Skip to main content

West Africa Station









West Africa Station


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigation
Jump to search





























West Africa Station
Active
1942-1945
Country
 United Kingdom
Branch
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg Royal Navy
Type
Fleet
Part of
Admiralty
Garrison/HQ
Freetown, Sierra Leone



The West Africa Station was a military command of the British Royal Navy during World War Two administered by the Flag Officer, West Africa, (FOWA) it existed from 1942 to 1945.




Contents






  • 1 History


  • 2 Flag Officers, West Africa


  • 3 Components


  • 4 Earlier West Africa stations


    • 4.1 Important dates




  • 5 References





History[edit]


In 1941, escort forces began to be built up at Freetown.[1] Initially consisting of 2 corvettes and a few Free French ships.[1] The post of Flag Officer, West Africa was officially established in August 1942 as part of the Admiralty's re-organisation of commands.[1] This was due to the growing importance of Freetown as a major base for convoy escorts.[1] It existed until 1945.



Flag Officers, West Africa[edit]


Post holders included:[2]




































Rank Flag Name Term Notes

Flag Officer, West Africa
1 Vice-Admiral Flag of Vice-Admiral - Royal Navy.svg Frank Pegram August, 1942 - May,1943 [2]

2 Vice-Admiral Flag of Vice-Admiral - Royal Navy.svg Bernard Rawlings May - November, 1943 [2]

3 Vice-Admiral Flag of Vice-Admiral - Royal Navy.svg Arthur Peters November, 1943 - 1945 [2]



Components[edit]


Distribution of units attached to station included:[1]










































































Unit Date Notes
1 18th Destroyer Flotilla July 1941- January 1942 2 sloops, 18 corvettes [1]
2 18th Destroyer Flotilla January 1942 - August 1942 2 sloops, 24 corvettes [1]
3 18th Destroyer Flotilla August 1942 - July 1943 2 sloops, 23 corvettes [1]
4 18th Destroyer Flotilla July 1943 - February 1944 15 destroyers, 2 sloops, 15 corvettes [1]
5 18th Destroyer Flotilla February 1944 - September 1944 6 destroyers, 7 sloops & frigates, 7 corvettes [1]
6 55th Escort Group September 1944 - May 1945 4/5 escort destroyers [1]
7 56th Escort Group September 1944 - May 1945 4/5 escort destroyers [1]
8 57th Escort Group September 1944 - May 1945 4/5 escort destroyers [1]
9 58th Escort Group September 1944 - May 1945 4/5 escort destroyers, 15 corvettes [1]
10 59th Escort Group September 1944 - May 1945 4/5 escort destroyers [1]
11 60th Escort Group September 1944 - May 1945 4/5 escort destroyers [1]


Earlier West Africa stations[edit]


Note: This command should not be confused with the West Africa Squadron later known as the "West Coast of Africa Station" it was primarily a patrol squadron operating off the Western Africa during the 19th century nor the Cape of Good Hope Station that merged with the West Coast of Africa Station to create the Cape of Good Hope and West Africa Station for the periods (1857-1865, 1867-1920) that command was based at Simonstown, South Africa.


Important dates[edit]



  • 1807: British slave trade illegal

  • 1808: First RN anti-slavery patrol, West Africa Squadron

  • 1819: West African Station an independent command under a Commodore (prior to this the ships were on "particular service")

  • 1840: West African Station still independent, but not under a Commodore

  • 1842: West African Station once more commanded by a Commodore

  • 1857-1865: West African Station again combined with Cape of Good Hope Station

  • 1866: West African Station an independent command again

  • 1867 West Africa/Preventative Squadron is disbanded

  • 1867-1920 West Africa Station combined with Cape of Good Hope Station

  • 1920-1941 No West Africa Station

  • 1942-1945 West Africa Station reformed based at Freetown Sierra Leone



References[edit]


Footnotes





  1. ^ abcdefghijklmnop Watson, Dr Graham. "Royal Navy Orgnisation in World War 2, 1939-1945:West Africa Command". www.naval-history.net. Gordon Smith, 19 September 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2018..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}


  2. ^ abcd Mackie, Colin. "Royal Navy Senior Appointments from 1865" (PDF). gulabin.com. Colin Mackie, p.84. February 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2018.



Sources



  • Mackie, Colin. (2018) "Royal Navy Senior Appointments from 1865" (PDF). gulabin.com. Colin Mackie. Scotland, UK.

  • Watson, Dr Graham. "Royal Navy Orgnisation in World War 2, 1939-1945:West Africa Command". www.naval-history.net. Gordon Smith, 19 September 2015.












Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=West_Africa_Station&oldid=831752095"





Navigation menu

























(window.RLQ=window.RLQ||).push(function(){mw.config.set({"wgPageParseReport":{"limitreport":{"cputime":"0.368","walltime":"0.442","ppvisitednodes":{"value":1242,"limit":1000000},"ppgeneratednodes":{"value":0,"limit":1500000},"postexpandincludesize":{"value":121805,"limit":2097152},"templateargumentsize":{"value":1208,"limit":2097152},"expansiondepth":{"value":12,"limit":40},"expensivefunctioncount":{"value":0,"limit":500},"unstrip-depth":{"value":1,"limit":20},"unstrip-size":{"value":8716,"limit":5000000},"entityaccesscount":{"value":0,"limit":400},"timingprofile":["100.00% 260.534 1 -total"," 41.28% 107.538 1 Template:Reflist"," 34.07% 88.752 2 Template:Cite_web"," 24.98% 65.081 1 Template:Infobox_military_unit"," 21.99% 57.290 1 Template:Infobox"," 15.74% 41.000 1 Template:About"," 10.20% 26.564 2 Template:Navbox"," 8.92% 23.227 1 Template:Admiralty_Department"," 4.61% 12.001 1 Template:UK"," 4.09% 10.656 5 Template:WPMILHIST_Infobox_style"]},"scribunto":{"limitreport-timeusage":{"value":"0.124","limit":"10.000"},"limitreport-memusage":{"value":2793889,"limit":52428800}},"cachereport":{"origin":"mw1239","timestamp":"20181027085949","ttl":1900800,"transientcontent":false}}});mw.config.set({"wgBackendResponseTime":99,"wgHostname":"mw1320"});});

Popular posts from this blog

Florida Star v. B. J. F.

Danny Elfman

Lugert, Oklahoma