British Government Department
The Admiralty is the department of His Majesty's Government charged with the administration of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines and with the naval defence of the British Empire in general.
History: The Admiralty was established in 1708. However, some of its components existed earlier. The Navy Board, eventually abolished in 1832, had been created by Henry VIII in 1546 and the Board of Admiralty was established in 1628.
The Board of Admiralty: The Board of Admiralty is the body which actually runs the Admiralty, and by extension the Royal Navy. Its membership comprises the First Lord and the Civil Lord, both civilian politicians, and four Sea Lords, all admirals, these six being collectively known as the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, as well as several other members. Despite their titles, the lords commissioners do not actually have to be peers.
- The First Lord of the Admiralty is the Cabinet minister ultimately responsible for Admiralty and Royal Navy affairs.
- The Civil Lord of the Admiralty is a non-Cabinet minister, who has direct responsibility for the Royal Navy's large civilian staff, the Civil Engineer-in-Chief's Department, the Royal Greenwich Hospital, and naval lands.
- The First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff is the professional head of the Royal Navy. He is directly responsible for the direction of wartime naval strategy, planning, operations and intelligence. He is also responsible for all matters relating to the Royal Naval Reserve and, until 1923, HM Coastguard.
- The Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel is responsible for manning and mobilisation and other personnel questions. He is also directly responsible for all matters relating to the Royal Marines.
- The Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy is responsible for the Naval Construction, Engineer-in-Chief's, Ordnance, Dockyards, and Scientific Research and Development Departments and the Admiralty Compass Observatory.
- The Fourth Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Supplies is responsible for the Contract and Purchase Department and the Medical Department.
- The Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty is a lord commissioner from 1929 (although he is a member of the Board throughout the 1920s) and is responsible for finance, the preparation of estimates, and parliamentary business. He is a non-Cabinet minister.
- The Permanent Secretary to the Admiralty is a member of the Board of Admiralty from 1921. He is a civil servant responsible for the general administration of the Admiralty. He heads the Secretary's Department.
- The Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff is a lord commissioner, at least from 1924.
Personnel: Many shore functions of the Royal Navy are civilian-run, and the Admiralty has many more civilian employees than do the War Office or the Air Ministry. On 1 April 1920, the Admiralty employs 13,432 civilian staff, although this has shrunk to 7,433 by 1 April 1930.
Office of the Civil Lord
Civil Lords of the Admiralty: Lord Lytton (Con), 1919-26 Oct 1920; Lord Onslow (Con), 26 Oct 1920-1 Apr 1921; Bolton Eyres-Monsell MP (Con), 1 Apr 1921-19 Oct 1922; Lord Linlithgow (Con), 31 Oct 1922-22 Jan 1924; Frank Hodges MP (Lab), 24 Jan-3 Nov 1924; Lord Stanhope (Con), 11 Nov 1924-4 Jun 1929; George Hall MP (Lab), 11 Jun 1929-1931.
- Civil Engineer-in-Chief's Department: Responsible for all naval shore construction.
Office of the Controller of the Navy
Third Sea Lords and Controllers of the Navy: Rear-Admiral Sir William Nicholson, 1919-1920; Rear-Admiral (Sir) Frederick Field, Mar 1920-May 1923; Rear-Admiral Cyril Fuller, May 1923-Apr 1925; Vice-Admiral Sir Ernle Chatfield, 1925-1928.
- Armament Supply Department: Dissolved in 1923.
- Dockyards Department
Director of Dockyards: Vice-Admiral Albert Addison, 1928-.
- Engineer-in-Chief's Department: The engineer-in-chief is the senior serving naval engineer officer, and the department is responsible for naval machinery.
Engineer-in-Chief of the Fleet: Engineer Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Dixon, 1922-1928.
- Naval Construction Department: Headed by the director of naval construction, the department is responsible for the construction of all naval vessels.
- Naval Ordnance Department: Responsible for naval weaponry and ammunition. Ordnance is manufactured by the Royal Ordnance Factories or by private contractors, who are especially employed to make heavy guns.
Director of Naval Ordnance: Captain Roger Backhouse, 1920-1922.
- Naval Ordnance Inspection Department: Headed by the chief inspector of naval ordnance, the department inspects weapons and ammunition.
- Scientific Research and Experiment Department: The department initiates, investigates and advises on proposals for the application of science and engineering to naval warfare. The department is headed by the assistant controller of the Navy (research and development). A director of scientific research is first appointed in 1920 to head the scientific side of the department. The Technical Records Section is established in 1929. The department runs several Admiralty Experimental Establishments.
- Signal Department
Director of Signals: Captain James Somerville, 1925-1927.
- Directorate of Naval Equipment
Directors of Naval Equipment: Rear-Admiral Edward Bruen, 1920-1922; Rear-Admiral Henry Parker, 1926-1928.
- Directorate of Torpedoes and Mining
Director of Torpedoes and Mining: Rear-Admiral Frederick Field, 1918-Mar 1920.
Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty
First Lords of the Admiralty: Walter Long MP (Con), 1919-13 Feb 1921; Lord Lee of Fareham (Con), 13 Feb 1921-19 Oct 1922; Leo Amery MP (Con), 24 Oct 1922-22 Jan 1924; Lord Chelmsford, 22 Jan-3 Nov 1924; William Bridgeman MP (Con), 6 Nov 1924-4 Jun 1929; Albert Alexander MP (Lab), 7 June 1929-1931.
