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 Commissioners for Exercising the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom & 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.

In 1917 the office of First Sea Lord was merged with that of the Director of the Naval 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.