The Commander-in-Chief, Levant was a senior administrative shore commander of the Royal Navy. The post was established in February 1943 when the British

Chiefs of Staff Committee The Chiefs of Staff Committee (CSC) is composed of the most senior military personnel in the British Armed Forces, who advise on operational military matters and the preparation and conduct of military operations. The committee consists of the Ch ...

ordered the

Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between ...

to be divided into two commands. One was responsible for naval operations involving ships, and the other, administrative and support, was responsible for shore establishments. His subordinate establishments and staff were sometimes informally known as the Levant Command or Levant Station. In December 1943 the title was changed to Flag Officer, Levant and East Mediterranean. In January 1944 the two separate commands were re-unified into a single command merging back into Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean Fleet.

History

Shore-based naval area commands in the

Mediterranean and Middle East theatre The Mediterranean and Middle East theatre was a major theatre of operations during the Second World War. The vast size of the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre saw interconnected land, naval, and air campaigns fought for control of the Med ...

had historically reported to the Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean Fleet. "A Flag Officer (Liaison), Rear-Admiral F. Elliott, had been appointed to co-ordinate matters of local defence f Alexandria and he was already the Fortress Commander in all but name. In war he was to be responsible to the General Officer Commanding

British Troops in Egypt British Troops in Egypt was a command of the British Army. History A British Army commander was appointed in the late 19th century after the Anglo-Egyptian War in 1882. The British Army remained in Egypt throughout the First World War and, after t ...

for the security of the Fortress, but was to meet the requirements of the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, in every possible way." In 1940, responsibility for the Red Sea area was transferred from the

Commander-in-Chief, East Indies 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'' wa ...

to the Mediterranean Fleet and did not revert until 1942. Following a meeting in London, the

signaled on 2 February 1943 to Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, that:

1). The Mediterranean will be divided into two commands:(a) the area to the west line A to B to be the Mediterranean command. (b) the area to the East of the above line to be the Levant command which will include the Red Sea. 2). For the present the line A to B will be the line running from the Tunisian/Tripolitanian border to a position in Latitude 35 degrees North, Longitude 60 degrees East, thence to Cape Spartivento (Italy).

Between 1943 and 1945 the shore commands reporting to C-in-C Levant were Tunisia (1943), North Africa (1943-1944), Sicily (July–September 1943); Taranto (September 1943 - May 1945), FO West Italy (September 1943 - October 1944), Northern Mediterranean (October 1944), and Western Mediterranean (January 1943 - January 1944) & (July 1944 - 1945). The dockyards at Gibraltar and

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

continued as major bases supporting the new organisation. In December 1943 the command was renamed to Levant and Eastern Mediterranean. In August 1946 the command was retitled the

Flag Officer, Middle East The Flag Officer, Middle East was a command appointment of the Royal Navy, established for two distinct periods from 194658 and then from . From the appointment was located in the Suez Canal Zone or, after the Suez Crisis, in the Cyprus area; when ...

, part of the tri-service British

Middle East Command Middle East Command, later Middle East Land Forces, was a British Army Command established prior to the Second World War in Egypt. Its primary role was to command British land forces and co-ordinate with the relevant naval and air commands to ...

, until 1959.

Commanders in Chief

Sub-commands, 1943 to 1946

Naval Officer-in-Charge, Aden

Commodore-in-Charge, Algiers

Flag Officer, North Africa

Flag Officer, Northern Area, Mediterranean

Flag Officer, Sicily

Flag Officer, Taranto Area

Flag Officer, Tunisia

Flag Officer, Western Italy

Flag Officer, Western Mediterranean

Rear-Admiral, Alexandria

The Commander, Levant Area, was responsible to the Rear-Admiral, Alexandria.

References

Sources

* Cook, Chris (2006). The Routledge Guide to British Political Archives: Sources Since 1945. Cambridge, England: Routledge. ISBN * Grehan, John; Mace, Martin (2014). "Introduction". The War at Sea in the Mediterranean 1940–1944. Barnsley, England: Pen and Sword. . * Mackie, Colin. (2018) "Royal Navy Senior Appointments from 1865" (PDF). gulabin.com. C. Mackie. * Peterson, J. E. (2016). Defending Arabia. Cambridge, England: Routledge. . * Roberts, John (2009). Safeguarding the Nation: The Story of the Modern Royal Navy. Barnsley, England: Seaforth Publishing. * Roskill, S.W. (2004). The war at sea : 1939-1945 : history of the second world war. Uckfield, Eng.: Naval and Military Press. . * "The Western Powers and the ME". Middle East Record. The Moshe Dayan Center. 2: 90. 1961. * (Viscount), Andrew Browne Cunningham Cunningham of Hyndhope (2006). The Cunningham Papers: Selections from the Private and Official Correspondence of Admiral of the Fleet Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope. Farnham, England: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. . * Watson, Dr Graham. "Royal Navy Organization in World War 2, 1939-1945". naval-history.net. G. Smith, 19 September 2015. {{Royal Navy fleets L 1943 establishments in the British Empire Military units and formations established in 1943 Military units and formations of the Royal Navy in World War II