Military of Bermuda - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The defence of Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

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

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

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

War of 1812

The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

, however, it did raise volunteer units at the end of the Century to form a reserve for the military garrison

Bermuda Garrison

The Bermuda Garrison was the military establishment maintained on the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda by the regular British Army, and its local militia and voluntary reserves from 1701 to 1957. The Garrison existed primarily to defend the Royal Naval Dockyard and other facilities in Bermuda...

.

Following the loss of Britain's ports in thirteen of its former continental colonies after the American War of 1812, Bermuda assumed a new strategic prominence for the Royal Navy. When Hamilton

Hamilton, Bermuda

Hamilton is the capital of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is the territory's financial centre and a major port and tourist destination.-Geography:...

, a centrally located port founded in 1790, became the seat of government in 1815, it was partly resultant from the Royal Navy having invested twelve years, following American independence, in charting Bermuda's reefs. It did this in order to locate the deepwater channel by which shipping might reach the islands in, and at the West of, the Great Sound, which it had begun acquiring with a view to building a naval base

Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda

HMD Bermuda was the principal base of the Royal Navy in the Western Atlantic between American independence and the Cold War. Bermuda had occupied a useful position astride the homeward leg taken by many European vessels from the New World since before its settlement by England in 1609...

. However, that channel also gave access to Hamilton Harbour. The Royal Navy had originally invested in property around St. George's, but slowly moved all of its operations to the West End once the channel had been charted. In addition to serving as a naval base and coalling station for its North America & West Indies Squadron, the Royal Navy developed Bermuda as its only dockyard between the Canadian Maritimes and the West Indies where major repairs to large vessels could be made. It was initially the winter headquarters of the Admiralty based in the Maritimes, but became the year-round headquarters during the course of the century. The blockade of the southern US Atlantic Seaboard, as well as the sack of Washington D.C.

Burning of Washington

The Burning of Washington was an armed conflict during the War of 1812 between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States of America. On August 24, 1814, led by General Robert Ross, a British force occupied Washington, D.C. and set fire to many public buildings following...

, carried out during the American War of 1812 was orchestrated from the Admiralty House in Bermuda, then located at Mount Wyndham, in Bailey's Bay http://www.rootsweb.com/~bmuwgw/mtwyndham.html.

Prior to the American War of Independence, the only Regular Army unit in Bermuda was an Independent Company, based in St. George's. With the buildup of the Royal Naval establishment in the first decades of the Nineteenth Century, a large number of military fortifications and batteries were constructed, and the numbers of regular infantry, artillery, and support units that composed the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

garrison were steadily increased. The investment into military infrastructure by the War Office proved unsustainable, and poorly thought-out, with far too few artillery men available to man the hundreds of guns emplaced. Many of the forts were abandoned, or removed from use, soon after construction. Following the Crimean War

Crimean War

The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...

, the trend was towards reducing military garrisons in colonies like Bermuda, partly for economic reasons, and partly as it became recognised that the Royal Navy's own ships could provide a better defence for the Dockyard, and Bermuda. Still, the important strategic location of Bermuda meant that the withdrawal, which began, at least in intent, in the 1870s, was carried out very slowly over several decades, continuing until after the Great War. The last Regular Army units were not withdrawn until the Dockyard itself closed in the 1950s. In the 1860s, however, the major build-up of naval and military infrastructure brought vital money into Bermuda at a time when its traditional (cedar- and sail cloth-based) maritime industries were giving way under the assault of steel hulls and steam propulsion. The American Civil War, also, briefly, provided a shot-in-the-arm to the local economy. Tourism and agricultural industries would develop in the latter half of the nineteenth Century, however, it was defence infrastructure that formed the central platform of the economy into the Twentieth Century.

The Colony's prominence as a naval station was underlined during both world wars thanks of its location in the North Atlantic Ocean, its naturally-protected waters, and the presence of the Royal Naval Dockyard and its military defences. With the US, the primary threat to Bermuda in the Nineteenth Century, becoming an ally in both wars, US forces began to make use of Bermuda also.

The US had operated a US Coast Guard

United States Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

station on the island during the latter stages of the World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, and US Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

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

Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...

for what became the Ernest Harmon Air Force Base

Ernest Harmon Air Force Base

Ernest Harmon Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base located in Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador. The base was built by the United States Army Air Forces in 1941 under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement with the United Kingdom....

. These grants were an extension of the Lend-Lease

Lend-Lease

Lend-Lease was the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945. It was signed into law on March 11, 1941, a year and a half after the outbreak of war in Europe in...

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

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

). The US Army and the US Navy both began construction of air stations (an airfield and a flying boat

Flying boat

A flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a float plane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, granting the aircraft buoyancy. Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage...

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

Imperial Airways

Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long range air transport company, operating from 1924 to 1939 and serving parts of Europe but especially the Empire routes to South Africa, India and the Far East...

/BOAC

British Overseas Airways Corporation

The British Overseas Airways Corporation was the British state airline from 1939 until 1946 and the long-haul British state airline from 1946 to 1974. The company started life with a merger between Imperial Airways Ltd. and British Airways Ltd...

, 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

Supermarine Walrus

The Supermarine Walrus was a British single-engine amphibious biplane reconnaissance aircraft designed by R. J. Mitchell and operated by the Fleet Air Arm . It also served with the Royal Air Force , Royal Australian Air Force , Royal Canadian Air Force , Royal New Zealand Navy and Royal New...

flying boats of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm

Fleet Air Arm

The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...

