Unit History: Flag Officer Medway

In 1963 Captain J S M RICHARDSON DSO RN (Rtd) was invited to set up a Royal Naval Reserve Headquarters Unit in Chatham. As a Commander RNR he served as the first Commanding Officer of the reborn HMS WILDFIRE - a name long associated with Sheerness Naval Base. The Unit was commissioned on 10 September 1964 with 13 Officers and 39 Ratings.
 
The task of the Unit for the best part of its first 20 years was to train to be able to provide the plotting and communications manpower for Flag Officer MEDWAY’s operational headquarters in the event of war. The underground former headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief the NORE which had been built in the inter-war period, and later FO MEDWAY’s Local Command Headquarters (LCHQ), was used for training on Drill Nights, at weekends and during Exercises. Ratings were not classified as "mobile" and therefore all their training and their war task commitment centred on "the Tunnel.