China Station

The Royal Navy's China Station was an important base for projecting power into the Pacific.

On 1 November, 1911, the destroyers allotted to the "China Flotilla" were 3 "Rivers", four 30-knotters, and two 27-knotters.

It was named the Eastern Fleet from 1941 to 1944, the Pacific Fleet from 1944 to 1946 and then the Far Eastern Fleet from 1946 to 1971.

Commanders-in-Chief

Dates of appointment given:

• Vice-Admiral George O. Willes, ?
• Vice-Admiral Sir Charles F. A. Shadwell, 1871 – August, 1874
• Vice-Admiral Sir Alfred P. Ryder, August, 1874 – 1877
• Vice-Admiral Sir Charles F. Hillyar, 1877 – 1878
• Vice-Admiral William M. Dowell, 26 September, 1878
• Vice-Admiral Richard V. Hamilton, 1885
• Vice-Admiral Sir Nowell Salmon, 17 December, 1887
• Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick W. Richards, 29 November, 1890
• Vice-Admiral The Hon. Sir Edmund R. Fremantle, 16 February, 1892
• Admiral Sir Alexander Buller, 28 May, 1895
• Admiral Sir Edward H. Seymour, 19 February, 1898 – 10 April, 1901
• Admiral Sir Cyprian A. G. Bridge, June, 1901
• Admiral Sir Gerard H. U. Noel, 15 January, 1904 – 16 March, 1906
• Admiral Sir Arthur W. Moore, 6 December, 1905 – 21 March, 1908
• Vice-Admiral The Hon. Sir Hedworth Lambton, 1 January, 1908 – 6 March, 1910
• Admiral Sir Alfred L. Winsloe, 25 January, 1910 – 3 May, 1913
• Vice-Admiral Sir T. H. Martyn Jerram, 25 January, 1913 – 28 July, 1915
• Vice-Admiral Sir William L. Grant, 28 July, 1915 – 25 October, 1917
• Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick C. T. Tudor, 20 July, 1917 – July, 1919
• Admiral Sir Alexander L. Duff, 24 July, 1919 – 7 November, 1922
• Admiral Sir Arthur C. Leveson, 10 September, 1922 – 10 September, 1924
• Vice-Admiral Sir Allan F. Everett, 10 September, 1924 – 12 May, 1925  (invalided with "psychasthenia")
• Vice-Admiral Sir Edwyn S. Alexander-Sinclair, 22 April, 1925 – 8 November, 1926
• Vice-Admiral Sir Reginald Y. Tyrwhitt, Bart., 8 November, 1926 – 13 November, 1928
• Vice-Admiral Sir Arthur K. Waistell, 28 November, 1928
• Admiral Sir W. A. Howard Kelly, 13 December, 1930 – 11 March, 1933
• Admiral Sir Frederic C. Dreyer, 9 January, 1933 – 11 January, 1936
• Admiral Sir Charles J. C. Little, 8 November, 1935 – 5 February, 1938  (ill at end)
• Rear-Admiral Lewis G. E. Crabbe, 21 December, 1937 – 11 January, 1938  (while Little was sick)
• Admiral Percy L. H. Noble, 28 December, 1937 – 18 November, 1940
• Vice-Admiral Geoffrey Layton, 10 July, 1940 – 10 December, 1941
• Admiral Sir Tom S. V. Phillips,  – December, 1941
• Admiral Sir James F. Somerville, February, 1942 – August, 1944
• Admiral Sir Bruce A. Fraser, August, 1944 – June, 1946
• Admiral Sir Denis W. Boyd, June, 1946 – January, 1949
• Admiral Sir Eric J. P. Brind, 11 January, 1949 – February, 1951

Seconds-in-Command

Dates of appointment given:

• Rear-Admiral Charles L. Oxley, 7 May, 1896 – 27 October, 1897  (3 months leave in England at end for "domestic affliction")
• Rear-Admiral Charles C. P. FitzGerald, 27 October, 1897 – 23 December, 1899
• Rear-Admiral Sir James A. T. Bruce, 18 September, 1899 – 2 January, 1902
• Rear-Admiral Harry T. Grenfell, 9 September, 1901 – 13 June, 1903  (invalided)
• Rear-Admiral The Hon. Assheton G. Curzon-Howe, 13 June, 1903 – 2 August, 1905

Other Personnel

Fleet Gunnery Officer

• Commander (G) John O. N. Wood, 9 July, 1921 – August, 1923  (commenced upon joining ship)
• Commander (G) Harold Hickling, 1931 – 29 February, 1932

Fleet Torpedo Officer

• Lieutenant-Commander (T) Cecil R. McCrum, 21 April, 1921 – March, 1923
• Lieutenant-Commander (T) Gervase B. Middleton, 30 April, 1923 – June, 1925

Fleet Wireless Officer

• Lieutenant (S) John P. Money, 10 September, 1922 – November, 1924  (commenced upon joining ship)

See Also

• Yangtse River