The Admiralty War Staff was the former senior naval staff operational planning organisation within the

British Admiralty 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 it ...

that existed from 1912 to 1917. It was instituted on 8 January 1912 by

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

in his capacity as

First Lord of the Admiralty The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...

and was in effect a

war council A council of war is a term in military science that describes a meeting held to decide on a course of action, usually in the midst of a battle. Under normal circumstances, decisions are made by a commanding officer, optionally communicated ...

whose head reported directly to the

First Sea Lord The First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff (1SL/CNS) is the military head of the Royal Navy and Naval Service of the United Kingdom. The First Sea Lord is usually the highest ranking and most senior admiral to serve in the British Armed ...

. After the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

ended, the War Staff was replaced by the

Admiralty Naval Staff The Admiralty Naval Staff was the former senior command, operational planning, policy and strategy department within the British Admiralty. It was established in 1917 and existed until 1964 when the department of the Admiralty was abolished. It wa ...

department.

History and development

The department's development can be traced back to 1887. It evolved out of some of the functions within the

Naval Intelligence Department The Naval Intelligence Department (NID) was the intelligence arm of the British Admiralty from 1887 until 1912 when most of its subsidiary divisions were absorbed during the creation of the Admiralty War Staff department that included a new Naval ...

(NID), which originally administered two divisions: Foreign Intelligence Division and Mobilisation Division. In 1900 a Defence Division was created, later called the War Division, to deal with issues of strategy and defence. In 1902 a fourth function was added, the Trade Division, which was created for matters relating to the protection of merchant shipping. The Trade Division was abolished in October 1909 in the wake of the

Committee of Imperial Defence The Committee of Imperial Defence was an important ''ad hoc'' part of the Government of the United Kingdom and the British Empire from just after the Second Boer War until the start of the Second World War. It was responsible for research, and som ...

inquiry into the feud between the

, Admiral Sir John Fisher and former Commander-in-Chief

Channel Fleet The Channel Fleet and originally known as the Channel Squadron was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1854 to 1909 and 1914 to 1915. History Throughout the course of Royal Navy's history the ...

, Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, when it was discovered that the captain heading the Trade Division had been supplying the latter with confidential information during the inquiry. Following restructuring the NID was relieved of its responsibility for war planning and

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...

when the outgoing Fisher created an

Admiralty Navy War Council The Admiralty Navy War Council was a temporary war planning and naval strategy advising committee of the Admiralty established in October, 1909 under Admiral Fisher it existed until 1911 when it was later replaced by the Admiralty War Staff. Hi ...

as a stop-gap remedy to criticisms emanating from the

Beresford Inquiry Beresford may refer to: Places *Beresford, British Columbia * Beresford, Republic of Ireland * Beresford, Manitoba *Beresford, New Brunswick, a town within Beresford Parish, New Brunswick *Beresford, South Dakota *Beresford, Western Australia Othe ...

that the Navy needed a naval staff, a role the NID had been in fact fulfilling since at least 1900, if not earlier. After this re-organisation, war planning and strategic matters were transferred to the newly created

Naval Mobilisation Department The Naval Mobilisation Department also known as the Mobilisation and Movements Department was a former department of the British Admiralty initially from 1909 to 1912 and then again from 1918 to 1932. It was mainly responsible for plans, mobilisa ...

(NMD), and the NID reverted to the position it held prior to 1887, an intelligence collection and collation organisation, but its director remained one of the First Sea Lord's principal advisors. Sir John Fisher had made known his support for the need of a Naval Staff as early as 1902. In creating a staff the Admiralty was certainly lagging behind, particularly when the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

had a

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

department as early as 1904, to deal with the aftermath of the Boer War and an assessment of the problems they faced the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral * Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings *Admiralty, Tr ...

. However, at this point it had no Senior Staff department. In May 1909, the Director of Naval Intelligence, Rear-Admiral The Honourable Alexander E. Bethell, submitted a proposal for a Navy War Council composed of the

as President, the Director of Naval Intelligence as Vice-President, an Assistant Director for War, the President and the Captain of the

Royal Naval War College The Royal Naval War College was a training establishment for senior officers of the Royal Navy that existed from 1900 to 1914. It was based originally at Greenwich, then Plymouth, then Portsmouth, and then Greenwich again. Branch colleges were ...

