Fifth Sea Lord
The Fifth Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Air Service was a member of the Board of Admiralty between 1917 and 1918.
History
On 23 October, 1916, the President of the Air Board, Lord Curzon, presented his First Report to the Prime Minister (Herbert H. Asquith, M.P.) and the War Committee. In it he severely criticised Admiralty organisation in relation to the Royal Naval Air Service. He made a number of suggestions to improve the situation.
The first of these proposals is that the administration of the R.N.A.S. by the Admiralty should be assimilated to that of the R.F.C. [Royal Flying Corps] by the War Office, and that the officer who presides over this Service and represents it on the Air Board should be a member of the Board of Admiralty, vested with all the powers as regards the R.F.C. (subject of course to the superior authority of the Board of Admiralty in the one case as of the Army Council in the other), operations remaining vested as now in the hands of the First Sea Lord, as they are at the War Office in the hands of the C.I.G.S. [Chief of the Imperial General Staff][1]
Three meetings of the War Committee were held at 10 Downing Street on 27 and 28 November to consider the report. The Draft Conclusions prepared on the latter date state:
In order to facilitate the relations and to secure uniformity of procedure between the Air Board and the Admiralty and War Office, the War Committee, with the concurrence of the First Lord of the Admiralty, approved in principle that a fifth Sea Lord should be added to the Board of Admiralty. This additional Sea Lord would represent the Admiralty on the Air Board, and should, as far as possible, mutatis mutandis, have a status and authority corresponding to that of the Director General of Military of Aeronautics, who became a member of the Army Council at the time when the Air Board was created.[2]
At the 142nd meeting of the War Committee on 28 November, Asquith believed it "decided … that there should be a Fifth Sea Lord on the Air Board".[3] Somebody wrote in hand at the end of the paper:
The War Committee adjourned at 7.45 p.m. in order that the draft proposals which had been under their consideration might be examined in the Departments concerned, with the view to the elaboration of an administratively practicable scheme.[4]
The fall of Asquith a week later, and his replacement by David Lloyd George, delayed consideration of the draft conclusions until December. On the 18th of that month the new First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Edward H. Carson, wrote:
I do not see what object would be gained in appointing an additional Air Lord. I do not think there would be enough work left in relation to the Air Service to justify such an innovation; and it can be easily arranged that whoever has been appointed to supervise the residuum of the work at the Admiralty should be the representative of the Admiralty on the Air Board.[5]
Despite this, the War Cabinet (the successor to the War Committee) approved the proposal for a new Sea Lord, and other measures, at a meeting on 22 December.[6] The position of Fifth Sea Lord was formally instituted by Order in Council of 10 January, 1917, which reads:
WHEREAS by Order in Council of the 10th August 1904, and 17th January, 1912, the constitution and business of the Board of Admiralty were settled and defined:
And whereas it has been considered desirable that a Sea Lord should be added to the Board for business connected with the Naval Air Services, and to represent the Admiralty on the Air Board.
We beg leave humbly to propose to Your Majesty that an additional Naval Officer be appointed to the Board as 5th Sea Lord, to be responsible to the First Lord for the administration of so much of the business relating to the Naval Air Services as shall be assigned to him from time to time by the First Lord.[7]
The additional title of the Fifth Sea Lord has been seen given as "Director of Air Services,"[8][9] "Chief of Naval Air Services,"[10] "Director of Naval Aviation,"[11] and "Chief of Naval Air Service."[12][13] The complete title as given in the Order in Council of 23 October, 1917, reads Fifth Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Air Service.[14] The first and only Fifth Sea Lord of the Great War was Godfrey M. Paine, a licensed pilot who had served as head of the Central Flying School at Upavon and the Royal Naval Air Service's training establishment at Cranwell.
