China Station

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The China Station is a defunct geographical division of the British Royal Navy. Its ships were known as the China Squadron.

Its responsibilities generally covered the coasts of China and its navigable rivers, the western part of the Pacific Ocean, and the waters around the Dutch East Indies.^[1] These responsibilities did not imply territorial claims, although the navy often co-operated with British commercial interests in the above areas.

The China Station had bases at Singapore, HMS Tamar (1844–1941 and 1945–1992) in Hong Kong and Wei Hai Wei.

A British naval squadron can be either a permanent battle formation or an ad hoc grouping of warships. The China Station complement usually consisted of several light cruisers and destroyers and the Chinese rivers were patrolled by a flotilla of suitable, shallow-draught gunboats, referred to as "China gunboats".^[2]

In response to increased Japanese threats, the separate China Station was merged with the East Indies Station in December 1941 to form the Eastern Fleet.