, and the

Naval Assistant to the First Sea Lord The Naval Assistant to the First Sea Lord also known as the Executive Assistant to the First Sea Lord was a senior appointment of the Royal Navy established in 1905 until 2014. The post holder was responsible for assisting the First Sea Lord in ...

. The head of the Naval Intelligence Department's War Division and the Commander of the Royal Naval War College were to act as Joint Secretaries.

Establishment

In 1911,

, the

, communicated to the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

that the Admiral of the Fleet was opposed to any formation of a new naval staff, and because of this he insisted that he be relieved of his duties by January 1912. Churchill would continue to brief the Prime Minister as the project developed and advised him as to what the composition of the new staff department might initially entail: * War Education Division * War Information Division * War Planning Division * War Mobilisation Division These divisions would be headed by a new Chief of the War Staff answerable to the

Board of Admiralty 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 requi ...

and supported by an Assistant Chief of the War Staff. In January 1912, the First Lord released his communique detailing the administrative function of the new department and listed the following new appointments. * Chief of the War Staff * Director of the Operations Division * Director of the Intelligence Division * Director of the Mobilization Division From 1912, onward additional divisions were established headed by

directors Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

responsible for their particular function. At its founding, 12 officers were selected to undergo the new course of training for staff officer.

Reginald Plunkett Admiral Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, KCB, DSO, JP, DL ( Plunkett; 28 August 1880 – 16 October 1967), commonly known as Reginald Plunkett or Reginald Drax, was an Anglo-Irish admiral. The younger son of the 17th Ba ...

was the first officer selected.

Duties

As stated in the

Churchill Memorandum on a War Staff for the Royal Navy Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

Point 10: The functions of the War Staff will be advisory. The Chief of the Staff, when decision has been taken upon any proposal, will be jointly responsible with the

secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

for the precise form in which the necessary orders to the Fleet are issued, but the Staff will possess no executive authority. It will discharge no administrative duties. Its responsibilities will end with the tendering of advice and with the accuracy of the facts on which that advice is based.

Disestablishment

In early spring 1917 the name "War Staff" was abolished and a replaced by an Admiralty Naval Staff. The First Sea Lord also assumed title of Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) and staff functions were grouped under two new heads, the Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (DCNS) and the

Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff The Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (A.C.N.S.) is a senior appointment in the Royal Navy usually a two-star rank and has a NATO ranking code of OF-7. History The Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff was originally directly responsible to the Fir ...

(ACNS).

Chiefs of the War Staff

Chiefs of the War Staff included:

Assistants to the Chief of the War Staff

Assistants to the Chiefs of the War Staff included:

Special Service, War Staff

Special Service, War Staff included:

Operational divisions

As of December 1916, operational divisions included: * Anti-Submarine Division, formed in 1916 * Naval Intelligence Division, formed in 1912 *

Operations Division The Operations Division was a former directorate of the Admiralty Naval Staff responsible for the creation and implementation of long-term policy in regards to the composition of all Royal Navy fleets, squadrons and commands and including operat ...

, formed in 1912 * Mobilisation Division, formed in 1912 *

Signals Section (Combined Operations) In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

, formed in 1916 * Trade Division, formed in 1914

References

Attribution

Primary source for this article is by Harley Simon, Lovell Tony, (2017), Admiralty War Staff (Royal Navy), dreadnoughtproject.org, http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org.

Sources

*Black, Nicholas (2009). ''The British Naval Staff in the First World War''. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. . *Harley, Simon and Lovell, Tony (2007).''The Admiralty War Staff'', dreadnoughtproject.org, Harley and Lovell. *''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. *"''Proposals by Director of Naval Intelligence for carrying out the Duties of a General Staff and Re-organisation of the Naval Intelligence Department''." 15 May 1909. The National Archives. ADM 1/8047. *Rodger. N.A.M., (1979) ''The Admiralty (offices of state)'', T. Dalton, Lavenham, .

External links

{{Naval Service (British), state=collapsed 1912 establishments in the United Kingdom 1917 disestablishments in the United Kingdom History of the Royal Navy Military history of the United Kingdom during World War I Military units and formations established in 1912 Military units and formations disestablished in 1917 Staff (military) World War I espionage Admiralty during World War I A