Naval Intelligence Department (Royal Navy)

The Naval Intelligence Department was a department of the Admiralty from 1887 to 1912. It was constituted from the Foreign Intelligence Committee. By 1909 it had evolved into a de facto naval staff. In the wake of the Fisher-Beresford feud part of its war planning and mobilisation duties were split away into the Naval Mobilisation Department. In 1912 it became a division of the Admiralty War Staff.

History

The Department as founded was headed by a Director of Naval Intelligence. It was composed of two sections, each under an Assistant Director of Naval Intelligence. Section I under Captain Sydney M. Eardley-Wilmot, absorbed the duties of the Foreign Intelligence Committee. Section II under Captain Reginald N. Custance was responsible for drawing up schemes of mobilisation.

The duties of the Department as defined in June, 1888, were:

1. Compilation and Issue to the Board and the Fleet of all information relating to maritime matters likely to be of use in war.
2. Preparation and Revision of a plan of Naval Mobilization.

3. When directed, the preparation of plans of Naval Campaign.

N.B.—The functions of the Intelligence Department are purely advisory, and in no sense executive.

In March, 1900, a third Assistant Director was appointed (Charles J. Briggs) in charge of a new section, called the Defence Division. Prince Louis of Battenberg described its duties in a letter to Sir John Fisher as "[dealing] with the plans of campaign and our strategy for peace and war, and as a matter of course its Head works more directly under the D.N.I. Until it was established the D.N.I. had no understudy for this important branch, and he was forced to do all this personally." In 1902 a Trade Division under a fourth Assistant Director was added to consider the defence of British trade during War. In 1905 a Coastal Defence section was added to the War Division.

In 1902 the Naval staff of the Department consisted of one Director, three Assistant Directors, five Commanders or Lieutenants, five Royal Marines officers, and one Fleet Paymaster for "recruiting duties." The clerical staff comprised one Clerk and one Staff Clerk from the Higher Division, and one Clerk, Higher Grade, and five Clerks from the Second Division, and two draughtsmen.

Distributions of work for the Department have survived for the years 1905, 1906, and 1907, and one for June, 1911, exists in much-altered form.

Directors of Naval Intelligence

Dates of appointment given:

• Captain William H. Hall, 1 February, 1887
• Rear-Admiral Cyprian A. G. Bridge, 1 January, 1889
• Rear-Admiral Lewis A. Beaumont, 1 September, 1894
• Rear-Admiral Reginald N. Custance, 20 March, 1899
• Rear-Admiral H.S.H. Prince Louis of Battenberg, 15 November, 1902
• Captain Charles L. Ottley, 1 February, 1905
• Captain Herbert G. King-Hall, 1 October, 1907
• Rear-Admiral Edmond J. W. Slade, 1 November, 1907
• Rear-Admiral the Honourable Alexander E. Bethell, 3 March, 1909

Assistant Directors of Naval Intelligence, Mobilisation Section

• Captain Reginald N. Custance, 1 February, 1887
• Captain Tynte F. Hammill, 11 January, 1890
• Captain Arthur Barrow, 2 May, 1892
• Captain Richard W. White, 11 April, 1895
• Captain Arthur Barrow, 19 November, 1897
• Captain H.S.H. Prince Louis of Battenberg, 28 June, 1899

Assistant Directors of Naval Intelligence, Foreign Section

• Captain Sydney M. Eardley Wilmot, 1 February, 1887
• Captain The Hon. Maurice A. Bourke, 1 April, 1890
• Captain The Hon. Assheton G. Curzon-Howe, 29 August, 1891
• Captain Henry D. Barry, 8 October, 1892
• Captain Charles G. Dicken, 1 November, 1895
• Captain Robert S. Lowry, 21 October, 1897
• Captain F. C. Doveton Sturdee, 1 January, 1900

Heads of Mobilisation Division

• Captain Frederick S. Inglefield, 12 November, 1902 – 10 February, 1904
• Captain Charles J. Briggs, 11 February, 1904 – 23 December, 1904
• Captain Charles L. Ottley, 24 December, 1904
• Captain Charles L. Vaughan-Lee, 24 January, 1905 – 24 December, 1905
• Captain Francis F. Haworth-Booth, 24 December, 1905 – 19 March, 1908
• Captain Michael Culme-Seymour, 20 March, 1908 – 11 October, 1909

Heads of War Division

• Captain Herbert L. Heath, 12 September, 1900 – 18 December, 1903
• Captain George A. Ballard, 1 January, 1904 – 15 January, 1906
• Captain Harry Jones, 15 January, 1906 – 8 May, 1907
• Captain Osmond de B. Brock, 8 May, 1907 – 27 March, 1909
• Captain Arthur R. Hulbert, 27 March, 1909 – 11 October, 1909

Heads of Foreign Division

• Captain Stuart Nicholson, 17 October, 1902 – 20 March, 1906
• Captain Herbert G. King-Hall, 20 March, 1906 – 25 June, 1908
• Captain William L. Grant, 25 June, 1908 – 20 December, 1909
• Captain Thomas Jackson, 20 December, 1909 – 7 January, 1912

Heads of Trade Division

• Captain Edward F. Inglefield, 16 September, 1901  (temporary, made permanent on 28 July, 1902)
• Captain Harry Jones, 24 June, 1905 – 15 January, 1906
• Captain Robert F. Scott, 15 January, 1906 – 25 August, 1906
• Captain Henry H. Campbell, 25 August, 1906 – 11 October, 1909

See Also

• Instructions for the Director of Naval Intelligence (Royal Navy)

Bibliography

• Allen, Matthew (February 1995). "The Foreign Intelligence Committee and the Origins of the Naval Intelligence Department of the Admiralty". The Mariner's Mirror 81 (1): pp. 65-78.
• Kerr, Mark (1934). Prince Louis of Battenberg: Admiral of the Fleet. London: Longmans, Green and Co..
• 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 at The National Archives. ADM 234/434.