Mediterranean Fleet
The battleshipsBulwark,Renown andRamillies at Malta in 1902
Active	September 1654 – 5 June 1967
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Navy
Type	Fleet
Garrison/HQ	Admiralty House, Malta
Commanders
Notable commanders	Samuel Hood,Horatio Nelson,Andrew Cunningham

The BritishMediterranean Fleet, also known as theMediterranean Station, was aformation of theRoyal 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 SeaRobert 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 atPort Mahon Dockyard,Minorca for most of the eighteenth century. It rotated betweenGibraltar andMalta from 1791 to 1812. From 1813 to July 1939 it was permanently atMalta Dockyard. In August 1939 the C-in-C Mediterranean Fleet moved his flag afloat on boardHMS Warspite until April 1940. He was then back onshore at Malta until February 1941. He transferred it again to HMSWarspite until July 1942. In August 1942 headquarters were moved toAlexandria where they remained until February 1943. HQ was changed again but this time in rotation betweenAlgiers andTaranto until June 1944.^[3] It then moved back to Malta until it was abolished in 1967.

TheRoyal Navy gained a foothold in the Mediterranean Sea whenGibraltar wascaptured by the British in 1704 during theWar of Spanish Succession, and formally allocated to Britain in the 1713Treaty of Utrecht.^[4] Though the British had maintained a naval presence in the Mediterranean before, the capture ofGibraltar allowed the British to establish their first naval base there. The British also usedPort Mahon, on the island ofMenorca, as anaval base. However, British control there was only temporary; Menorca changed hands numerous times, and was permanently ceded to Spain in 1802 under theTreaty of Amiens.^[5]

In 1800, the British tookMalta, which was to be handed over to theKnights of Malta under the Treaty of Amiens. When theNapoleonic Wars resumed in 1803, the British kept Malta for use as a naval base. The first Resident Commissioner of theMalta 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 asAdmiral 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, CommodoreRobert More-Molyneux commanded the ships in the Red Sea, seemingly the Red Sea Division, during theMahdist War.^[8] He protected Suakin till the arrival of SirGerald 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 theChannel Fleet—and a large number of smaller warships.^[10] On 22 June 1893, the bulk of the fleet, eightbattleships and three largecruisers, were conducting their annual summer exercises offTripoli,Lebanon, when the fleet's flagship, the battleshipHMS Victoria, collided with the battleshipHMS Camperdown.Victoria sank within fifteen minutes, taking 358 crew with her.Vice-Admiral SirGeorge Tryon, commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, was among the dead.^[11]

In September 1910, the6th Cruiser Squadron was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet, until a large fleet reorganisation in 1912. From May 1912, the1st Cruiser Squadron operated in the Mediterranean.^[12]

TwoInvincible-class battlecruisers, (Inflexible andIndomitable) joined the Mediterranean Fleet in 1914. They andIndefatigable formed the nucleus of the fleet at the start of theFirst World War when British forcespursued the German shipsGoeben andBreslau.^[13]

DuringWorld War I responsibility for various areas in the Mediterranean was split between the Allies, operating under a French commander-in-chief, AdmiralAugustin Boué de Lapeyrère. The British were responsible for Gibraltar, Malta, Egyptian coast, and the Aegean. Vice-Admiral Somerset Gough-Calthorpe was also responsible for coordinating other allied forces in Mediterranean. British forces were divided into theGibraltar andMalta forces, theBritish Adriatic Squadron, theBritish Aegean Squadron, theEgypt Division and Red Sea and theBlack Sea and Marmora Force.^[14]

In 1915 theAllies sent a substantial invasion force of British, Indian, Australian, New Zealand, French and Newfoundland troops to attempt to open up the straits. In theGallipoli campaign, Turkish troops trapped the Allies on the coasts of the Gallipoli peninsula. The Turks 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 sank an obsolete Turkishpre-dreadnought battleship off theGolden Horn of Istanbul.Sir Ian Hamilton'sMediterranean 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 theDardanelles campaign, theEastern Mediterranean Squadron later known as the British Aegean Squadron was based atMudros.^[17] It then alternated between Mudros on the island ofLemnos andSalonika from 1917 until it was dispersed in 1919.^[18][19] Thereafter there was a commodore stationed atSmyrna in 1919 to 1920.^[20]

In August 1917 Vice-AdmiralSomerset Gough-Calthorpe became Commander-in-Chief, commanding all British naval forces in the Mediterranean.^[21]

A recently modernisedWarspite became the flagship of theCommander-in-Chief andSecond-in-Command, Mediterranean Fleet in 1926.^[22]

Malta, a part of theBritish 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 toAlexandria,Egypt, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.^[23] From January 1937, theFlag Officer, Malta was a vice-admiral's position,^[3] the first being Vice-Admiral SirWilbraham Ford.^[24]