In April 1938 the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Air) was renamed Fifth Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Air Services.[15]
Fifth Sea Lord, 1917-18
Dates of appointment given:
- Commodore, First Class Godfrey M. Paine, 11 January, 1917[16] – 10 January, 1918[17]
Fifth Sea Lord, 1938 –
Dates of appointment given:
- Rear-Admiral John H. D. Cunningham, 2 October 1936 – July 1938
- Vice-Admiral The Hon. Sir Alexander R. M. Ramsay, 19 July 1938 – 28 November 1939
- Vice-Admiral Sir Guy C. C. Royle, 1939 – 1941
- Rear-Admiral Sir Arthur L. St. G. Lyster, 1941 – 1942
- Vice-Admiral Sir Denis W. Boyd, 14 January, 1943[18] – 1 May, 1945[19]
- Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas H. Troubridge, 1 May, 1945[20] – 25 September, 1946[21]
- Admiral Sir Philip L. Vian, 1946 – 1948
- Vice-Admiral Sir George E. Creasy, 1948 – 21 October, 1949[22]
- Vice-Admiral Sir Maurice J. Mansergh, 21 October, 1949[23] – September, 1951[24]
- Vice-Admiral Sir Edmund W. Anstice, 9 May, 1951[25] – June, 1954
- Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander N. C. Bingley, June, 1954 – 1956
- Vice-Admiral Sir Manley L. Power, 1957 – 1959
- Vice-Admiral Sir Lawrence G. Durlacher, 1959 – 1962
- Vice-Admiral Sir Peter W. Gretton, 1962 – 1963
Footnotes
- ↑ "First Report of the Air Board." p. 17. The National Archives. CAB 37/158/6.
- ↑ "App. 142/A. The National Archives. CAB 42/26/2.
- ↑ "Minutes of the Hundred and Forty-Second Meeting of the War Committee Held at 10, Downing Street,S.W. on Tuesday, November 28th. 1916, at 6 P.M." p. 13. The National Archives. CAB 42/26/2.
- ↑ Ibid. p. 14. The handwriting is not that of the Secretary, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Maurice P. A. Hankey.
- ↑ "War Cabinet, 15." p. 10. The National Archives. CAB 23/1/15.
- ↑ Ibid. p. 5.
- ↑ The Orders in Council for the Regulation of the Naval Service. XI. p. 1211.
- ↑ Paine Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43. f. 228.
- ↑ Roskill. ed. Documents Relating to the Naval Air Service. p. 455.
- ↑ The Navy List. (November, 1917). p. 541.
- ↑ Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation: Rear Admiral (Air Vice-Marshal) Sir Godfrey Paine.
- ↑ The Naval Staff of the Admiralty. p. 87.
- ↑ The Navy List. (November, 1917). p. 531.
- ↑ Order in Council of 23 October, 1917.
- ↑ "Naval Air Services". The Times. Saturday, 16 April, 1938. Issue 47970, col F, p. 12. The Navy List for May 1938 Corrected to 18th April, 1938. p. 413.
- ↑ The Naval Staff of the Admiralty. p. 126, or 31 January, according to Paine Service Record, The National Archives. ADM 196/43. f. 228.
- ↑ Paine Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/43. f. 228.
- ↑ Boyd Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/96/8. f. 8.
- ↑ Troubridge Service Record The National Archives. ADM 196/117/65. f. 65.
- ↑ Troubridge Service Record The National Archives. ADM 196/117/65. f. 65.
- ↑ Troubridge Service Record The National Archives. ADM 196/117/65. f. 65.
- ↑ Mansergh Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/119/13. f. 13.
- ↑ Mansergh Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/119/13. f. 13.
- ↑ Mansergh Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/119/13. f. 13.
- ↑ Mansergh Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/119/13. f. 13.
See Also
Bibliography
- Naval Staff, Training and Staff Duties Division (1929). The Naval Staff of the Admiralty. Its Work and Development. B.R. 1845 (late C.B. 3013). Copy No. 8 at The National Archives. ADM 234/434.
