Much has been written about HMS Mercury over the years and particularly since its closure in 1993.

  Above all else, Mercury, with its family (branch and sub branches) atmosphere, its beautiful location and being away from the pressures of sea-time, was a delightful establishment to serve in and to be associated with. The communicators' alma mater holds many happy memories for thousands of people (and I dare say some unhappy ones for a small minority) and the period 1941 to 1993 lives on in our recollections. Its undoubted success as a fleet establishment was wholly due to the personnel who served in it, and here I include everybody, civilians and service personnel alike. There are too many people with diverse personalities to mention, and sadly, many of them are now in a higher place, but given the opportunity, I am sure we would thank them for their contribution towards the previously mentioned success story. In all organisations, success or failure always comes top-down, and we all know that a happy ship has a good commanding officer. HMS Mercury has been blessed by having twenty five good commanding officers, and since it is they who represent the personnel serving in the establishment, they, collectively, deserve a long overdue salute. That is the purpose of this simple page. Please join me in that salute.

  The table below shows (unless indicated otherwise) the photographs of our commanding officers over the fifty three years the establishment was operational. Ultimately, each captain will be shown posing for his own 'command' photograph, and that I hope will come about from you, the readers, who may well have the very picture I seek to replace photographs of our captains taken with groups of other people, which is not what I desire nor which you want to see. Please have a rummage around your archives, and many thanks in anticipation for doing so.

Captain Gerald H. Warner Aug 1941 to Dec 1943 Captain Warner Details	Captain Alan K. Scott-Moncrieff Dec 1943 to Dec 1945 Captain Scott-Moncrieff Details	Captain Charles L. Firth Jan 1946 to Apr 1948 Captain Firth Details	Captain John H.F. Crombie Apr 1948 to Sep 50 Captain Crombie Details	Captain John G.T. Inglis Sep 1950 to Oct 1951 Captain Inglis Details
Captain Peter Dawnay Oct 1951 to Oct 1954 Captain Dawnay Details	Captain John R.B. Longden Jan 1954 to May 1955 Captain Longdon Details	Captain Alexander H.C. Gordon-Lennox Jan 1954 to May 1955 Captain Gordon-Lennox Details	Captain Charles B. Brooke Mar 1957 to Jan 1959 Captain Brooke Details	Captain John A.C. Henley Jan 1959 to Aug 1960 Captain Henley Details
Captain Peter N Howes Aug 1960 to Dec 1961 Captain Howes Details	Captain David E. Bromley-Martin Dec 1961 to Dec 1963 Private papers of Captain Bromley-Martin	Captain David V. Morgan Dec 1963 to Apr 1966 Captain D.V. Morgan Details	Captain J.R. McKaig Apr 1966 to Apr 1968 Captain J.R.McKaig Details	Captain Sir Peter Anson Bt. Apr 1968 to Apr 1970 Captain Anson Details
Captain Barrie H. Kent Oct 1970 to Oct 1972 Captain Kent Details	Captain Roger C. Morgan Oct 1972 to Apr 1975 Captain Morgan Details	Captain Derek A.P. O'Reilly Apr 1975 to Jan 1977 Captain O'Reilly Details	Captain John M. Tait Oct 1977 to Oct 1978 Captain Tait Details	Captain Sydney D.S. Bailey Oct 1978 to Jan 1981 Captain Bailey Details
Captain Gerald A. Plumer Jan 1981 to Jan 1983 Captain Plumer Details	Captain William W.F. Chatterton-Dickson Jan 1983 to Jul 1985 Captain Chatteron-Dixon Details	Captain Francis D. Lowe Jul 1985 to Sep 1988 Captain Lowe Details	Captain Anthony J.C. Morrow Sep 1988 to Mar 1991 Captain Morrow Details	Captain Paul R. Sutermeister Mar 1991 to 1993 (closure) Captain Sutermeister Details

  The closure programme for HMS Mercury was announced under DCI(RN)310/92. On the 31st August 1993 C.S.S. finally relinquished Command.

  My huge thanks go to the following people/organisations without whose help this page would have not been possible; I
  am indebted to you all.

  Rear Admiral Sir Peter Anson CB for his colour photograph and his entry in Who's Who (1990).
  Commodore Anthony Morrow CVO Royal Navy for the many pictures of the Main House including his own picture and
   his career details.
  Commodore Paul Sutermeister DL Royal Navy for his naval career details.
  Captain David Bailey Royal Navy for his own picture and career details plus the picture of Captain John Tait. Also for the
  picture of the wintry scene.
  Captain William Chatterton-Dickson Royal Navy for his own picture and his career details.
  Captain Francis Lowe Royal Navy for his own picture and for his naval career.
  Lieutenant (CS) Dennis Alderson Royal Navy for his pictures of Captain C B Brooke, Captain P N Howes and Captain
  J H F Crombie.
  FCRS Peter (Stan) Snape for the group picture which was originally used showing Captain Bailey - now withdrawn.
  FCRS John Eilbeck for the loan of his collection of 'The Communicator' Magazine which were published from 1947.
  FCCY David Morris for the original group picture showing Captain Chatterton-Dickson - now withdrawn.
  CRS Mick Puttick for the photograph of Captain Paul Sutermeister.
  The career details of WW2 officers from the UnitHistories website.
  Career details of officers not self submitted or taken from the UnitHistories website, which came courtesy of Mike
  Coombes from the Navy Research website.