Military unit
The Far East Fleet (also called the Far East Station ) was a fleet of the Royal Navy which existed between 1952 and 1971.
During the Second World War , the Eastern Fleet included many ships and personnel from other navies, including those of the Netherlands , Australia , New Zealand , France and the United States . On 22 November 1944 the Eastern Fleet was re-designated East Indies fleet and continued to be based in Trincomalee. Following its re-designation its remaining ships formed the British Pacific Fleet .[ 1] In December 1945 the British Pacific Fleet was disbanded and its forces were absorbed into the East Indies Fleet . In 1952 The East Indies Fleet was renamed the Far East Fleet. After the Second World War the East Indies Station continued as a separate command to the Far East until 1958. In 1971 the Far East Fleet was abolished and its remaining forces returned home, coming under the command of the new, unified, Commander-in-Chief Fleet .
Post-war
After the war, the East Indies Fleet was once again based at the Singapore Naval Base . The 1st Aircraft Carrier Squadron (HMS Glory and HMS Theseus ) arrived from the British Pacific Fleet in October 1945, and operated from Trincomalee, then Singapore, from October 1945 to October 1947. In 1952, the East Indies Fleet was redesignated the Far East Fleet. The Fleet then took part in the Malayan Emergency and the Confrontation with Indonesia in the 1960s. By 1964, the fleet on station included Victorious , Centaur , Bulwark , Kent , Hampshire , 17 destroyers and frigates, about ten minesweepers and five submarines.
The Flag Officer Second-in-Command Far East Fleet, for most of the postwar period a rear admiral , was based afloat, and tasked with keeping the fleet "up to the mark operationally". Some also held the appointment of Flag Officer Commanding 5th Cruiser Squadron , probably including Rear Admiral E.G.A. Clifford CB, who was flying his flag in HMS Newcastle on 12 November 1953. Meanwhile, the fleet commander, a vice admiral , ran the fleet programme and major items of administration 'including all provision for docking and maintenance' from his base in Singapore.[ 3]
In the last days of the East Indies Fleet North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950, beginning the Korean War . William Andrewes was promoted to vice admiral on 1 December 1950, and on the 17th was made commander of the 5th Cruiser Squadron and Flag Officer Second in Command Far East Fleet , flying his flag in the light cruiser Belfast . After the outbreak of the Korean War he commanded British and Commonwealth Naval Forces,[ 4] with the carrier Theseus as his flagship. He had two aircraft carriers available at any one time which he worked in eighteen-day cycles.[ 5] At times he also led Task Force 91 (comprising all Blockade, Covering Force and Escort ships in Korean waters, affiliated with the United Nations Command ) in 1951.[ 4]
From February 1963 the remaining destroyer and frigate squadrons in the Far East Fleet were gradually amalgamated into Escort Squadrons. All were disbanded by the end of December 1966. Those in the Far East Fleet became the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Far East Destroyer Squadrons. HMS Loch Fada (K390) returned to service in June 1962 assigned to the 3rd Frigate Squadron of the Far East Fleet. She arrived at Colombo in October and was deployed in the Indian Ocean, calling at Diego Garcia and Malé , Maldives . She served with the Far East Fleet until mid-1967 before returning home to be paid off.
In November 1967 fleet senior officers supervised the final departure from Britain's beleaguered State of Aden . Rear Admiral Edward Ashmore, Flag Officer, Second-in-Command, Far East Fleet, serving as Commander Task Force 318, commanded the British warships assembled to cover the withdrawal from Aden and receive the final Royal Marine Commandos heli-evacuated from the RAF Khormaksar airfield.[ 6]
The fleet was disbanded in 1971, and on 31 October 1971, the last day of the validity of the Anglo-Malayan Defence Agreement , the last Commander, Far East Fleet, Rear Admiral Anthony Troup , hauled down his flag.
Commander-in-Chief, Far East Fleet
Post holders included:[ 8]
Rank
Name
Term
Notes
Commander-in-Chief, Far East Fleet
1
Vice-Admiral
Sir Guy Russell
January 1952 – March 1953
2
Vice-Admiral
Sir Charles Lambe
March 1953 – April 1955
3
Vice-Admiral
Sir Alan Scott-Moncrieff
April 1955 – October 1957
4
Vice-Admiral
Sir Gerald Gladstone
October 1957 – April 1960
5
Vice-Admiral
Sir David Luce
April 1960 – November 1962
6
Vice-Admiral
Sir Desmond Dreyer
November 1962 – January 1965
7
Vice-Admiral
Sir Frank Twiss
January 1965 – June 1967
8
Vice-Admiral
Sir William O'Brien
June 1967 -September 1969
9
Vice-Admiral
Sir Derek Empson
September 1969 – April 1971
10
Rear-Admiral
Sir Anthony Troup
April – November 1971
Rear-admiral as last commander.
