Commander-in-Chief, North American Station

History

In January 1748 Charles Watson was appointed to command HMS Lion. In March that year he was sent out aboard Lion as commander-in-chief on the Newfoundland and North American station, with a commodore's broad pennant.

Royal Navy ships and vessels in the area were under the command of Commodore Samuel Hood in 1767. The headquarters was located in Halifax from 1758 to 1794, and thereafter in Halifax and Bermuda. Land and buildings for a permanent Naval Yard were purchased by the Royal Navy in 1758 and the Yard was officially commissioned in 1759. Halifax served as the main base for the Royal Navy in North America during the Seven Years' War, the American Revolution, and the French Revolutionary Wars.

Following American independence in 1783, Bermuda was the only British territory left between Nova Scotia and the West Indies. In 1794 the local area commander, Vice Admiral Sir George Murray, sent HMS Cleopatra there to reconnoite the harbour. The establishment of a base there was delayed for a dozen years, however, due to the need to survey the encircling barrier reef to locate channels suitable for large warships. Once this had been completed, a base was established at St. George's in 1794, with the fleet anchoring at Murray's Anchorage in the northern lagoon. The Admiralty also began purchasing land at Bermuda's West End, including Ireland Island, Spanish Point, and smaller islands in the Great Sound with the intent of building the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda, and a permanent naval base there, with its anchorage on Grassy Bay. The construction of this base was to drag on through much of the Nineteenth Century.

Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren was appointed Commander-in-Chief in 1812, and he and his staff seem to have spent most of their time at Bermuda during the War of 1812 (he was replaced by Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane on 1 April 1814), from where the blockade of much of the Atlantic Seaboard of the United States and raids such as the Battle of Craney Island were orchestrated. 2,500 soldiers under Major-General Robert Ross aboard HMS Royal Oak, three frigates, three sloops and ten other vessels, was sent to Bermuda in 1814, following British victory in the Peninsular War. They helped carry out the Chesapeake campaign punitive expedition which included the Raid on Alexandria, the Battle of Bladensburg, and the Burning of Washington, which was launched in August that year.

Disestablishment and successor, SNOWI

On 29 October 1956, the post of Commander-in-Chief, America and West Indies Station, was abolished, leaving the Senior Naval Officer, West Indies as his replacement. SNOWI reported directly to the Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet in the United Kingdom. SNOWI also served as Island Commander Bermuda (ISCOMBERMUDA) in the NATO chain of command, reporting to Commander-in-Chief, Western Atlantic Area, as part of Allied Command Atlantic. The ships of the command were reduced to two Station Frigates.

All remaining Admiralty land in Bermuda, including Admiralty House at Clarence Hill and Ireland Island, along with the War Department lands, were sold to the colonial government in the 1960s.

Newly promoted Commodore Edward Ashmore was the first to hold the combined command of Senior Naval Officer West Indies and Commander British Forces Caribbean Area, plus the existing NATO Island Commander, Bermuda. As Commander British Forces Caribbean Area the incumbent Commodore was directly responsible to the Chief of Defence Staff. Starting in July 1963, Ashmore had under his command three frigates, at various times HMS Londonderry (F108), HMS Caprice, HMS Ursa (R22), and later HMS Tartar (F133), plus a resident battalion of the Army in British Guiana and a reinforced company group in British Honduras.

By the time Ashmore arrived, the dockyard in Bermuda was "in a state of chaos," a "shocking mess," and required much attention and rebuilding. The part of the dockyard still required for naval operations remained under Admiralty control under a ninety-nine year lease as the South Yard Berthing Area, which was commissioned on 1 June 1965 as HMS Malabar, under the command of the RNO. The headquarters of SNOWI and the RNO was set up in Moresby House (originally built in the 1899s as the residence of the civilian Officer in Charge, Works). In December, 1967, the position of RNO Bermuda was abolished, with its duties passing to SNOWI's secretary and SNOWI taking over command of HMS Malabar. As SNOWI was frequently in the West Indies, he was unable to effectively command HMS Malabar and a Lieutenant-Commander was consequently appointed to the roles of Commanding Officer of HMS Malabar and RNO in 1971.

The former Royal Naval wireless station land at Daniels Head was leased to the Royal Canadian Navy on 1 January 1963, for the purpose of a new radio station. It became CFS Daniel's Head when the Royal Canadian Navy became part of the Canadian Forces in 1969.

Sub commands

Jamaica Division consisting of naval vessels

Jamaica Dockyard shore establishment.

Commanders in Chief

Commanders of the station have included:

N = died in post

Commander-in-Chief, North American Station

Commodore Charles Watson (1748–49)

Commodore Augustus Keppel (1754–55)

Vice-Admiral Edward Boscawen (1755–56)

Commodore Lord Colville (November 1759 – October 1762)

Commodore Richard Spry (October 1762 – October 1763)

Rear Admiral Lord Colville (October 1763 – September 1766)

Captain Joseph Deane (September 1766 – November 1766)

Captain Archibald Kennedy (November 1766 – July 1767)

Commodore Samuel Hood (July 1767 – October 1770)

Commodore James Gambier (October 1770 – August 1771)

Rear Admiral John Montagu (August 1771 – June 1774)

Vice Admiral Samuel Graves (June 1774 – January 1776)

Vice Admiral Richard Howe (February 1776 – September 1778)

Vice Admiral James Gambier (1778–79)

Vice Admiral John Byron (1779)

Vice Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot (1779–81)

Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Graves (1781)

Rear Admiral Robert Digby (1781–83)

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

Vice Admiral Sir William Fahie (1821–24)

Vice Admiral Sir Willoughby Lake (1824–27)

Vice Admiral Sir Charles Ogle (1827–30)

Vice Admiral Sir Edward Colpoys (1830–32)

Vice Admiral Sir George Cockburn (1832–36)

Vice Admiral Sir Peter Halkett (1836–37)

Vice Admiral Sir Charles Paget (1837–39) N

Commodore Peter John Douglas (1839)

Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Harvey (1839–41) N

Commodore Peter John Douglas (1841)

Vice Admiral Sir Charles Adam (1841–44)

Vice Admiral Sir Francis Austen (1844–48)

Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane (1848–51)

Vice Admiral Sir George Seymour (1851–53)

Vice Admiral Sir Arthur Fanshawe (1853–56)

Vice Admiral Sir Houston Stewart (1856–60)

Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Milne (1860–64)

Vice Admiral Sir James Hope (1864–67)

Vice Admiral Sir Rodney Mundy (1867–69)

Commander-in-Chief, America and West Indies Station

Vice Admiral Sir Walter Cowan (1926–28)

Vice Admiral Sir Cyril Fuller (1928–30)

Vice Admiral Sir Vernon Haggard (1930–32)

Vice Admiral Sir Reginald Plunkett (1932–34)

Vice Admiral Sir Matthew Best (1934–37)

Vice Admiral Sir Sidney Meyrick (1937–40)

Vice Admiral Sir Charles Kennedy-Purvis (1940–41)

Senior British Naval Officer, Western Atlantic

Vice Admiral Sir Charles Kennedy-Purvis (1942)

Vice Admiral Sir Alban Curteis (1942–44)

Vice Admiral Sir Irvine Glennie (1944–45)

Commander-in-Chief, America and West Indies Station

After the end of the Second World War the former name of the station was restored.|

Vice Admiral Sir William Tennant (1946–49)

Vice Admiral Sir Richard Symonds-Tayler (1949–51)

Vice Admiral Sir William Andrewes (1951–53)

Vice Admiral Sir John Stevens (1953–55)

Vice Admiral Sir John Eaton (1955–56)