HMS Baltimore gave Suckling independent command

Suckling reached commander in January 1754 after fewer than fifteen years in the Royal Navy. He took HMS Baltimore on the North America Station, assuming command at Charleston and patrolling the Carolinas as far north as Boston. The posting gave a young officer independent peacetime responsibility across a broad colonial coastline. His presence at Halifax in 1755 then placed him where Admiral Boscawen could select him for the captured Lys and the next step in his career.