The Commander-in-Chief, Coast of Ireland was both an admiral's post and a naval formation of the Royal Navy. It was based at Queenstown, now Cobh, in Ireland from 1797 - 1919. The admiral's headquarters was at Admiralty House, Cobh.
History
The French Revolutionary Wars led to Cobh, then usually known as Ballyvoloon or The Cove of Cork, being developed as a British naval port, and assigned an admiral. The first appointment of an "Admiral Commanding in Ireland" or "Commander-in-Chief, Cork" was in 1797. The post remained unfilled between 1831 and 1843. It was renamed "Commander-in-Chief, Queenstown" in 1849 following a visit by Queen Victoria during which she renamed the town of Cobh "Queenstown". The post became "Senior Officer on the Coast of Ireland" in 1876. The full title of the incumbent following the establishment of the post of Admiral Commanding, Coastguard and Reserves in 1903 was Senior Officer on the Coast of Ireland and Deputy to the Admiral Commanding Coastguard and Reserves for Coastguard Duty in Ireland. In July 1915, not without misgivings in some quarters, Vice-Admiral Lewis Bayly was appointed to the post. Bayly was tasked with keeping the approaches to Britain safe from U-boat attacks. In 1917, Bayly, promoted to admiral and given the title Commander-in-Chief, Coast of Ireland, was given command of a mixed British-American force defending the Western Approaches. He took as his chief-of-staff the American captain Joel R. P. Pringle. Bayly had a good working relation with his U.S. counterpart William Sims. He held this post until 1919. The post became "Commander in Chief, Western Approaches" in 1919, and was disestablished at the end of the Irish War of Independence in 1922. That year the town reverted back to the name Cobh. The Royal Navy continued to station ships in Ireland, in accordance with the Anglo-Irish Treaty until 1938. After Ireland’s independence, the Royal Navy presence generally consisted of two destroyers, with one usually anchored in the Cobh roadstead, opposite Haulbowline, and another either on roving patrol, or moored at Berehaven. These 'guard ships' were withdrawn and the harbour forts were handed over to the Irish Government in 1938.
