East Indies Station

History

The East Indies Station was established as a Royal Navy command in 1744. From 1831–1865, the East Indies and the China Station were a single command known as the East Indies and China Station. The East Indies Station, established in 1865, covered the Indian Ocean (excluding the waters around the Dutch East Indies, South Africa and Australia) and included the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. These responsibilities did not imply territorial claims but rather that the navy would actively protect British trading interests.

The East Indies Station had bases at Colombo, Trincomalee, Bombay, Basra and Aden. In response to increased Japanese threats, the separate East Indies Station was merged with the China Station in December 1941, to form the Eastern Fleet.

In early May 1941, the Commander-in-Chief directed forces to support the pursuit of Pinguin, the German raider that eventually sank after the Action of 8 May 1941 against HMS Cornwall.

On 7 December 1941, cruisers on the station included the heavy cruisers Cornwall, Dorsetshire, and Exeter; the light cruisers Glasgow, Danae, Dauntless, Durban, Emerald and Enterprise (some sources also place the heavy cruiser Hawkins as being on station on that date, while others report her being under refit and repair in the UK between early November 1941 & May 1942), and six armed merchant cruisers. Also assigned to the station was 814 Naval Air Squadron at China Bay, Ceylon, which unit was at that time equipped with Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers.

Facilities

Royal Naval Dockyard, Madras – home to East Indies Station 1796–1813

Royal Naval Dockyard, Trincomalee, Trincomalee, Ceylon – home to East Indies Station from 1813

Admiralty House, Trincomalee – official residence of the Commander-in-Chief from 1813

Basra – during the Second World War

HMS Sheba, Aden – naval base

HMS Braganza, Bombay, India – naval base

HMS Lanka, Colombo – naval base and shore station

Commanders-in-Chief

Commanders-in-Chief have included:

Commander-in-Chief, East Indies:

Commodore Curtis Barnett (1744–1746)

Commodore (later Rear- then Vice-Admiral) Thomas Griffin (1746–1748)

Rear-Admiral Edward Boscawen (1748–1750)

Commodore William Lisle (1750–1754)

Rear-Admiral (later Vice-Admiral) Charles Watson (1754–1757)

Vice-Admiral George Pocock (1757–1759)

Commodore (later Rear-Admiral) Charles Steevens (1760–1761)

Rear-Admiral (later Vice-Admiral) Samuel Cornish (1761–1763)

Commodore John Byron (appointed 1764)

Commodore John (later Sir John) Lindsay (1769–1772)

Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Harland, 1st Baronet (1771–1775)

Commodore Edward Hughes (1773–1777)

Commodore (later Rear-Admiral) Sir Edward Vernon (1776–1780)

Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes (second time, 1780–1784)

Vice-Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, 5th Baronet (appointed 1782 but lost at sea on his way out)

Commodore Andrew Mitchell (1784–1785)

Commodore Charles Hughes (1785–1787)

Commodore William Cornwallis (1788–1794)

Commodore (later Rear- then Vice-Admiral) Peter Rainier (1794–1805)

Vice-Admiral Sir George Keith Elphinstone (went to capture the Dutch East Indies in 1795 but Rainier had already done it)

Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, 1st Baronet (1804–1809)

Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Troubridge, 1st Baronet (jointly with Pellew, 1805–1807)

Rear-Admiral William O'Bryen Drury (1809–1811)

Vice-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, 1st Baronet (1811–1814)

Commodore George Sayer (1814)

Rear-Admiral Sir George Burlton (1814–1815)

Commodore George Sayer (second time, 1815–1816)

Rear-Admiral Sir Richard King, 2nd Baronet (1816–1820)

Rear-Admiral Sir Henry Blackwood, 1st Baronet (1820–1822)

Commodore Charles Grant (1822–1824)

Commodore Sir James Brisbane (1825–1826)

Rear-Admiral Joseph Bingham (appointed 1825 but died before taking up post)

Rear-Admiral William Hall Gage (1825–1829)

Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Owen (1829–1832)

Commander-in-Chief, East Indies and China Station

1831–1865, see separate article

Commander-in-Chief, East Indies & Cape of Good Hope Station

Commodore Frederick Montresor (1865)

Commodore Charles Hillyar (1865–1867)

Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station

Rear Admiral Leopold Heath (1867–1870)

Rear Admiral James Cockburn (1870–1872)

Rear Admiral Arthur Cumming (1872–1875)

Rear Admiral Reginald Macdonald (1875–1877)

Rear Admiral John Corbett (1877–1879)

Rear Admiral William Gore Jones (1879–1882)

Rear Admiral William Hewett (1882–1885)

Rear Admiral Frederick Richards (1885–1888)

Rear Admiral Edmund Fremantle (1888–1891)

Rear Admiral Frederick Robinson (1891–1892)

Rear Admiral William Kennedy (1892–1895)

Rear Admiral Edmund Drummond (1895–1898)

Rear Admiral Archibald Douglas (1898–1899)

Rear Admiral Day Bosanquet (1899–1902)

Rear Admiral Charles Drury (1902–1903)

Rear Admiral George Atkinson-Willes (1903–1905)

Rear Admiral Edmund Poë (1905–1907)

Rear Admiral Sir George Warrender (1907–1909)

Rear Admiral Edmond Slade (1909–1912)

Rear Admiral Alexander Bethell (1912-1913)

Rear Admiral Richard Peirse (1913–1915)

Rear Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss (1916–1917)

Rear Admiral Ernest Gaunt (1917–1919)

Rear Admiral Hugh Tothill (1919–1921)

Rear Admiral Lewis Clinton-Baker (1921–1923)

Rear Admiral Herbert Richmond (1923–1925)

Rear Admiral Walter Ellerton (1925–1927)

Rear Admiral Bertram Thesiger (1927–1929)

Rear Admiral Eric Fullerton (1929–1932)

Rear Admiral Martin Dunbar-Nasmith (1932–1934)

Vice Admiral Forrester Rose (1934–1936)

Vice Admiral Alexander Ramsay (1936–1938)

Vice Admiral James Somerville (1938–1939)

Admiral Sir Ralph Leatham (1939–1941)

Vice Admiral Geoffrey Arbuthnot (1941–42)