Board of Admiralty

The Board of Admiralty was formerly the authority charged with the command and administration of the Royal Navy from 1831 to 1964. Previously the navy had been administered by a Navy Board and operationally controlled by the Board of Admiralty exercising the office of Lord High Admiral.

The term Admiralty has become synomynous with the command and control of the Royal Navy, partly personified in the Board of Admiralty and also in the Admiralty buildings in London from where operations were in large part directed.

History

The office of Admiral of England (or Lord Admiral and later Lord High Admiral) was created around 1400, though there were before this Admirals of the Northern and Western Seas. In 1546 King Henry VIII established the Council of the Marine, later to become the Navy Board, to oversee administrative affairs of the naval service. Operational control of the Navy remained the responsibility of the Lord High Admiral, who was one of the nine Great Officers of State.

In 1628, Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission and control of the Royal Navy passed to a committee in the form of the Board of Admiralty. The office of Lord High Admiral passed a number of times in and out of commission until 1709, after which the office was almost permanently in commission (the last Lord High Admiral being the future King William IV in the early 19th century).

In 1831 the Navy Board was abolished as a separate entity and its duties and responsibilities were given over to the Admiralty.

Officially, the Board of Admiralty was composed of "the commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom and Ireland." The Board was divided between a number of Naval Officers appointed to act as Naval Lords (known in the 20th Century as Sea Lords) and Civil Lords, politicians who provided executive civilian oversight.

From 1805 the Naval Lords were given specific duties.

• First Sea Lord; Professional head of the Royal Navy
• Second Sea Lord; Responsible for manning the fleet
• Third Sea Lord; Responsible for equipping the fleet
• Fourth Sea Lord; Responsible for supplying the fleet

The leading Civil Lord as appointed by the government of the day became known as the First Lord of the Admiralty. A Secretary to the Board, a civilian, was a permamanent member. On occasion additional Civil lords could be appointed, especially in time of war.

In 1822 the quorum of the Admiralty Board was reduced from three to two if less than six commissioners were present. In 1832 all authority, powers, and duties of the Principal Officers, Commissioners of the Navy and Commissioners of Victualling were transferred to the Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Admiral, and quorum for the Admiralty Board reduced to two, irrespective of the number of Commissioners.

Distribution of Business, 1904

The First Lord is now relieved of the duty of making some minor appointments, such as commanders to the Coast Guard, but has added to his duties the appointment of the Chaplain of the Fleet and the entry of chaplains and naval instructors. He has also relinquished the business connected with the Mersey Conservancy. Otherwise his business remains as before.

The First Sea Lord is now charged with the most important and responsible work of preparing for war. He is to advise ou all large questions of naval policy and maritime warfare. He will be responsible for the fighting and sea-going efficiency of the Fleet, its organisation and mobilisation; the distribution and movements of all ships in commission or in Fleet Beserve. He will also be in control of the Intelligence, Hydrographical, and Naval Ordnance Departments. On the other hand, all matters connected with the details of personnel, such as the appointments of commanders under captains, minor questions of discipline, the signalling department, and leave to officers and men previously in his office, have been transferred to the Second Sea Lord.

The Second Sea Lord is now responsible for all questions relating to the personnel, including the manning of the Fleet, the service and appointments of officers (except those marked to the First Lord), the Eoyal Marines, the Coast Guard and Eeserve forces, the hospitals, barracks, training establishments, and educational departments. His duties have thus been considerably increased, some of the work which hitherto fell to the First Sea Lord now devolving upon him.

The business of the Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy has not undergone any great alteration, but he has been relieved of certain extraneous work which was not directly connected with his office. He is charged with the administration of the dockyards and the control of the departments of the Director of Naval Construction, the Engineer-in-Chief, the Director of Dockyards, and the Superintendent of Contract Work, Naval Stores, and Expense Accounts. He deals also with naval ordnance questions which affect the construction of ships or involve structural alterations in weights, and with inventions relating to ships, machinery, etc.

The Fourth Sea Lord deals with the transport service, the coaling and victualling of the Fleet, the provision and maintenance of naval and other stores for the use of the Fleet, with all questions relating to pay, half-pay, and pensions, with medals, uniform regulations naval prisons, and with matters arising out of salvage. To these arc now added questions connected with collisions, but otherwise his duties do not appear to have been changed.

The departments of the Civil Lord, the Parliamentary Secretary, and the Permanent Secretary do not appear to be affected by the new order, to which, however, the following note, which was not attached to the order of January 1, 1904, is appended:—

It is to be understood that in any matter of great importance the First Sea Lord is always to be consulted by the other Sea Lords the Civil Lord, and the Parliamentary or Permanent Secretary, and he will refer to the First Lord for any further action considered necessary, such as, for instance, bringing the matter formally before the Board. It is of course understood that all members of the Board will communicate direct with the First Lord in accordance with immemorial custom whenever they wish to do so.

In 1917 the office of First Sea Lord was merged with that of the Chief of the Admiralty War Staff, making the First Sea Lord effectively chief of operations as well as Chief of the Naval Staff. In the same year the position of Fifth Sea Lord was created to provide direct Board oversight to the swiftly-expanding Royal Naval Air Service - giving due recognition to the importance of naval aviation.

First World War

On 12 October, 1914 the Third and Fourth Sea Lords addressed the following minute to Battenberg:

At the beginning of the war we were informed that it was not intended that we should take part in Councils of War. We preferred a verbal request to the Secretary that reports on operations which may be rendered from time to time to the Admiralty should be circulated to us confidentially for information.

This request has so far not been complied with. We do not want to raise difficulties at this time, but we feel that it is wrong, that as Naval Members of the Board, we should be kept in complete ignorance both of the general policy adopted and also of the decisions taken on proposals which are important, but which in most cases cannot be said to be either secret or confidential.

This feeling has become accentuated by the loss of 2,000 naval ratings, which we hear from the public press have become interned in Holland. We feel strongly that it would have been well and proper if we had been given an opportunity of discussing with you such an important proposal as the organisation and equipment of the so-called Naval Division.

We are aware that we have no right to insist on Board discussion, but we cannot - nor do we wish to - divest ourselves of all responsibility for Admiralty policy at this time; and we respectfully urge that our anomalous position would be improved and precedent would be observed if you could consent to arrange for periodical meetings of Naval Members of the Board, at which Meetings you could put us in possession of important proposals, and the lines on which you think we should proceed.

Bibliography

• Template:BibUKNavalStaff
• Logan, Karen Dale (1976). The Admiralty: Reforms and Re-organization, 1868-1892. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University of Oxford.