Flag Officer Second-in-Command Far East Fleet
Included: [citation needed ]
Chief of Staff, Far East Fleet
Included:
Rank
Flag
Name
Term
Chief of Staff, Far East Fleet
1
Captain
Ralph L. Fisher
January – October 1952
2
Commodore
Laurence G. Durlacher
October 1952 – September 1954
3
Commodore
George A. F. Norfolk
September 1954 – October 1956
5
Commodore
Christopher H. Hutchinson
October 1956 – March 1959
6
Rear-Admiral
Ronald E. Portlock
March 1959 – April 1961
7
Rear-Admiral
Bryan C. Durant
April 1961 – July 1963
8
Rear-Admiral
Francis B. P. Brayne-Nicholls
July 1963 – July 1965
9
Rear-Admiral
Dennis H. Mason
July 1965 – December 1967
10
Rear-Admiral
Ian D. McLaughlan
December 1967 – February 1970
9
Rear-Admiral
John A. Templeton-Cotill
February 1970 – March 1971
Flag Officer, Malayan Area
As the Malayan Emergency developed, the Flag Officer, Malayan Area's title changed as his areas of responsibility increased.[ 13]
Commodore, Amphibious Forces, Far East Fleet
Commodore, Amphibious Forces, Far East (COMAFFEF) was based at HMNB Singapore from May 1965 to March 1971.
The Amphibious Warfare Squadron was established in March 1961, which was responsible to the Senior Naval Officer, Persian Gulf until August 1962. It then was reassigned to Flag Officer, Middle East , until April 1965. The squadron was then transferred to the Far East where it was renamed Amphibious Forces under the new Commodore, Amphibious Forces, Far East Fleet in May 1965.[ 15] The post was discontinued in March 1971.
Incumbents included:
Commodore-in-Charge, Hong Kong
This officer was based at HMS Tamar . He was responsible for administrating all naval establishments in Hong Kong including HMNB Hong Kong and, at times, exercised operational control over Royal Navy ships in that area.[ 16]
Units that served in the fleet included:[ 17] [ 18]
See also
Notes
^ Hobbs, David. "THE BRITISH PACIFIC FLEET IN 1945 A Commonwealth effort and a remarkable achievement" (PDF) . navy.gov.au . Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved 18 July 2018 .
^ Hill, p. 219
^ a b "Royal Navy Officers 1939-1945 (An-Ap)" . unithistories.com . Retrieved 3 December 2010 .
^ "HMS Theseus " . britains-smallwars.com . Archived from the original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 3 December 2010 .
^ Colin D. Robinson (2021). "The Somali Navy from 1965 to the 1980s: A research note". Journal of Central and Eastern European African Studies . 1 (1–2): 128. ISSN 2786-1902 .
^ Whitaker's Almanacks 1941 – 1971
^ "Navy Notes Great Britain" . RUSI Journal . 102 (106). 1957.
^ Heathcote, Tony (2002). The British Admirals of the Fleet 1734 – 1995 . Pen & Sword Ltd. p. 27. ISBN 0-85052-835-6 .
^ Benbow, Tim; Thornton, Rod (2013). Dimensions of Counter-insurgency: Applying Experience to Practice . Cambridge, England: Routledge. p. 88. ISBN 9781136790034 .
^ Watson, Graham (12 July 2015). "Royal Navy Organisation and Ship Deployment 1947-2013" . www.naval-history.net . Gordon Smith. Retrieved 8 August 2018 .
^ Office, The Colonial (1970). Hong Kong: Report . Hong Kong: Government Press. p. 187.
^ Watson, Graham. "Royal Navy Organisation in World War 2, 1939–1945: 3.3 INDIAN and PACIFIC OCEANS" . www.naval-history.net . Gordon Smith, 19 September 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2018 .
^ Watson, Graham. "Royal Navy Organisation and Ship Deployment 1947–2013:1. ROYAL NAVY ORGANISATION AND DEPLOYMENT FROM 1947" . www.naval-history.net . Gordon Smith, 12 July 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2018 .
References
Grove, Eric (1987). Vanguard to Trident: British Naval Policy Since World War II . Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0870215520 .
Heathcote, Tony (2002). The British Admirals of the Fleet 1734 – 1995 . Pen & Sword Ltd. ISBN 0-85052-835-6 .
Hill, Richard (2000). Lewin of Greenwich . Weidenfeld Military. ISBN 978-0-304-35329-3 .
Jackson, Ashley (2006). The British Empire and the Second World War . London: Hambledon Continuum. ISBN 1-85285-417-0 .
Mackie, Colin (2018). "Royal Navy Senior Appointments from 1865" . gulabin.com . Colin Mackie. Retrieved 11 July 2018 .
Muggenthaler, August Karl (1980). German Raiders of World War II . London Pan. ISBN 0-330-26204-1 .
O'Hara, Vincent (2009). Struggle for the Middle Sea: the great navies at war in the Mediterranean theater, 1940–1945 . Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1591146483 .
Shores, Christopher; Cull, Brian; Izawa, Yasuho (1992). Bloody Shambles: The Drift to War to the Fall of Singapore . Vol. I. London: Grub Street. ISBN 0-948817-50-X .
Watson, Dr Graham (2015). "Royal Navy Organisation and Ship Deployment 1947-2013". www.naval-history.net. Gordon Smith.
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