Commander-in-Chief, North Atlantic

Vice-Admiral, Gibraltar
Vice-Admiral, Gibraltar
Active	1939–1945
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Navy
Garrison/HQ	Gibraltar

The Vice Admiral, Gibraltar was an operational commander of the Royal Navy.^[1] His subordinate units, establishments, and staff were sometimes informally known as the Flag Officer Gibraltar and North Atlantic they were charged with the administration of the RN Naval Base, Gibraltar and North Atlantic geographic area.^[2] The admiral commanding's post later became the Flag Officer Gibraltar.

History[]

At the outbreak of the Second World War the Gibraltar command was elevated to North Atlantic Command with responsibility for the sea lanes on either side of the Straits of Gibraltar. Those duties remained in place although the flag officers' mission was often unclear due to the operations of both Force H and the Western Approaches Command. It was these ambiguous boundaries of command responsibility between Gibraltar and Force H that led to confusion in the conduct of operations.^[3] In his book The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean, Brown discusses this problem and the Admiralty's response: The division of responsibility between the Flag Officer North Atlantic Command (FOCNA) and the Flag Officer Force H and the Commander in Chief Mediterranean was defined as follows:^[4]

F.O.C.N.A. was responsible for preventing the passage of Gibraltar Strait by all enemy vessels and by vessels of other nations as may be ordered by the Admiralty from time to time.^[5]
While Force H was based on Gibraltar, F.O.C.N.A. was to call on, Flag Officer, Force H for such assistance as be necessary. Except when directed to carry out specific tasks by the Admiralty.^[6]

Commanders[]

Included:^[7]^[8]

	Rank	Name	Title	Term
Admirals commanding
1	Rear-Admiral	Norman Wodehouse	Rear-Admiral, Gibraltar	May 1939-1 November 1939
2	Vice-Admiral	Sir Dudley North	Vice-Admiral, Gibraltar	1 November 1939 – 9 December 1940
3	Vice-Admiral	Sir Frederick Edward-Collins	Vice-Admiral, Gibraltar^[9]	9 December 1940 – 9 September 1943
4	Vice-Admiral	Sir Harold Martin Burrough	FOGMA^[10]	9 September 1943–January 1945

Components[]

Base ship Gibraltar: HMS Cormorant

Before 1939, there was a small force of destroyers based at Gibraltar.

Capital Ships

Battleship: HMS Resolution (16/12/1939)
Heavy Cruiser: HMS Berwick (31/12/1939)

Squadrons and Flotillas

11th Cruiser Squadron 9 October 1939
13th Destroyer Flotilla September 1939–May 1945
8th Submarine Flotilla December 1940–December 1942 (flotilla then moved to Algiers)

Sub-Divisions

Destroyer Division 25, (assigned to 13th Destroyer Flotilla)
Destroyer Division 26, (assigned to 13th Destroyer Flotilla)

Submarine and Minesweepers Groups

Escort Groups were based at Gibraltar (although they were part of Western Approaches Command).

References[]

^ Axelrod, Alan (2007). Encyclopedia of World War II 2-Volume Set. New York: Infobase Pub. p. 402. ISBN 9780816060221.
^ Axelrod, Alan; Kingston, Jack A. (2007). Encyclopedia of World War II. New York: H W Fowler. p. 402. ISBN 9780816060221.
^ Watson, Graham. "GIBRALTAR/NORTH ATLANTIC COMMAND 1939–1945". naval-history.net. Naval History.Net, 19 September 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
^ Brown, David (2002). The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean: Vol.II: November 1940-December 1941. London: Routledge. p. 41. ISBN 9781136341205.
^ Brown, David (2002). The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean: Vol.II: November 1940–December 1941. London: Routledge. p. 41. ISBN 9781136341205.
^ Brown, with an introduction by David (2002). The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean. London: Whitehall History Pub. in association with Frank Cass. p. 42. ISBN 9781136341205.
^ Brown, David (2005). The Road to Oran: Anglo-French Naval Relations, September 1939–July 1940. Routledge. ISBN 978-0714654614.
^ Smith, Donald A. Bertke ; Don Kindell ; Gordon (2009). World War II sea war (1. ed.). Dayton, Ohio: Bertke Publ. p. 202. ISBN 9781937470012.
^ Cunningham Papers, p80
^ Whitby, Michael (2006). Commanding Canadians: The Second World War Diaries of A.F.C. Layard. UBC Press. p. 362. ISBN 978-0774811941.

Sources[]

www.naval-history.net

External links[]

[1] Axelrod, Alan (2007). Encyclopedia of World War II 2-Volume Set. New York: Infobase Pub. p. 402. ISBN 9780816060221.

[2] Axelrod, Alan; Kingston, Jack A. (2007). Encyclopedia of World War II. New York: H W Fowler. p. 402. ISBN 9780816060221.

[3] Watson, Graham. "GIBRALTAR/NORTH ATLANTIC COMMAND 1939–1945". naval-history.net. Naval History.Net, 19 September 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2016.

[4] Brown, David (2002). The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean: Vol.II: November 1940-December 1941. London: Routledge. p. 41. ISBN 9781136341205.

[5] Brown, David (2002). The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean: Vol.II: November 1940–December 1941. London: Routledge. p. 41. ISBN 9781136341205.

[6] Brown, with an introduction by David (2002). The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean. London: Whitehall History Pub. in association with Frank Cass. p. 42. ISBN 9781136341205.

[7] Brown, David (2005). The Road to Oran: Anglo-French Naval Relations, September 1939–July 1940. Routledge. ISBN 978-0714654614.

[8] Smith, Donald A. Bertke ; Don Kindell ; Gordon (2009). World War II sea war (1. ed.). Dayton, Ohio: Bertke Publ. p. 202. ISBN 9781937470012.

[9] Cunningham Papers, p80

[10] Whitby, Michael (2006). Commanding Canadians: The Second World War Diaries of A.F.C. Layard. UBC Press. p. 362. ISBN 978-0774811941.

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v t Department of Admiralty
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v t Historic fleets and naval commands of the Royal Navy
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Atlantic Ocean	Atlantic Fleet Barbadoes and Leeward Islands Good Hope Jamaica Division Jamaica Station Leeward Islands Lisbon Newfoundland North America North America and West Indies North Atlantic Portugal South America Station South Atlantic and South America South Atlantic South Atlantic and Pacific South East Coast of America West Africa Squadron Flag Officer, West Africa West Coast of Africa West Indies
Baltic Black, Caspian, and Mediterranean Seas	Adriatic Aegean Baltic Fleet Black Sea and Caspian Caspian Coast of Spain Eastern Mediterranean Egypt and Red Sea Germany Gibraltar Levant Levant and East Mediterranean Malta Malta and Central Mediterranean Mediterranean Fleet Portugal
Arabian Seas Indian and Pacific Oceans	Arabian Seas and Persian Gulf Australia China East Africa East Coast of Africa East Indies East Indies and China East Indies Fleet Eastern Fleet Far East Fleet Egypt and Red Sea Senior British Naval Officer, Suez Canal Area Middle East New Zealand New Zealand Naval Forces Pacific Fleet Pacific Station Red Sea and Canal Area/Red Sea South America Station South Atlantic and Pacific Persian Gulf