In January 1748
Charles Watson was appointed to command
HMS Lion. In March that year he was sent out aboard
Lion as commander-in-chief on the Newfoundland and North American station, with a commodore's broad pennant. Royal Navy ships and vessels in the area were under the command of Commodore
Samuel Hood in 1767. The headquarters was located in Halifax from 1758 to 1794, and thereafter in Halifax and
Bermuda. Land and buildings for a permanent Naval Yard were purchased by the Royal Navy in 1758 and the Yard was officially commissioned in 1759. Halifax served as the main base for the Royal Navy in North America during the
Seven Years' War, the
American Revolution, and the
French Revolutionary Wars. Following American independence in 1783, Bermuda was the only British territory left between
Nova Scotia and the
West Indies. In 1794 the local area commander, Vice Admiral
Sir George Murray, sent
HMS Cleopatra there to reconnoite the harbour. , summer headquarters of the Admiral commanding. in 1865 in the background Admiral
Sir John Borlase Warren was appointed Commander-in-Chief in 1812, and he and his staff seem to have spent most of their time at Bermuda during the
War of 1812 (he was replaced by Vice Admiral
Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane in 1813), from where the blockade of much of the
Atlantic Seaboard of the United States and raids such as the
Battle of Craney Island were orchestrated. 2,500 soldiers under Major-General
Robert Ross aboard , three frigates, three sloops and ten other vessels, was sent to Bermuda in 1814, following British victory in the
Peninsular War. They helped carry out the
Chesapeake campaign punitive expedition which included the
Raid on Alexandria, the
Battle of Bladensburg, and the
Burning of Washington, which was launched in August that year. In 1813, the area of command had become the
North America Station again, with the West Indies falling under the
Jamaica Station, and in 1816 it was renamed the
North America and Lakes of Canada Station. The headquarters was initially in Bermuda during the winter and Halifax during the summer, but
Admiralty House, Bermuda, became the year-round headquarters of the station in 1821, when it became the
North America and Newfoundland Station (with the absorption of the
Newfoundland Station). In 1818 Halifax became the summer base for the squadron which shifted to the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda, for the remainder of the year. In 1819, Bermuda, which was better positioned to counter threats from the United States, became the main base of the station year-round. Halifax continued to be used as the summer base for the station until 1907. Bermuda's importance following the war was described by Royal Naval Purser Richard Cotter in 1828: Sir
Henry Hardinge reported, in the House of Commons, on the 22 March 1839: In 1830 the station absorbed the
Jamaica Station and was redesignated as the
North America and West Indies Station, and remained so until 1907, when the North America and West Indies Station was abolished and its squadron replaced by the
4th Cruiser Squadron. This was based in England and Bermuda was redesignated from a base to a coaling station, although the dockyard remained in operation. The Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies Station, remained in Bermuda. The Royal Navy withdrew from Halifax in 1905, and the Halifax Naval Yard was handed over to the
Royal Canadian Navy in 1910. The
Esquimalt Royal Navy Dockyard on the Pacific coast of Canada was also transferred to the dominion government in 1905. An official letter sent by the Commander-in-Chief during the
Venezuelan crisis of 1902–1903 listed the following ships at the station on 1 January 1903: cruisers
HMS Ariadne,
HMS Charybdis,
HMS Pallas,
HMS Indefatigable,
HMS Retribution, and
HMS Tribune; sloops
HMS Fantome and
HMS Alert; destroyers
HMS Quail and
HMS Rocket; and the tender
HMS Columbine. The North America and West Indies Station was restored in 1915, and incorporated the
8th Cruiser Squadron from 1924 to 1925. In 1919, relying on the
Panama Canal, it absorbed the former
Pacific Station's area. In 1920 HMS Chatham based in Bermuda, passed through the Panama Canal, and in November left Salina Crus en route from San Diego. This was the first occasion on which a ship from the station had passed through the Canal. 1st Division (, and ) off
Admiralty House in 1931, just prior to departing Bermuda to exercise. In 1928, South American waters were added to the Commander-in-Chief's area and the command was renamed America and West Indies. In May 1928, was recommissioned and transferred to the Station from the Mediterranean to augment the vessels of the 8th Light Cruiser Station. South American waters had previously been patrolled by the
"South American Squadron", but this had been withdrawn due to financial constraints in 1921, since when the British flag has been shown there only by special visits (such as during the world cruise of the First Cruiser Squadron in 1924 or by
HMS Repulse during the March to October, 1925, tour of Africa and South America by the
Prince of Wales'), or by detaching a ship from the North America and West Indies Station. With the start of the Second World War in 1939, the South American Division (HMS Exeter and HMS Ajax) were transferred from the America and West Indies Station to the
Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic. In 1942 the C-in-C America and West Indies was retitled as Senior British Naval Officer, Western Atlantic. In 1945 the America and West Indies title was restored. In June 1948, , the flagship, visited Bermuda. In 1951, the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda, was reduced to a base without drydock facilities, with the Admiralty Floating Dock No. 5 towed to Britain by HM Tugs
Warden and
Reward (the smaller AFD 48 remained). The position of Senior Naval Officer West Indies (SNOWI) was established as a Sub-Area Commander under the Commander-in-Chief of the America and West Indies station. The occupant of this position was a commodore, and was provided with a shore office on Ireland Island (which was beside the Victualling Yard until 1962), but was required to spend much of his time at sea in the West Indies. A flagship (between 1951 and April, 1956, this was successively , , HMS
Sheffield, ) and other vessels of the America and West Indies Squadron continued to be based at the South Yard of the former Royal Naval Dockyard, where the Royal Navy maintained a
Berthing Area under the command of a Resident Naval Officer (RNO), but were detached from the
Home Fleet, and their refits and repairs were thenceforth to be carried out in Britain. The RNO had his own office in one of the houses of Dockyard Terrace.
Admiralty land not required for the continued naval operations was sold to the colonial government. There was also an RNO in
Nassau. In 1952, the Commander-in-Chief, Vice Admiral Sir
William Andrewes, became the initial Deputy
Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic. Vice-Admiral John Eaton, the last Commander-in-Chief, flew his flag from
HMS Kenya; on hauling down his flag as C-in-C A&WI, he moved to Norfolk and spent an additional year there solely as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic. ==Disestablishment and successor, SNOWI==