The Commander-in-Chief, North Sea, was senior appointment and an operational

command Command may refer to: Computing * Command (computing), a statement in a computer language * COMMAND.COM, the default operating system shell and command-line interpreter for DOS * Command key, a modifier key on Apple Macintosh computer keyboards * ...

of the 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 ...

originally based at Great Yarmouth from 1745 to 1802 then at Ramsgate from 1803 until 1815. The office holder commanded the North Sea Fleet.

History

The North Sea has traditionally been an important command from the 13th to 15th centuries there was an Admiral of the North based at Yarmouth that office ceased when it was unified with the new office of Admiral of England. During the 16th and 17th centuries Vice Admirals in the North Sea were appointed to the command of the

North Sea Squadron The North Sea Squadron was a temporary naval formation of the Tudor Navy Royal during the sixteenth century operating out of Newcastle, England. Command of the squadron was usually vested in the Vice-Admiral in the North Sea. Historical ba ...

though on an intermittent basis. From 1652 to 1654 Yarmouth used by the Royal Navy for stationing its fleets during the

First Anglo-Dutch War The First Anglo-Dutch War, or simply the First Dutch War, ( nl, Eerste Engelse (zee-)oorlog, "First English (Sea) War"; 1652–1654) was a conflict fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Province ...

. A more permanent appointment was then established in 1745 the Commander-in-Chief, North Sea he had overall responsibility for the North Sea Fleet usually anchored at

Yarmouth Roads Yarmouth Roads is a coastal feature in Norfolk, England that was used by merchant and naval ships as an anchorage or roadstead off Great Yarmouth. Description The following is a description of Yarmouth Roads that appeared in The Nautical Magazi ...

. The fleet is most well known for its key role in the Battle of Camperdown against the

Dutch Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy ( nl, Koninklijke Marine, links=no) is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. During the 17th century, the navy of the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) was one of the most powerful naval forces in the world an ...

on the 11 October 1797 which resulted in a decisive British victory. The fleet was also involved in trade protection with the advent of the looming

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

and later it turned to the blockading of enemy ports. The fleet also played an instrumental part in the

British anti-invasion preparations of 1803–05 British anti-invasion preparations of 1803–05 were the military and civilian responses in the United Kingdom to Napoleon I of France, Napoleon's Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom, planned invasion of the United Kingdom. They inclu ...

in response to

Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom at the start of the War of the Third Coalition, although never carried out, was a major influence on British naval strategy and the fortification of the coast of southeast England. French attempt ...

. It would be in May 1804 that the North Sea Fleet under the Commander-in-Chief, North Sea Admiral of the White: George Elphinstone, Viscount Keith would reach its largest composition. It consisted of some 170-179 ships (according to sources given) and divided primarily between squadrons each commanded by competent admirals. The office was abolished in 1815 and its former duties were taken over by the

Commander-in-Chief, The Nore The Commander-in-Chief, The Nore, was an operational commander of the Royal Navy. His subordinate units, establishments, and staff were sometimes informally known as the Nore Station or Nore Command. The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of the T ...

whose role and geographic area of command was re-defined by the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

Commander-in-Chief, North Sea

Included: *

Rear-Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

John Byng Admiral John Byng (baptised 29 October 1704 – 14 March 1757) was a British Royal Navy officer who was court-martialled and executed by firing squad. After joining the navy at the age of thirteen, he participated at the Battle of Cape Pass ...

, 1745–1746. *

Thomas Smith, 1746–1747. *

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore ...

John Towry, 1747. * Vice-Admiral Hyde Parker, 1781-1782 *

Keith Stewart, 1782 *

John Lockhart-Ross Vice-Admiral Sir John Lockhart-Ross, 6th Baronet (11 November 1721 – 9 June 1790), known as John Lockhart from 1721 to 1760, was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the War of the Austrian Succession, Seven Years' War, and the ...

, 1782. * Vice-Admiral

Mark Milbanke Admiral Mark Milbanke (12 April 1724 – 9 June 1805) was a British naval officer and colonial governor. Military career Milbanke was born into an aristocratic Yorkshire family with naval connections, his father was Sir Ralph Milbanke, 4th Bar ...

, 1782–1783. ''No fleet present 1784-1789'' * Vice-Admiral Samuel Hood, 1790. ''No fleet present 1791-1793'' *

Henry Harvey Admiral Sir Henry Harvey KB (Bef. 4 Aug 1737 – 28 December 1810) was a long-serving officer of the British Royal Navy during the second half of the eighteenth century. Harvey participated in numerous naval operations and actions and espec ...

, 1794–1795. * Vice-Admiral Lord Duncan, 1795-1800 * Admiral

Archibald Dickson Admiral Sir Archibald Dickson, 1st Baronet (c.1739–1803) was a Royal Navy officer. Naval career He was born around 1739 the son of Archibald Dickson. He initially entered the merchant navy in 1752. He moved to the Royal Navy in 1755 and pa ...

, 1800-1802 * Admiral Lord Keith, 1803-07 *

Thomas Macnamara Russell, 1807-1810 *

Sir Richard Strachan, 1809–1810. * Vice-Admiral

Sir Edward Pellew Admiral Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB (19 April 1757 – 23 January 1833) was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. His younger brother I ...

, 1810–1811. * Admiral Sir William Young, 1811–1815.

References

Sources

* A New Biographical Dictionary, of 3000 Cotemporary Public Characters, British and Foreign, of All Ranks and Professions. G. B. Whittaker. 1835. * Archives, The National. "Admiralty: Nore Station: Correspondence". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. The National Archives, 1805–1939, ADM 151. * Blake, Richard (2008). Evangelicals in the Royal Navy, 1775-1815: Blue Lights & Psalm-singers. Boydell Press. . * Chambers, Robert; Thomson, Thomas (1855). A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen: Crichton-Hamilton, John. Blackie. * Clarke, James Stanier; McArthur, John (2010). The Naval Chronicle: Volume 3, January–July 1800: Containing a General and Biographical History of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom with a Variety of Original Papers on Nautical Subjects. Cambridge University Press. * Davies, J. D. (2008). Pepys Navy: Ships, Men and Warfare 1649–89. Seaforth Publishing. . * Ireland, Bernard (2001), Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail - War at Sea 1756–1815, 1st Ed, WW Norton & Co. . * Knighton, edited by C.S.; Loades, David (2011). The Navy of Edward VI and Mary I. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate for the Navy Records Society. . * Loades, D. M. (1996). John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, 1504–1553. Wotton-under-Edge, England: Clarendon Press. . * Mace, Martin; Grehan, John (Nov 14, 2013). British Battles of the Napoleonic Wars 1793-1806: Despatched from the Front. Pen and Sword. . * Marshall, John (2010). Royal Naval Biography: Or, Memoirs of the Services of All the Flag-Officers, Superannuated Rear-Admirals, Retired-Captains, Post-Captains, and Commanders. Cambridge University Press. . * * Palmer, Charles John (1856). The History of Great Yarmouth, Designed as a Continuation of Manship's History of that Town. Louis Alfred Meall, The Quay. * Pettigrew, Thomas Joseph (1849). Memoirs of the Life of Vice-Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson. T. and W. Boone. * Rodger, N.A.M. (2004), The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649–1815. New York and London: W.W. Norton and Company. . * (Viscount), Horatio Nelson Nelson; Maffeo, Steven E. (2007). Seize, Burn, Or Sink: The Thoughts and Words of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson. Scarecrow Press. . {{Royal Navy fleets, state=collapsed No Military units and formations established in 1781 Military units and formations disestablished in 1815 19th-century history of the Royal Navy