Spanish East Indies together with the Spanish West Indies, were administered through the Viceroyalty of New Spain based in Mexico City. After Mexican independence, they were ruled directly from Madrid. As a result of the Spanish–American War in 1898, the Philippines and Guam were occupied by the United States while about 6,000 of the remaining smaller islands were sold to Germany in the German–Spanish Treaty of 1899. The few remaining islands were ceded to the United States when the Treaty of Washington was ratified in 1901. Spanish contact began on , when a Spanish expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan reached the Mariana Islands.
East Indies Station transferred again to the Eastern Fleet. The Persian Gulf Station was originally located at Basidu, Qishm Island in Persia (c. 1850-1935) then later Juffair, Bahrain. It included a naval base, depot and naval forces known as the Persian Gulf Patrol, then the Persian Gulf Squadron later called he Persian Gulf Division it was a sub-command of the East Indies Station until 1958 when it merged with the Red Sea Station to create the Arabian Seas and Persian Gulf Station of the new Middle East Command. Various units that served in this command included: East Indies Station The Commander-in-Chief, East Indies