31-503: Several admirals of the Royal Navy were named William Hotham : William Hotham, 1st Baron Hotham (1736–1813), Royal Navy admiral Sir William Hotham (Royal Navy officer, born 1772) , Royal Navy admiral William Hotham (Royal Navy officer, born 1794) , Royal Navy admiral [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about people with
62-602: A French fleet, at the Naval Battle of Hyères Islands on 13 July 1795, this time under conditions which might have permitted a decisive victory; of this affair, Nelson wrote home that it was a "miserable action." In November 1795, he was replaced as commander of the Mediterranean Fleet by Admiral Jervis and returned to England, and in 1797 he was made a peer of Ireland under the title of Baron Hotham of South Dalton, near Hull . He died in 1813. According to
93-628: A coastal minesweeper squadron." Deployments to the Beira Patrol and elsewhere reduced the escort total in 1966 from four to two ships, and then to no frigates at all. The Fleet's assets and area of responsibility were absorbed into the new Western Fleet . As a result of this change, the UK relinquished the NATO post of Commander in Chief, Allied Forces Mediterranean , which was abolished. Note: This list
124-532: A flotilla of submarines stationed at the bases around Valletta Harbour. In this capacity, he had to employ considerable diplomatic skill to maintain good relations with Dom Mintoff , the nationalistic prime minister of Malta . In the 1960s, as the importance of maintaining the link between the United Kingdom and British territories and commitments East of Suez decreased as the Empire was dismantled, and
155-484: A powerful French squadron, against which he could effect nothing, and many of the merchant-men went to France as prizes. In 1782 Commodore Hotham was with Richard Howe at the relief of Gibraltar , and at the time of the Spanish armament of 1790 he flew his flag as Rear-admiral of the red . By 1791 he was made vice admiral . He hoisted his flag aboard HMS Britannia that year. As Lord Hood's second-in-command in
186-579: A shipping station and was the headquarters for the Mediterranean Fleet until the mid-1930s. Due to the perceived threat of air-attack from the Italian mainland, the fleet was moved to Alexandria , Egypt , shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. Sir Andrew Cunningham took command of the fleet from Warspite on 3 September 1939, and under him the major formations of the Fleet were
217-560: A small command, which led gradually to higher posts. In Syren (20) he fought a sharp action with the French Telemaque of superior force, and in the sloop Fortune he carried, by boarding, a 26-gun privateer. For this service, he was rewarded with a more powerful ship, and from 1757 onwards commanded various frigates . In 1759 his ship Melampe , with Southampton , fought a spirited action with two hostile frigates of similar force, one of which became their prize. Melampe
248-618: Is incomplete. The majority of officers listed were appointed as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Sea sometimes Commander-in-Chief, at the Mediterranean Sea earlier officers appointed to command either fleets/squadrons stationed in the Mediterranean for particular operations were styled differently see notes next to their listing The first Commander-in-Chief for the Mediterranean Fleet may have been named as early as 1665. Commanders-in-chief have included: In January 1944
279-413: The 1st Battle Squadron ( Warspite , Barham , and Malaya ) 1st Cruiser Squadron ( Devonshire , Shropshire , and Sussex ), 3rd Cruiser Squadron ( Arethusa , Penelope , Galatea ), Rear Admiral John Tovey , with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Destroyer Flotillas, and the aircraft carrier Glorious . In 1940, the Mediterranean Fleet carried out a successful aircraft carrier attack on
310-561: The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition , Hotham lacked the fiery energy and genius of a Nelson or a Jervis , but in subordinate positions, he was a brave and capable officer. As Hotham died unmarried, his barony passed to his brother, Sir Beaumont Hotham (1737–1814), who became 2nd Baron Hotham in May 1813. Beaumont, who was a baron of the exchequer for thirty years, died on 4 March 1814, and
341-739: The Italian Fleet at Taranto by air . Other major actions included the Battle of Cape Matapan and the Battle of Crete . The Fleet had to block Italian and later German reinforcements and supplies for the North African Campaign . In October 1946, Saumarez hit a mine in the Corfu Channel, starting a series of events known as the Corfu Channel Incident . The channel was cleared in "Operation Recoil"
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#1732793063761372-613: The Napoleonic Wars resumed in 1803, the British kept Malta for use as a naval base. Following Napoleon's defeat, the British continued their presence in Malta, and turned it into the main base for the Mediterranean Fleet. Between the 1860s and 1900s, the British undertook a number of projects to improve the harbours and dockyard facilities, and Malta's harbours were sufficient to allow the entire fleet to be safely moored there. In
403-472: The 2nd baron's son, Sir Henry Hotham (1777–1833), a vice-admiral, who saw a great deal of service during the Napoleonic Wars ; and Sir William Hotham (1772–1848), a nephew of the 1st baron, who served with Adam Duncan in 1797 at the Battle of Camperdown and elsewhere. Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet , also known as the Mediterranean Station ,
434-581: The British to establish their first naval base there. The British also used Port Mahon , on the island of Menorca , as a naval base . However, British control there was only temporary; Menorca changed hands numerous times, and was permanently ceded to Spain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens . In 1800, the British took Malta , which was to be handed over to the Knights of Malta under the Treaty of Amiens. When
465-647: The Mediterranean Fleet in 1914. They and Indefatigable formed the nucleus of the fleet at the start of the First World War when British forces pursued the German ships Goeben and Breslau . A recently modernised Warspite became the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief and Second-in-Command , Mediterranean Fleet in 1926. Malta , as part of the British Empire from 1814, was
