Commander-in-Chief (Royal Navy)

In the Royal Navy, the term Commander-in-Chief refers the Admiral assigned to have overall command of all Royal Navy ships in a geographic location.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries the Royal Navy first started establishing permanent bases overseas in places such as India, Halifax, Nova Scotia and the West Indies. These were commanded by a local Commander-in-Chief who could have other Admirals under him. This was a position not a rank.

During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the term was extended to cover the senior Admiral in a theatre of the war, such as the Mediterranean or North Sea.