Plans Division (Royal Navy)
History
The Plans Division was orginally formed as the Plans Section (Section 16) of the Operations Division of the Naval Staff. Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, in response to a proposal from the First Lord, Sir Edward Carson, had initially proposed that the section be headed by Captain Herbert W. Richmond.[1] It was initially formed under Captain A. Dudley P. R. Pound, assisted by Commander Kenneth G. B. Dewar, Lieutenant-Commander The Hon. Joseph Kenworthy, and Major G. P. Orde.[2]
Dewar later claimed that Section 16 was "banished to a room at the top of the old Admiralty building and invisible barriers seemed to arise in the winding corridors of that ancient edifice. We were cut off from the rest of the staff and had not even a table whereon to lay our charts."[3] The Staff Monograph on the history of the Naval Staff, authored by Dewar's brother, Captain Alfred C. Dewar, states, however, that Section 16 "worked in a room on the top floor of Admiralty House."[4] Admiralty House, the residence of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the hub of the Operations Division. The Old Building, Admiralty, which Dewar claims the section was banished to, adjoined it, and contained much of the workings of the Intelligence Division. At any rate, the section was but a couple of minutes walk from anywhere of import in the Admiralty.
According to Dr. Nicholas Black, thirteen Royal Navy officers served in the division during the war.[5]
Directors of Plans
Dates of appointment given:
- Rear-Admiral Roger J. B. Keyes, 28 September, 1917.[6]
- Captain Cyril T. M. Fuller, 1 January, 1918.[7]
- Captain Barry E. Domvile, 1 May, 1920.[8]
- Captain A. Dudley P. R. Pound, 3 May, 1922.[9]
- Captain Wilfred A. Egerton, 9 March, 1925.[10]
- Captain Roger M. Bellairs, 23 January, 1928.[11]
Footnotes
- ↑ Carson to Jellicoe. Memorandum of 7 June, 1917. Jellicoe to Carson. Memorandum of 9 June, 1917. The National Archives. ADM 1/8489/118.
- ↑ Naval Staff. p. 89.
- ↑ Dewar. p. 239.
- ↑ The Naval Staff of the Admiralty. p. 89.
- ↑ Black. The British Naval Staff. p. 21.
- ↑ Keyes. Naval Memoirs. II. p. 113.
- ↑ The Naval Staff of the Admiralty. p. 123.
- ↑ The Naval Staff of the Admiralty. p. 124.
- ↑ The Naval Staff of the Admiralty. p. 124.
- ↑ The Naval Staff of the Admiralty. p. 124.
- ↑ The Naval Staff of the Admiralty. p. 124.
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 at The National Archives. ADM 234/434.