496-525: The Mediterranean Fleet). The Fleet was in existence until 1967. The Royal Navy gained a foothold in the Mediterranean Sea when Gibraltar was captured by the British in 1704 during the War of Spanish Succession , and formally allocated to Britain in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht . Though the British had maintained a naval presence in the Mediterranean before, the capture of Gibraltar allowed
527-683: The Mediterranean, from August 1793, he was engaged against the French Revolutionary navy, and when his chief retired to England in December the command of the Mediterranean Fleet devolved upon him. On 13 March 1795 he fought an indecisive fleet action at the Naval Battle of Genoa , in which the brunt of the fighting was borne by Captain Horatio Nelson , and some months later, now a full admiral, he again engaged
558-679: The departing High Commissioner, aboard the cruiser Euryalus . The force stayed to cover the evacuation of British troops into the Haifa enclave and south via Gaza. From 1952 to 1967, the post of Commander in Chief Mediterranean Fleet was given a dual-hatted role as NATO Commander in Chief of Allied Forces Mediterranean in charge of all forces assigned to NATO in the Mediterranean Area. The British made strong representations within NATO in discussions regarding
589-631: The development of the Mediterranean NATO command structure, wishing to retain their direction of NATO naval command in the Mediterranean to protect their sea lines of communication running through the Mediterranean to the Middle East and Far East. When a NATO naval commander, Admiral Robert B. Carney , C-in-C Allied Forces Southern Europe , was appointed, relations with the incumbent British C-in-C, Admiral Sir John Edelsten , were frosty. Edlesten, on making an apparently friendly offer of
620-568: The eighteenth century. It rotated between Gibraltar and Malta from 1791 to 1812. From 1813 to July 1939 it was permanently at Malta Dockyard . In August 1939 the C-in-C Mediterranean Fleet moved his HQ afloat on board HMS Warspite until April 1940. He was then back onshore at Malta until February 1941. He transferred it again to HMS Warspite until July 1942. In August 1942 headquarters were moved to Alexandria where they remained from June 1940 to February 1943. HQ
651-430: The fleet's flagship, the battleship HMS Victoria , collided with the battleship HMS Camperdown . Victoria sank within fifteen minutes, taking 358 crew with her. Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon , commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, was among the dead. Of the three original Invincible -class battlecruisers which entered service in the first half of 1908, two ( Inflexible and Indomitable ) joined
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#1732793063761682-615: The focus of Cold War naval responsibilities moved to the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean Fleet was gradually drawn down, finally disbanding in June 1967. Eric Grove, in Vanguard to Trident , details how by the mid-1960s the permanent strength of the Fleet was "reduced to a single small escort squadron [appears to have been 30th Escort Squadron with HMS Brighton , HMS Cassandra , HMS Aisne plus another ship] and
713-463: The last decade of the nineteenth century, the Mediterranean Fleet was the largest single squadron of the Royal Navy, with ten first-class battleships—double the number in the Channel Fleet —and a large number of smaller warships. On 22 June 1893, the bulk of the fleet, eight battleships and three large cruisers , were conducting their annual summer exercises off Tripoli , Lebanon , when
744-514: The next month, involving 11 minesweepers under the guidance of Ocean , two cruisers, three destroyers, and three frigates. In May 1948, Sir Arthur Power took over as Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean, and in his first act arranged a show of force to discourage the crossing of Jewish refugees into Palestine . When later that year Britain pulled out of the British Mandate of Palestine , Ocean , four destroyers, and two frigates escorted
775-535: The same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Hotham&oldid=1064175325 " Category : Human name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages William Hotham, 1st Baron Hotham Admiral William Hotham, 1st Baron Hotham (1736–1813)
806-621: The two separate commands were re-unified with the Flag Officer, Levant and East Mediterranean (FOLEM) reporting to the C-in-C Mediterranean. The Chief of Staff was the principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-Chief. The Mediterranean Fleets shore headquarters was initially based at Port Mahon Dockyard , Minorca for most of
837-622: The use of communications facilities to Carney, who initially lacked secure communications facilities, was met with "I'm not about to play Faust to your Mephistopheles through the medium of communications!" In 1956, ships of the fleet, together with the French Navy , took part in the Suez War against Egypt . From 1957 to 1959, Rear Admiral Charles Madden held the post of Flag Officer, Malta , with responsibilities for three squadrons of minesweepers, an amphibious warfare squadron, and
868-595: 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 the United Kingdom and the majority of the British Empire in the Eastern Hemisphere. The first Commander-in-Chief for the Mediterranean Fleet was the appointment of General at Sea Robert Blake in September 1654 (styled as Commander of
899-616: Was an officer in the Royal Navy . He was the son of Sir Beaumont Hotham (died 1771), a lineal descendant of Sir John Hotham . Hotham was educated at Westminster School and at the Royal Naval Academy , Portsmouth. He entered the navy in 1751, and spent most of his midshipman's time in American waters. In 1755 he became lieutenant in Admiral Sir Edward Hawke 's flagship St George and he soon received
930-474: Was attached to Augustus Keppel 's squadron in 1761, but was in the main employed in detached duty and made many captures. In 1776, as a Commodore , Hotham served in North American waters, and he had a great share in the Battle of St. Lucia (15 December 1778). Here he continued till the spring of 1781, when he was sent home in charge of a large convoy of merchantmen. Off Scilly Hotham fell in with
961-519: Was succeeded as 3rd baron by his grandson Beaumont Hotham (1794–1870), who was present at the Battle of Waterloo , being afterwards a member of parliament for forty-eight years. He died unmarried in December 1870 and was succeeded by his nephew, Charles (1836–1872), and then by another nephew, John (1838–1907). In 1907 his cousin Frederick William (born 1863) became the 6th baron. Other distinguished members of this family were