Military of Bermuda

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War Department Ordnance Survey Marker, Bermuda.

The defence of Bermuda remains the responsibility of the National (British) Government, rather than of the Bermudian Government, which is effectively a local authority. Despite this, the Bermuda Government was historically responsible for maintaining Militia for the defence of the Colony. As Bermuda became the primary Royal Navy headquarters and dockyard in the Western Atlantic, following American independence, there was a parallel build-up of military defences to protect the naval base. Seeing the militia as having become superfluous, with the large number of regular soldiers then present, the Colonial Government allowed it to lapse after the American War of 1812, however, it did raise volunteer units at the end of the Century to form a reserve for the military garrison.

The Colony was an increasingly prominent naval station after the American War of 1812 ended in 1815, but achieved a particular importantance during both world wars, because of its location in the North Atlantic Ocean, its naturally-protected waters, and the presence of the naval dockyard. The US had operated a US Coast Guard station on the island during the latter stages of the Great War, and US Navy vessels had also used the island, which was a hub for trans-Atlantic convoys. This involvement of the allied US forces in Bermuda was built upon in the Second World War. Before the USA had entered that conflict, the British Government had granted it a free, 99-year base lease in Bermuda, along with a similar grant in Newfoundland for what became the Ernest Harmon Air Force Base. These grants were an extension of the Lend-Lease agreement, but not actually part of it, and no loan of ships or other war material was received in return (although the agreement for the airfield to be constructed in Bermuda was that it be shared with the Royal Air Force). The US Army and the US Navy both began construction of air stations (an airfield and a flying boat station, respectively) in 1941, and the USA operated these bases until the end of the Cold War. The bases consisted of 5.8km ² (2.25 mi²) of land, largely reclaimed from the sea.

The US bases were not the only, or even the first, air stations operating in Bermuda, however. The civil airport, a flying boat station on Darrell's Island, was taken over by the RAF at the start of the war, and used by two commands. The government airline, Imperial Airways/BOAC, which had operated Darrell's Island before the war, adopted its war time role, and its camouflaged flying boats maintained trans-Atlantic service through Bermuda throughout the war. US Navy aircraft also briefly operated from Darrell's Island, maintaining anti-submarine air parols, before their own base was operational. Before the US entry into the war, anti-submarine air patrols were flown on an ad-hoc basis by the Walrus flying boats of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, operating from its own base on Boaz Island.

With the build up of the US bases on the island, the enduring alliance post-war, under NATO, Britain's re-assessment of its global military role and responsibilities in light of subsequent break up of the British Empire, and its near bankruptcy from the cost of the war, the value placed on the Imperial bases in Bermuda rapidly diminished on the end of the conflict.

The Royal Naval dockyard and the attendant military garrison were closed during the 1950s. A small supply base continued to operate within the Dockyard until it, too, was closed, along with the American and Canadian bases, in 1995. The US bases closed on 1 September of that year, but unresolved issues - primarily related to environmental factors - delayed the formal return of the base lands to the Government of Bermuda, which finally occurred in 2002. The only military units remaining in Bermuda, today, are the Bermuda Regiment, an amalgam of the voluntary units formed in the 19th Century, and army and naval cadet corps.

1 Military branches
2 Historical Naval and Military of Bermuda
3 Former US Bases In Bermuda
4 Bibliography
5 External links

[edit] Military branches

The Bermuda Regiment
Bermuda Police Service
Bermuda Reserve Police
Airport Security Police
Bermuda Cadet Corps
Bermuda Sea Cadet Corps

Military expenditures 2005/06 (Revised) - dollar figure: $5,687,000 (Defence), $50,467,000 (Police).

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 0.11 NA% (Not including Police).

Military - note: defence of Bermuda is the responsibility of the United Kingdom

Adapted from the CIA World Factbook 2000.

[edit] Historical Naval and Military of Bermuda

The Royal Navy
Royal Navy, Fleet Air Arm. RNAS, Boaz Island
Regular Army in Bermuda, 1701-1955
Bermuda Militias 1612-1815
Bermuda Volunteer/Territorial Army Units 1895-1965
Royal Air Force, Bermuda, 1939-1945
Royal Canadian Naval Base, HMCS Somers Isles, 1944-1945
Canadian Forces Station Bermuda, Daniel's Head, 1963-1993

[edit] Former US Bases In Bermuda

USCG-The Great War
USCG Air-Sea Rescue, at USAF Base, Kindley Field
USN Submarine Base, Ordnance Island, Bermuda. WWII
USN NAS Bermuda/NAS Annex, Morgans Point, 1941-1995
USN NAS Bermuda, Kindley Field, 1970-1995
USN Tudor Hill, 1954-1995
USAAF, Fort Bell 1941-1948
USAF, Kindley Field. 1948-1970
NASA, at USAF Base Kindley Field/US NAS Bermuda

[edit] Bibliography

"Defence, Not Defiance: A History Of The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps", Jennifer M. Ingham (now Jennifer M. Hind), ISBN 0-9696517-1-6. Printed by The Island Press Ltd., Pembroke, Bermuda.

"The Andrew And The Onions: The Story Of The Royal Navy In Bermuda, 1795 – 1975", Lt. Commander Ian Strannack, The Bermuda Maritime Museum Press, The Bermuda Maritime Museum, P.O. Box MA 133, Mangrove Bay, Bermuda MA BX.

"Bermuda Forts 1612–1957", Dr. Edward C. Harris, The Bermuda Maritime Museum Press, The Bermuda Maritime Museum, P.O. Box MA 133, Mangrove Bay, Bermuda MA BX.

"Bulwark Of Empire: Bermuda's Fortified Naval Base 1860-1920", Lt.-Col. Roger Willock, USMC, The Bermuda Maritime Museum Press, The Bermuda Maritime Museum, P.O. Box MA 133, Mangrove Bay, Bermuda MA BX.

"Flying Boats Of Bermuda", Sqn.-Ldr. Colin A. Pomeroy, ISBN 0-9698332-4-5, Printlink, PO Box 937, Hamilton, Bermuda HM DX.

"Bermuda From Sail To Steam: The History Of The Island From 1784 to 1901", Dr. Henry Wilkinson, Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, UK OX2 6DP.