The Navy List
The Navy List, or The Monthly Navy List is an encyclopedic publication issued on an almost unfailing monthly basis which lists the officers, ships, ports and stations and assignments of the Royal Navy.
It is an invaluable tool which provides much of our data on ship captaincies and when various men were promoted. The amount of information provided is massive and for the most part easier to read than a man's Service Record, but it is generally regarded as a less reliable source of data.
Abbreviations, &c.
| A.F. | Admiral of the Fleet. | L. | Lieutenant. |
| A. | Admiral. | S.L. | Sub-Lieutenant. |
| V.A. | Vice-Admiral. | Mid. | Midshipman. |
| R.A. | Rear-Admiral. | N.C. | Naval Cadet. |
| C. | Captain. | S.C. | Staff Captain. |
| Cr. | Commander. | S.Cr. | Staff Commander. |
| N.L. | Navigating Lieutenant. | KW. | Knight of Windsor. |
| N.S.L. | Navigating Sub-Lieutenant. | GSP. | Good Service Pension. |
| Ch.E.Ins. | Chief Inspector of Machinery. |
PW. | Pension for Wounds. |
| E.Ins. | Inspector of Machinery. | GHP. | Greenwich Hospital Pension. |
| Ch.E. | Chief Engineer. | NP. | Naval Pension, late Out-Pension of Greenwich Hospital. |
| E. | Engineer. | CGP. | Coast Guard Pension. |
| A.E. | Assistant Engineer. | AdC. | Aide-de-Camp to the Queen. |
| Ch. | Chaplain. | Sec. | Secretary to a Flag Officer. |
| N.I. | Naval Instructor. | AO. | Clerk to Secretary to Flag Officer. |
| I.H. | Inspector-General of Hospitals and Fleets. |
₴ | Chaplains holding Civil Appointments. |
| D.I.H. | Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals and Fleets. |
§ | Officers who have taken Holy Orders. |
Our Resources
We make extensive use of Navy Lists, but most often use an incomplete electronic collection in PDF form, many of which may be found online.
Knowing which editions we have and which we lack is helpful to understand possible gaps in our knowledge and thus our ship captain lists. Those marked with an asterisk below lack the "Monthly Supplement" section, which contains the ship assignments.
| Year | Notes |
| 1913 | Mar through Dec |
| 1914 | Complete |
| 1915 | Jan, Apr*, Jul*, Oct |
| 1916 | Jan*, Apr*, Jul*, Oct*, Dec |
| 1917 | Jan*, Apr*, Jul*, Oct*, Nov |
| 1918 | Jan*, Apr*, Jul*, Oct*, Dec |
| 1919 | missing Apr |
| 1920 | Complete |
| 1921 | Jan |
