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 The Admiralty War Staff was the former senior naval staff operational planning organisation within the British Admiralty that existed from 1912 to 1917. It was instituted on 8 January 1912 by Winston Churchill in his capacity as First Lord of ...

History

In May 1909, the Director of Naval Intelligence, Rear-Admiral Alexander E. Bethell, submitted a written report for the creation of a "Navy War Council" following the outcome of the Beresford Inquiry and recommendations that followed; it was to be made up of the following personnel: 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 Fo ...

as president; the Director of Naval Intelligence acting as vice-president; an "Assistant Director for War"; the President, and the Captain of the Royal Naval War College; the Naval Assistant to the First Sea Lord. The head of the War Division of 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 Nava ...

's and the Commander of the Royal Naval War College acting as Joint Secretaries. Other

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, Traf ...

department heads could be summoned, to act as members of the council as and when their expertise was required. Its role acted as a precursor to the establishment of a professional naval staff function; it would initially devise on naval war plans, and also given an advisory role on

naval strategy Naval strategy is the planning and conduct of war at sea, the naval equivalent of military strategy on land. Naval strategy, and the related concept of maritime strategy, concerns the overall strategy for achieving victory at sea, including the ...

matters The council held a series of nine meetings between 13 October 1909 and 10 June 1911 before it was abolished and replaced by the Admiralty War Staff in January 1912.

Council members

The Council had of four members, including *

, and President of the War Council and Chief of Staff. * Director of Naval Intelligence. * Director of Naval Mobilisation. * Secretary of the Navy War Council who was the Assistant Secretary to the Admiralty.

References

Attribution

Primary source for this article is by *Harley, Simon and Lovell, Tony (2015).''Navy War Council'', dreadnoughtproject.org, Harley and Lovell.

Sources

* Grimes, S. (2012). Probes into Admiralty War Planning, 1908–9. In Strategy and War Planning in the British Navy, 1887-1918, Boydell and Brewer, . * Harley Simon, Lovell Tony, (2017), Navy War Council, dreadnoughtproject.org, http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org.

External links

{{Admiralty Department, state=collapsed Royal Navy Royal Navy appointments 1909 establishments in the United Kingdom 1911 disestablishments in the United Kingdom