The Commander-in-Chief, China was the admiral in command of what was usually known as the China Station, at once both a British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

naval formation and its admiral in command. It was created in 1865 and deactivated in 1941. From 1831 to 1865, the

East Indies Station The East Indies Station was a formation and command of the British Royal Navy. Created in 1744 by the Admiralty, it was under the command of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies. Even in official documents, the term ''East Indies Station'' was ...

and the China Station were a single command known as the

East Indies and China Station The Commander-in-Chief, East Indies and China was a formation of the Royal Navy from 1831 to 1865. Its naval area of responsibility was the Indian Ocean and the coasts of China and its navigable rivers. The Commander-in-Chief was appointed in 1 ...

.William Loney RN
/ref> The China Station, established in 1865, had as its area of responsibility the coasts of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and its navigable rivers, the western part of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, and the waters around the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

. The navy often co-operated with British commercial interests in this area. Navy Office Singapore

The formation had bases at

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

(

Singapore Naval Base His Majesty's Naval Base, Singapore, also Her Majesty's Naval Base, Singapore (HMNB Singapore), alternatively known as the Singapore Naval Base, Sembawang Naval Base and HMS Sembawang, was situated in Sembawang at the northern tip of Singapore ...

), HMS ''Tamar'' (1865–1941 and 1945–1997) in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and Wei Hai (at

Liugong Island Liugong Island () is a small island located on the northeastern edge of Shandong Peninsula, China at the mouth of Weihai Bay. It is known as the "birthplace of China's first modern navy" and is also the site of its defeat in the First Sino-Japane ...

) (1898–1940). The China Station complement usually consisted of several older light cruisers and destroyers, and the Chinese rivers were patrolled by a flotilla of suitable, shallow-draught

gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...

s, referred to as "China gunboats". Ships on this station usually had a distinctive livery of white hull and superstructure and dark funnels. Between the two world wars, the

Insect class gunboat The Insect-class gunboats (or large China gunboats) were a class of small, but well-armed Royal Navy ships designed for use in shallow rivers or inshore. They were intended for use on the Danube against Austria-Hungary (the China name was to d ...

s were mainly used in the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

and they were present during the Japanese invasion of China. In 1937, on the

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

river, the Japanese attacked , firing on her from a shore battery. A U.S. gunboat, was also attacked, by Japanese aircraft, and sunk. ''Ladybird'' sailed the 20 miles to the scene of the sinking, took on board some of the ''Panay'' survivors and took them to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. ''Scarab'' and ''Cricket'' were off Nanking in 1937 as the Japanese started to bomb the city. In response to increased Japanese threats, the separate China Station was merged with the

in December 1941 to form the

Eastern Fleet Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways * Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 * Eastern Air ...

Commanders-in-Chief, China

References

{{Royal Navy fleets Commanders-in-chief of the Royal Navy Military units and formations of the Royal Navy in World War I Military units and formations of the Royal Navy in World War II Military units and formations disestablished in 1941

Commanders-in-Chief, China

See also

References