripoli, Mersa Matruh, Benghazi, Aden, Bone, Bougie, Philippeville Levant was renamed Eastern Mediterranean in late December 1943.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Andrew B. Cunningham	20 February 1943	15 October 1943	HMS Hannibal (base, Algiers/Taranto)	Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet.
Admiral John H. D. Cunningham	15 October 1943	February 1946	HMS Hannibal (base, Algiers/Taranto)	Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Station & Allied Naval Commander Mediterranean
A/Admiral John H. D. Cunningham	5 June 1943	August 1943	HMS Nile (base, Alexandria)	Commander-in-Chief, Levant.
Vice Admiral Sir Algernon U. Willis temporary	14 October 1943	December 1943	HMS Nile (base, Alexandria)	Commander-in-Chief, Levant.
Vice Admiral H. Bernard Rawlings	28 December 1943	June 1944	HMS Nile (base, Alexandria) April 1944	Flag Officer, Eastern Mediterranean. From 8 June 1944 Sir H. Bernard Rawlings
Admiral Sir Algernon Willis	1946	1948
Admiral (Sir John?) Edlesten	1950?	1952		Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean
Admiral Earl Mountbatten of Burma	1952	1954		Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean
ADM Sir G. Grantham	10 Dec 1954	10 Apr 57
Vice Admiral Sir R.A.B. Edwards	10 Apr 57	11 Nov 58
Admiral Sir Charles Lambe	11 Nov 58	2 Feb 59
Admiral Sir A.N.C. Bingley	2 Feb 59	30 Jun 61
Admiral Sir D. Holland-Martin	30 Jun 61	1 Feb 64
Admiral Sir John Hamilton	1 Feb 1964	5 June 1967

The list from 30 March 1831 to 1 July 1899 is taken from Principal Royal Navy Commanders-in-Chief 1830-1899

Notes

References

• Eric J. Grove, Vanguard to Trident, Naval Institute Press/The Bodley Head, London, 1987