Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches, WW2 Royal Navy command position, based in Liverpool, England
The Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches headquarters was an underground command centre in Liverpool that managed Atlantic naval operations. The complex contained operational rooms, communications areas, and living quarters connected by tunnels beneath the city.
The centre was built during the Second World War to coordinate British naval forces against German submarines in the Atlantic. After the war it was decommissioned but preserved, and is now open to visitors as a museum.
This site served as a nerve centre for coordinating naval operations and watching over convoy movements across the Atlantic. Visitors today can see the underground rooms where officers tracked ships in real time and communicated with vessels at sea.
Access to the site is by guided tour, which shows the underground rooms and their original fittings. Visitors should wear comfortable shoes as there are many stairs and narrow passages, and it stays cool below ground.
The facility sits beneath an ordinary residential building and was so secret during the war that many Liverpool residents never knew it existed. Even today, visitors are often surprised to discover such a large command centre hidden under city streets.
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