Instructions for the Superintendent of Ordnance Stores

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Instructions

1. Under the general direction of the Director of Naval Ordnance, the Superintendent of Ordnance Stores will be in charge of the Store Division of the Naval Ordnance Department, and will represent the Admiralty before Public Accounts Committee in respect of questions arising on Naval Ordnance Store Accounts, including the Store and Cost accounts of the Torpedo Factory at Greenock.

2. He will be responsible for the storekeeping and financial duties connected with the provision, receipt, custody, maintenance, issue, conveyance and proper distribution of all Ordnance and other Stores provided under Vote 9 of the Navy Estimates.

3. He will see that all Naval Ordnance Stores required by H.M. Ships and other services are issued in due time, and that they are in strict conformity with the authorised proportions.

4. He will be responsible that the authorised reserve of Ordnance, Ammunition, Torpedoes, &c. are maintained at the several Ordnance and Whitehead Torpedo Depôts, and will inform the Director of Naval Ordnance if any difficulty is found in supplying these reserves.

5. It is important that he shall be able, without reference to the Depôts, and he is to cause such records and returns to be kept in his Office as shall be best calculated to afford ready means for doing this.

6. He will prepare in detail the annual estimates of the amounts required for the provision of Naval Ordnance Stores (Vote 9), and pass them for consideration to the Director of Naval Ordnance.

7. When the general outline and the total amount have been approved by the Board, the Superintendent of Ordnance Stores will furnish the necessary particulars for insertion under Vote 9 of the Navy Estimates. He will also furnish the details as regards cost of armament, &c. to be inserted in the Annual Programme printed with the Navy Estimates.

8. The Superintendent of Ordnance Stores will initiate the arrangements which have to be made in conjunction with the War Office in regard to the allocation of orders between Ordnance Factories and the Trade.

9. When this allocation has been decided upon, he will give extracts upon the Ordnance Factories, and Greenock, obtaining the necessary estimates in connection with such orders. He will prepare and forward to the Director of Contracts requisitions for the stores for which tenders have to be invited from the Trade. Requisitions for repairs which require technical opinion are to be forwarded for the approval of the Director of Naval Ordnance.

10. He may authorise purchases not exceeding 100l. each in value and not exceeding 500l. per month.

11. He will keep himself acquainted with the expenditure of the money provided under Vote 9 of the Navy Estimates and also with the repayments to the credit of the Vote arising from the sale of stores, &c., and will prepare and forward through the Director of Naval Ordnance, immediately after the close of each month from June to March, a liability Statement showing (a) the amount of all orders given, and (b) the anticipated variations from approved Estimates. He is to take particular care that the Office Regulations established to secure financial order and control as regards liabilities and expenditure, are duly observed.

12. He will keep himself acquainted with the progress that is made in the supply of articles for which orders have been placed, by frequent communication with the Chief Superintendent of Ordnance Factories, the Superintendent of the Torpedo Factory, Greenock, and the Contractors, and will inform the Director of Naval Ordnance of all cases of serious delay in the ordering or delivery of Naval Ordnance Stores.

13. He will visit the several Naval Ordnance and Whitehead Torpedo Depôts frequently, and will examine the Storehouses to see that they are kept in proper order, that the stores are conveniently arranged and ready for issue, the rooms properly ventilated, and that the stores generally are properly protected from the weather and other deteriorating influences. He will satisfy himself that the storehousemen understand their duties, and are careful and attentive thereto and efficient, and will inspect the store ledgers and other records, and make himself acquainted with the conduct of the store business generally, and with the qualifications of the staff employed thereon. He will be responsible not only that the several Depôts are in an efficient condition to meet the ordinary requirements of the Fleet, but that they are so organised that their resources are capable of ready expansion in time of mobilisation or of war.

14. He will arrange for a continuous stocktaking to be carried out at the Depôts to ensure that the quantities shown in the ledgers correctly represent the stocks in the storehouses. In addition he will direct from time to time that independent test stocktakings shall be carried out by members of the Admiralty Staff of the Department.

15. He will cause surveys to be held on such stores as from time to time may become obsolete or worn out in the Service, and will arrange for their disposal to the best advantage either by alteration, by utilising the materials for manufacture, or by sale.

16. He will examine and pass the Naval Ordnance and Whitehead Torpedo Store Accounts of His Majesty's ships, and will either direct the expenditure to be allowed, or call for explanations from the Commanding Officers of Ships, but in any cases where censure is at all implied the explanations are to be called for through the Secretary.

17. He will bring to the notice of the Director of Naval Ordnance all cases in which the proportions of expenditure exceed the established allowance, as well as all cases of apparent irregularity or unnecessary expenditure, with a view to the value of the articles being disallowed in the accounts and charged against the responsible Officer, or such steps being taken as may be deemed proper.

18. He will examine and pass the Store Accounts of the Naval Ordnance and Whitehead Torpedo Depôts and other Establishments where Naval Ordnance Stores are held on charge, at home and abroad, and will call for such explanations as may be necessary from the Officer in charge.

He will also examine and pass the Store Accounts of the Torpedo Factory, Greenock, and check the Cost Account, calling for such explanations from the Superintendent of the Factory as may be necessary in regard to these accounts.

19. He will be responsible for the proper conduct of the clerical and other work—

(I) of the Store Division of the Naval Ordnance Department,
(II) at the several Ordnance and Torpedo Depôts,
(III) at the Torpedo Factory, Greenock, and the Loch Lang Torpedo Range,

and for this purpose the Officers, clerks, and others employed therein will be directly under his orders. As regards the staff of the Inspector of Steel, matters relating to clerical work, labour, wages, estimates, provision and accounts, &c., will be dealt with by the Superintendent of Ordnance Stores.

20. He is to take care to bring all matters of importance to thew notice of the Director of Naval Ordnance, and to obtain his sanction before giving any decision on them. All communications to the Board, except those on the subject of fines, should be passed through the Director of Naval Ordnance.

21. He will correspond direct with the Officers in charge of the several Ordnance and Whitehead Torpedo Depôts, with the Superintendent of the Torpedo Factory, Greenock, on matters connected with the duties of the Storekeeping and Accounts Division of the Naval Ordnance Store Department.

22. Heads of Department and other Officers of the Admiralty are to address direct to, and receive direct from, him inter-departmental communications on questions relating to Naval Ordnance Store business.

23. On all matters of detail connected with the duties of his office he may correspond in his own name with the Officers in charge of His Majesty's Dockyards and Store Depôts, and with individual Officers of His Majesty's Navy or Civil Service, except as provided for in paragraph 16.

24. He may also correspond on matters of detail with the various Departments of the War Office, but all communications of importance are to be passed through the Director of Naval Ordnance.


By Command of Their Lordships,


W Graham Greene


Admiralty,

September, 1912.[1]

Footnotes

  1. The National Archives. ADM 116/3392.