Naval Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty: Rear-Admiral Michael Hodges, 1923-1925.
Hydrographer's Department: Headed by the hydrographer of the Navy, an admiral, the department is responsible for all marine surveying and chartmaking. The hydrographer is also responsible for the Royal Observatory at Greenwich.
Naval Staff: The Naval Staff runs the navy's operations and wartime strategy, and has a number of separate divisions concerned with strategy and tactics, the planning and conduct of operations, and the collection and dissemination of intelligence.
First Sea Lords and Chiefs of the Naval Staff: Admiral of the Fleet Lord Beatty, Nov 1919-July 1927.
Naval Assistants to the Chief of the Naval Staff: Captain Sidney Bailey, 1925-1927; Captain William James, 1928-1929.
Deputy Chiefs of the Naval Staff: Vice-Admiral Sir Osmond Brock, 1919-1921; Vice-Admiral Sir Roger Keyes, 1921-1925; Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick Field, 1925-June 1928.
Assistant Chiefs of the Naval Staff: Rear-Admiral Sir Ernle Chatfield, 1920-1922; Rear-Admiral Cyril Fuller, 1 Dec 1922-May 1923; Rear-Admiral Frederic Dreyer, 1924-1927; Rear-Admiral Dudley Dound, 1927-.
- Gunnery Division
Directors of Gunnery: Captain Frederic Dreyer, 1920-1922; Captain Henry Brownrigg, 1926-1927.
Deputy Director of Gunnery: Captain Henry Brownrigg, 1925-1926.
- Naval Intelligence Division (NID)
- Navigation Division
Director of Navigation: Captain Frederick Loder-Symonds, 1921-1923.
- Operations Division
Directors of Operations: Captain Henry Parker, 1922-1924; Captain Percy Noble, 1928-.
- Plans Division
Directors of Plans: Captain Cyril Fuller, 1917-1920; Captain Dudley Pound, 1922-1925.
Office of the Parliamentary and Financial Secretary
Parliamentary and Financial Secretaries to the Admiralty: Thomas Macnamara MP (Lib), 1908-2 Apr 1920; Sir James Craig MP (Con), 2 Apr 1920-1 Apr 1921; Leo Amery MP (Con), 1 Apr 1921-19 Oct 1922; Bolton Eyres-Monsell MP (Con), 31 Oct 1922-25 May 1923; Archibald Boyd-Carpenter MP (Con), 25 May 1923-22 Jan 1924; Charles Ammon MP (Lab), 23 Jan-3 Nov 1924; John Davidson MP (Con), 11 Nov 1924-16 Dec 1926; Cuthbert Headlam MP (Con), 16 Dec 1926-4 Jun 1929; Charles Ammon MP (Lab), 11 Jun 1929-1931.
- Accountant-General's Department: In addition to carrying out normal financial duties, this department maintains records of ships' establishments, petty officers' and seamen's service and medals, seamen's wills and effects, and the payment of prize money and bounty. It is responsible to the fourth sea lord for pay and pensions, to the permanent secretary for the general oversight of Admiralty expenditure (from 1921), and to the parliamentary and financial secretary for naval accounts.
Office of the Chief of Naval Personnel
Second Sea Lords and Chiefs of Naval Personnel: Admiral Sir Montague Browning, 1919-Sept 1920; Admiral Sir Michael Hodges, 1927-.
- Royal Marine Office: Headed by the adjutant-general, Royal Marines, the office deals with the administration of the Royal Marines.
Adjutant-General, Royal Marines: Lieutenant-General Alexander Hutchison, 1924-1927.
- Directorate of Mobilisation
Assistant Director of Mobilisation: Captain Max Horton, 1926-1928.
- Directorate of Training and Staff Duties
Director of Training and Staff Duties: Captain Sidney Meyrick, 1926-1927.
Secretary's Department: Headed by the permanent secretary, the Admiralty's senior civil servant, the department is responsible for general administration and co-ordination. The Military Branch is responsible for the distribution of the Fleet. The Naval Branch is responsible for the manning of the Fleet. The Civil Branch is responsible for the civil establishment of the Admiralty. The Legal Branch is responsible for discipline, courts martial, courts of inquiry, naval prisons, and similar matters. The Treasury Solicitor deals with external legal matters. The Admiralty Record Office holds all records generated by the Admiralty.
Permanent Secretary to the Admiralty: Sir Oswyn Murray, 1917-1936.
Office of the Chief of Naval Supplies
Fourth Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Supplies: Rear-Admiral Hon Algernon Boyle, 1920-1924.
- Contract and Purchase Department: Although ultimately responsible to the fourth sea lord, the department is responsible to the parliamentary and financial secretary for purchasing and to the director of victualling for storekeeping.
- Medical Department: Headed by the director-general of the Medical Department, the senior serving naval medical officer.
- Paymaster Department
Paymaster Director-General: Paymaster Rear-Admiral Bertram Allen, 1926-1929.
Headquarters: The Admiralty occupies four buildings at the northern end of Whitehall, London SW1, adjoining Trafalgar Square. The Old Admiralty was completed in 1726, and was extended by the addition of the New Admiralty, completed in 1895. The Admiralty also occupies offices in Admiralty Arch, a great memorial arch built in 1910 between Trafalgar Square and The Mall. The final building in the complex is Admiralty House, completed in 1788 as the official residence for the first lord of the Admiralty.