Operations Division (Royal Navy)

History

According to Dr. Nicholas Black, seventy-five Royal Navy officers served in the division during the war.

In a docket of 5 March, 1920, Captain Kelly proposed that the Home and Foreign Divisions be merged into two Sections of one Division under one Director. Captain Coode assented on 9 March, along with the Director of Training and Staff Duties, Captain Walter M. Ellerton, the following day. Rear-Admiral Osmond de B. Brock, Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, approved the proposal on 15 March and proposed that the change take place on 1 April. Admiral of the Fleet Earl Beatty, the Chief of Naval Staff, gave his approval on 17 March.

Directors of Operations Division

Director of Operation Division (D.O.D.):

• Captain George A. Ballard, 8 January, 1912 – 1 May, 1914
• Rear-Admiral Arthur C. Leveson, 1 May, 1914 – 16 January, 1915
• Rear-Admiral Thomas Jackson, 17 January, 1915 – 11 June, 1917
• Rear-Admiral George P. W. Hope, 11 June, 1917 – 9 January, 1918

Assistant Director of Operation Division (A.D.O.D.):

• Captain Henry W. Grant, 19 May, 1915 – 11 June, 1917
• Captain Charles P. R. Coode, 11 June, 1917 – 18 January, 1918

Deputy Director of Operation Division (D.D.O.D.):

• Captain Henry W. Grant, 11 June, 1917 – 18 January, 1918
• Captain Arthur de K. L. May, 18 January, 1918 – 15 May, 1919  (deemed the "Mining Section")

D.O.D. (Home):

• Captain A. Dudley P. R. Pound, 12 January, 1918 – 15 July, 1919
• Captain John D. Kelly, 15 July, 1919 – 1 April, 1920

D.O.D. (Foreign):

• Captain Charles P. R. Coode, 18 January, 1918 – 31 March, 1920

D.O.D.:

• Rear-Admiral John D. Kelly, 1 April, 1920 – 15 February, 1922
• Captain Henry W. Parker, 15 February, 1922 – 21 November, 1923
• Captain Wilfred Tomkinson, 21 November, 1923
• Rear-Admiral Percy L. H. Noble, 8 March, 1928 – 8 January, 1930
• Captain Cecil H. J. Harcourt, 29 August, 1939 – 11 January, 1941
• Captain John A. S. Eccles, 26 December, 1941 – 10 January, 1944
• Captain Charles T. M. Pizey, 10 January, 1944 – 1 November, 1945

Deputy Directors

• Captain Sidney R. Bailey, 5 February, 1920 – 1 March, 1921
• Captain Charles D. Burke, 1 March, 1921 – 31 March, 1922
• Captain Alister F. Beal, 2 September, 1921 – 12 July, 1923
• Captain Geoffrey Layton, 8 August, 1927 – 8 August, 1929
• Captain Robert R. Turner, 1 August, 1929 – 11 August, 1931
• Captain Ernest J. Spooner, 12 December, 1932 – 27 July, 1934
• Captain Ronald W. Blacklock, 27 July, 1934 – 27 July, 1936
• Captain Irving M. Palmer, 27 July, 1936 – 16 September, 1938
• Captain Cecil H. J. Harcourt, 16 September, 1938 – 29 August, 1939

Assistant Directors

• Captain George P. W. Hope, 8 January, 1912 – 30 April, 1913
• Captain Herbert W. Richmond, 30 April, 1913 – 19 May, 1915
• Captain Charles D. Burke, 1 April, 1922 – 15 November, 1922

Second Assistant Directors

• Captain George P. W. Hope, 15 December, 1916

Bibliography

• Black, Nicholas (2009). The British Naval Staff in the First World War. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. ISBN 9781843834427.
• 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.