Sir Andrew Cunningham took command of the fleet fromWarspite on 3 September 1939, and under him the major formations of the Fleet were the1st Battle Squadron under Vice-AdmiralGeoffrey Layton (Warspite,Barham, andMalaya)1st Cruiser Squadron (Devonshire,Shropshire, andSussex),3rd Cruiser Squadron (Arethusa,Penelope,Galatea), Rear AdmiralJohn Tovey, with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Destroyer Flotillas, and the aircraft carrierGlorious.^[25]

In 1940, the Mediterranean Fleet carried out a successful aircraft carrier attack on theItalian Fleet atTaranto by air. Other major actions included theBattle of Cape Matapan and theBattle of Crete. The Fleet had to block Italian and later German reinforcements and supplies for theNorth African Campaign.^[26]

TheFlag Officer, Red Sea and his forces became part of the fleet in October 1941, but became part of theEastern Fleet in May 1942.^[27]

After the Axis had been driven out of Africa, the next major offensive was to be theAllied invasion of Sicily.^[28]Stephen Roskill, inThe War at Sea writes:

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 becameCommander-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 toCape 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 famous10th 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.

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 theCorfu Channel Incident. The channel was cleared in "Operation Recoil" the next month, involving 11 minesweepers under the guidance ofOcean, two cruisers, three destroyers, and three frigates.^[29]

In May 1948, SirArthur 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 intoPalestine. When later that year Britain pulled out of theBritish Mandate of Palestine,Ocean, four destroyers, and two frigates escorted the departing High Commissioner, aboard the cruiserEuryalus. The force stayed to cover the evacuation of British troops into theHaifa enclave and south via Gaza.^[30]

From 1952 to 1967, the post of Commander in Chief Mediterranean Fleet was given a dual-hatted role asNATOCommander in Chief ofAllied 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 theirsea lines of communication running through the Mediterranean to the Middle East and Far East.^[31] When a NATO naval commander, AdmiralRobert B. Carney, C-in-CAllied Forces Southern Europe, was appointed, relations with the incumbent British C-in-C, Admiral SirJohn 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 playFaust to yourMephistopheles through the medium of communications!"^[31]: 261

In 1956, ships of the fleet, together with theFrench Navy, took part in theSuez War againstEgypt.^[32]

From 1957 to 1959, Rear AdmiralCharles Madden held the post ofFlag 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 withDom Mintoff, the nationalistic prime minister ofMalta.^[33]

In the 1960s, as the importance of maintaining the link between the United Kingdom and British territories and commitmentsEast of Suez decreased as theEmpire was dismantled, and the focus ofCold War naval responsibilities moved to the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean Fleet was gradually drawn down, finally disbanding in June 1967. Eric Grove, inVanguard 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 withHMS Brighton,HMS Cassandra,HMS Aisne plus another ship] and a coastal minesweeper squadron."^[34] Deployments to theBeira 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 newWestern Fleet. As a result of this change, the UK relinquished the NATO post of Commander in Chief,Allied Forces Mediterranean, which was abolished.^[35]

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.

The first Commander-in-Chief for the Mediterranean Fleet may have been named as early as 1665.^[60] Commanders-in-chief have included:^[61][62]

TheChief of Staff Mediterranean Fleet was the principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primaryaide-de-camp to the Commander-in-Chief. Post existed from 1893 to 1967.^[3]

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]

At various times included the following:

Parts of theAdmiral 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 baseHMSCanopus atAlexandria,Egypt from May to August 1942.^[121][3]

In February 1943 all existing shore based commands were transferred under theCommander-in-Chief, Levant until January 1944 they then came back under the control of the C-in-C Med Fleet.

Shore sub-commands included:

• Bruce, Anthony; Cogar, William (2014).Encyclopedia of Naval History. Cambridge, England: Routledge.ISBN 9781135935344.
• Burt, R. A. (2013).British Battleships 1889-1904: New Revised Edition. Barnsley, England: Seaforth Publishing.ISBN 9781848322745.ISBN 9781848321731
• Grove, Eric J. (1987).Vanguard to Trident: British Naval Policy since World War II. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 978-0870215520.
• Harrison, Simon (2018)."Commander-in-Chief at The Mediterranean Sea".threedecks.org. S. Harrison [2010-2018]. Retrieved7 January 2019.
• Houterman, Jerome N.; Koppes, Jeroen (2004–2006)."Royal Navy, Mediterranean Fleet 1939–1945".www.unithistories.com. Houterman and Koppes. Retrieved27 September 2018.
• 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.ISBN 0-213-00394-5.
• Raugh, Harold E. Jr. (2008).British Military Operations in Egypt and the Sudan: A Selected Bibliography. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press.ISBN 9781461657002.
• Roskill, Stephen (1956).The War at Sea: Volume II: The Period of Balance. HM Stationery Office.

• 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.ISBN 978-1-409427-56-8.
• 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

• Fleets of the Royal Navy
• Military units and formations of the Royal Navy in World War II
• Crete in World War II
• 1967 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
• Military units and formations established in 1690
• Military units and formations disestablished in 1967
• 1690 establishments in the British Empire
• Military history of the Mediterranean

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