Commander-in-Chief, Levant
The Commander-in-Chief, Levant was a senior administrative shore commander of the Royal Navy. The post was established in February 1943 when the British Chiefs of Staff Committee ordered the Mediterranean Fleet to be divided into two commands. One was responsible for naval operations involving ships, and the other, administrative and support, was responsible for shore establishments. His subordinate establishments and staff were sometimes informally known as the Levant Command or Levant Station. In December 1943 the title was changed to Flag Officer, Levant and East Mediterranean. In January 1944 the two separate commands were re-unified into a single command merging back into Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean Fleet.
History
Shore-based naval area commands in the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre had historically reported to the Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean Fleet."A Flag Officer, Rear-Admiral F. Elliott, had been appointed to co-ordinate matters of local defence, and he was already the Fortress Commander in all but name. In war he was to be responsible to the General Officer Commanding British Troops in Egypt for the security of the Fortress, but was to meet the requirements of the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, in every possible way."
In 1940, responsibility for the Red Sea area was transferred from the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies to the Mediterranean Fleet and did not revert until 1942. Following a meeting in London, the Chiefs of Staff Committee signaled on 2 February 1943 to Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, that:
1). The Mediterranean will be divided into two commands: the area to the west line A to B to be the Mediterranean command.. For the present the line A to B will be the line running from the Tunisian/Tripolitanian border to a position in Latitude 35 degrees North, Longitude 60 degrees East, thence to Cape Spartivento.
Between 1943 and 1945 the shore commands reporting to C-in-C Levant were Tunisia, North Africa, Sicily ; Taranto, FO West Italy, Northern Mediterranean, and Western Mediterranean &. The dockyards at Gibraltar and Malta continued as major bases supporting the new organisation. In December 1943 the command was renamed to Levant and Eastern Mediterranean.
In August 1946 the command was retitled the Flag Officer, Middle East, part of the tri-service British Middle East Command, until 1959.