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The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of its history, from the early 18th century until its abolition, the role of the Lord High Admiral was almost invariably put "in commission" and exercised by the Lords Commissioner of the Admiralty, who sat on the governing Board of Admiralty, rather than by a single person. The Admiralty was replaced by the Admiralty Board in 1964, as part of the reforms that created the Ministry of Defence and its Navy Department.
The Minister of Shipping was a British government post created in the First World War and again in the Second World War. In 1941 it was merged into the position of Minister of Transport which was then renamed Minister of War Transport.
In the Royal Navy of the 18th and 19th centuries a captain of the fleet could be appointed to assist an admiral when the admiral had ten or more ships to command. The equivalent post was called fleet captain in the U.S. Navy of the 18th and 19th century.
The Field Officer in Brigade Waiting holds an appointment in the Royal Household. Always a Foot Guards officer, he is required to be in attendance on particular occasions 'to receive the King's commands for the Foot Guards'. Each year, among other duties, the Field Officer in Brigade Waiting commands the King's Birthday Parade mounted on horseback. When dismounted he carries a distinctive baton as his insignia of office.
The Board of Admiralty (1628–1964) was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requirements of the Royal Navy; at that point administrative control of the navy was still the responsibility of the Navy Board, established in 1546. This system remained in place until 1832, when the Board of Admiralty became the sole authority charged with both administrative and operational control of the navy when the Navy Board was abolished. The term Admiralty has become synonymous with the command and control of the Royal Navy, partly personified in the Board of Admiralty and in the Admiralty buildings in London from where operations were in large part directed. It existed until 1964 when the office of First Lord of the Admiralty was finally abolished and the functions of the Lords Commissioners were transferred to the new Admiralty Board and the tri-service Defence Council of the United Kingdom.
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HMS Vidal was a survey ship of the Royal Navy. She was designed specifically as a surveying vessel, and was the first survey ship to carry a helicopter. In 1955, a group from Vidal formally annexed Rockall in the North Sea to the United Kingdom.
The Royal Navy Medical Service (RNMS), also termed the Royal Naval Medical Service and branded as Navy Healthcare, is the branch of the Royal Navy responsible for providing 'comprehensive healthcare to ships, submarines and Royal Marine personnel at sea and on land'. It includes within its remit of responsibility Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service.
The Naval Secretary is the Royal Navy officer who advises the First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff on naval officer appointing.
The Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom is the ceremonial head of the Royal Navy. Most have been courtiers or members of the British royal family, and not professional naval officers. The Lord High Admiral is one of the nine English Great Officers of State and since 2021 is held personally by the reigning monarch.
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The Department of the Permanent Secretary also formally known as the Department of the Permanent Secretary to the Admiralty or the Department of the Secretary was the Civil Service department responsible for the control, direction and guidance of all administrative functions of the British Admiralty from 1702 to 1964, it was headed by the Permanent Secretary to the Admiralty.
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The Economic Warfare Division (E.W.D.) was a division of the Admiralty Naval Staff established during World War II it was in operation from September 1939 to July 1945. The staff division was administered by the Director of Economic Warfare Division.
The Sea Transport Branch of the British Board of Trade, originally established as the Transport Department or Naval Transport Department, was a logistical branch of the Department of Admiralty responsible for the provision of naval transportation services. It underwent numerous name changes throughout its complicated history with responsibility for sea transportation, known as the Department of the Director of Transports from 1890.
The Navy Department was a former ministerial service department of the British Ministry of Defence responsible for the control and direction of His Majesty's Naval Service. It was established on 1 April 1964 when the Admiralty was absorbed into a unified Ministry of Defence, where it became the Navy Department. Political oversight of the department originally lay with the Minister of Defence for the Royal Navy (1964–1967) it then passed to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence for the Royal Navy (1967–1981), then later to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces (1981–1990), and finally the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (1991–1997).
References
- ↑ Queen's Regulations and Admiralty Instructions, 1959
- ↑ Queen's Regulations and Admiralty instructions, 1964
- ↑ Chambers's Encyclopaedia (1868) vol. 8, p. 62 online at books.google.co.uk, accessed 30 October 2010
- ↑ Jenks, Edward (1918). The Government of the British Empire. John Murray. p. 194. Retrieved 16 April 2022– via archive.org.
- ↑ Sir Alexander Wood Renton, Maxwell Anderson Robertson, Sir Frederick Pollock, Encyclopædia of the laws of England with forms and precedents (1907), p. 614
- ↑ Herbert B. Mason, Encyclopaedia of ships and shipping (1908), p. 329
- ↑ Wellington, 1844: p.382
- ↑ Wolseley, 1889: p.12, VI.9
- ↑ The Queen's regulations for the army 1975 (amendment number 37).