[1] The origins of the Commander-in-Chief's post can be traced to Stafford Fairborne,[2] who in 1695 was appointed as captain of HMS London and "Commander in Chief of his Majesty's shipps in the River of Thames and the Medway".

In 1742 Sir Charles Hardy was appointed "Commander in chief of all the ships of war in the rivers Thames and Medway, and at the buoy of the Nore",[6] and similarly in 1745 Sir Chaloner Ogle, Admiral of the Blue, was appointed "Commander-in-Chief of HM Ships and Naval Vessels in the Rivers Thames and Medway and at the Buoy of the Nore"[7] (as indeed was Isaac Townsend in 1752).

[14] In 1938 an underground Area Combined Headquarters was built close to Admiralty House to accommodate the Commander-in-Chief together with the Air Officer Commanding No.

16 Group RAF, Coastal Command, and their respective staffs;[15] similar headquarters were built close to the other Royal Dockyards.

During the Second World War, the Nore assumed great importance: it was used to guard the east coast convoys supplying the ports of North Eastern England.

The closing ceremony took place on 24 March 1961, when the station's Queen's Colour was formally laid up in the presence of members of the Admiralty Board, several former Commanders-in-Chief, other civilian and military figures, "..and the Commander-in-Chief of the Netherlands Home Station flying his flag in the new Dutch destroyer Limburg who had been invited to attend.

[20] Cecil Hampshire writes that from 1 April 1961, the area was divided between the Commander-in-Chief Portsmouth and the Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland, the demarcation line being "roughly at The Wash." For purposes of administration from that date onward, the Admiral Superintendent Chatham also took the title of Flag Officer Medway.

[22] The Royal Naval Barracks, Chatham were purpose-built to provide accommodation and training facilities for the men of the reserve fleet who were waiting to be appointed to ships.