, 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

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

, 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, HMS Malabar, 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

Bermuda Regiment

The Bermuda Regiment is the home defence unit of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is a single territorial infantry battalion that was formed by the amalgamation in 1965 of two originally voluntary units, the all white Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps and the mostly black Bermuda Militia...

, an amalgam of the voluntary units formed in the 19th Century, and army and naval cadet corps.

Military branches

The Bermuda Regiment
Bermuda Regiment
The Bermuda Regiment is the home defence unit of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is a single territorial infantry battalion that was formed by the amalgamation in 1965 of two originally voluntary units, the all white Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps and the mostly black Bermuda Militia...
Bermuda Police Service
Bermuda Police Service
The Bermuda Police Service is the law enforcement agency of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is responsible for policing the entire archipelago, including incorporated municipalities, and the surrounding waters. It is part of, and entirely funded by, the Government of Bermuda...
Bermuda Reserve Police
Airport Security Police
Airport Security Police (Bermuda)
-History of the Bermuda International Airport:Prior to 1995, the airfield was a US Naval Air Station, NAS Bermuda. Following a US network news report, which scandalised it as the 'Club Med of the US Navy', NAS Bermuda, and the other US Naval facilities in Bermuda, were slated for rapid closure...
Bermuda Cadet Corps
Bermuda Sea Cadet Corps
Bermuda Sea Cadet Corps
The Bermuda Sea Cadet Corps was created as a registered charity under the Bermuda Sea Cadet Association Act, 1968. The first unit had actually been created two years earlier. Despite Bermuda's historical maritime economy, and its long period as a naval base and dockyard, there were no Sea Cadet...

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

Bermuda

is the responsibility of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

Adapted from the CIA World Factbook 2000.

See also Government of Bermuda Budget Statement 2006/07 (pdf file).

Historical Naval and Military of Bermuda

The Royal Navy
Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda
HMD Bermuda was the principal base of the Royal Navy in the Western Atlantic between American independence and the Cold War. Bermuda had occupied a useful position astride the homeward leg taken by many European vessels from the New World since before its settlement by England in 1609...
Royal Navy, Fleet Air Arm. RNAS, Boaz Island
Bermuda Garrison, 1701-1957
Bermuda Garrison
The Bermuda Garrison was the military establishment maintained on the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda by the regular British Army, and its local militia and voluntary reserves from 1701 to 1957. The Garrison existed primarily to defend the Royal Naval Dockyard and other facilities in Bermuda...
Bermuda Militias 1612-1815
Bermuda Militias 1612-1815
Bermuda Militias 1612-1815Bermuda was settled inadvertently, in 1609, by the Virginia Company. Its first deliberate settlers arrived in 1612, aboard the Plough. The very first concern of the first Governor, Richard Moore, was the Colony's defences against an expected Spanish attack. He oversaw the...
Bermuda Volunteer/Territorial Army Units 1895-1965
Bermuda Volunteer/Territorial Army Units 1895-1965
The Volunteer Army units raised in Bermuda were created as part of an Imperial military garrison that existed primarily to protect the Royal Naval base, centred about the HM Dockyard on Ireland Island....
Royal Air Force, Bermuda, 1939-1945
Royal Air Force, Bermuda, 1939-1945
The Royal Air Force operated from two locations in Bermuda during the Second World War. Bermuda's location had made it an important naval station since US independence, and, with the advent of the aeroplane, had made it as important to trans-Atlantic aviation in the decades before the Jet Age...
Royal Canadian Naval Base, HMCS Somers Isles, 1944-1945
Canadian Forces Station Bermuda, Daniel's Head, 1963-1993
CFS Bermuda
Canadian Forces Station Bermuda, commonly shortened to CFS Bermuda, was a Canadian Forces Station in Bermuda that was operational from 1944 until 1992.-NRS Bermuda:...

Former US Bases In Bermuda

USCG-The Great War
USCG Base, Whites Island, Bermuda. WWI
United States Coast Guard Base Whites Island is a former United States Coast Guard facility located on White's Island in Hamilton Harbour, Bermuda....
USCG Air-Sea Rescue, at USAF Base, Kindley Field
USCG Air-Sea Rescue, at USAF Base, Kindley Field
The USCG detachment in Bermuda operated air-sea rescue services, moved from the US Naval Station to Kindley Field, in November 1963 until the withdrawal of its HU-16 Grumman Albatross flying boats in 1965. The role was subsequently filled by helicopters....
USN Submarine Base, Ordnance Island, Bermuda. WWII
USN NAS Bermuda/NAS Annex, Morgans Point, 1941-1995
USN NAS Bermuda/NAS Annex, Morgans Point, 1941-1995
The United States Navy's Naval Operating Base, was a seaplane base in Bermuda, the original Naval Air Station Bermuda. Following the US Navy's take over of Kindley Air Force Base , the base was adopted to other uses as an annex to the new NAS Bermuda, the NAS Annex...
USN NAS Bermuda, Kindley Field, 1970-1995
USN Tudor Hill, 1954-1995
USN Tudor Hill, 1954-1995
USN Tudor Hill, 1954 — 1995. The US Navy operated a listening post from Tudor Hill, in Southampton, Bermuda from 1954 til the closure of US bases in 1995. This base remotely monitored sensors designed to listen for submarines moving through the Atlantic. There was some hope that the base would...
USAAF, Fort Bell 1941-1948
USAF, Kindley Air Force Base. 1948-1970
Kindley Air Force Base
Kindley Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base in Bermuda from 1948–1970, having been operated from 1943 to 1948 by the United States Army Air Force as Kindley Field.-World War II:...
NASA, at USAF Base Kindley Field/US NAS Bermuda

External links

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