Nore Command

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Nore Command
Active	17th Century-1961
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Navy
Commanders
Notable commanders	Bertram Ramsay John Tovey (1943/46)

The Nore Command was a major operational command of the Royal Navy for several hundred years until it was disbanded in the 1960s. At its height, it was commanded by an officer of the rank of Admiral and was one of the most important commands for the defence of the United Kingdom.

The Nore is the anchorage at the mouth of the River Medway and became an important place of naval assembly during the Dutch Wars. The command established there was responsible for the River Medway, the dockyards at Sheerness and Chatham and, during most of its history, the entire North Sea. Smaller subordinate commands were later established at Yarmouth, Ramsgate (sometimes known as North Sea) and Leith during the Napoleonic Wars and later became independent for a while, but were eventually placed again under the control of the Nore.

During World War II, the station assumed great importance, with its site at the entrance to the River Thames. It was used to guard the coastal shipping route to the ports of North Eastern England. It assumed even greater importance as a supply staging post for the Allied armies in North Western Europe after the invasion of 1944.

With the onset of the Cold War, the station and command diminished in importance as the navy decreased in size. The Nore Command was finally closed on March 31, 1961.