The Naval Ordnance Department, also known as the Department of the Director of Naval Ordnance, was a former department of the
Admiralty responsible for the procurement of naval ordnance of the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
. The department was managed by a Director, supported by various assistants and deputies; it existed from 1891 to 1958.
Precursors
Before 1855 the supply of guns and ammunition to the Royal Navy was the responsibility of the
Ordnance Board
The Board of Ordnance was a British government body. Established in the Tudor period, it had its headquarters in the Tower of London. Its primary responsibilities were 'to act as custodian of the lands, depots and forts required for the defence o ...
, which was also concerned with supplying ordnance to the Army and which tended to concentrate on the latter function, although naval officers served on the board and on the Ordnance Select Committee which succeeded it. The Ordnance Board was abolished in May 1855, its responsibilities for naval ordnance passed to 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 ...
, where a naval officer was appointed
Naval Director-General of Artillery within the
Artillery Branch. He retained that title from 1858 to 1868, when he was also
Director of Stores, War Office ; he was also the
Vice-President of the Ordnance Select Committee.
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© Crown copyright.
History
A Director-General, subsequently Director of Naval Ordnance, in the
Controller's Department of the Admiralty was first appointed in 1866, but he did not take over procurement of naval ordnance from the War Office until 1888 or custody and supply until 1891, when a Naval Ordnance Department was finally established at the Admiralty.
By stages from 1908 the Admiralty also took over responsibility from the War Office for inspecting naval ordnance when a Chief Inspector of Naval Ordnance was appointed. The
Royal Ordnance Factories
Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs) was the collective name of the UK government's munitions factories during and after the Second World War. Until privatisation, in 1987, they were the responsibility of the Ministry of Supply, and later the Minist ...
, under the control of the War Office, continued, however, to manufacture naval ordnance though a large proportion, including most of the heaviest guns, was let to private contract.
From 1917 until the department was responsible for mines and torpedoes. Between 1918 and 1923 and again from 1939 there was a separate
Armament Supply Department.The Naval Ordnance Inspection Department was set up in 1922 to control quality in the manufacture and testing of weapons and ammunition for the fleet. Chemical and metallurgical analysis was carried out at its laboratories at Sheffield (the
Bragg Bragg may refer to:
Places
* Bragg City, Missouri, United States
* Bragg, Texas, a ghost town, United States
* Bragg, West Virginia, an unincorporated community, United States
*Electoral district of Bragg, a state electoral district in South Austra ...
laboratory) and Caerwent.
During the First World War the directorate was divided, and a separate
Department of the Director of Torpedoes and Mining was created. After the Second World War in 1946 this became the
Underwater Weapons Department. The Bragg laboratory, so-called from 1938, continued unchanged until 1968, when its chemical analysis work became part of the Army Department's Directorate of Chemical Inspection at Woolwich. From 1941 to 1945 there was a
Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development.
In 1958 the two were re-united as divisions of the
Weapons Department, under the
Director General of Weapons (Director General, Weapons from 1960 to 1964). Bragg continued as the Naval Ordnance Inspection (later Service) and Metallurgical Unit (NOIMU, later NOSMU) until 1984 when it was closed and its work transferred to Woolwich. Caerwent laboratory continued investigating propellants until 1971.
Directors
Included:
Directors of Naval Ordnance
* Rear-Admiral
Astley Cooper Key
Admiral Sir Astley Cooper Key, (18 January 1821 – 3 March 1888) was a Royal Navy officer. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado in November 1845 during the Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata and too ...
, September 1866-July 1869
* Captain
Arthur W. A. Hood, July 1869-May 1874
* Rear-Admiral
Henry Boys, May 1874-May 1878
* Rear-Admiral
Richard Vesey Hamilton, June 1878-March 1880
* Rear-Admiral
Frederick A. Herbert, April 1880-April 1883
* Rear-Admiral
John Ommanney Hopkins, April 1883-November 1886
Directors of Naval Ordnance and Torpedoes
Included:
* Rear-Admiral
John A. Fisher, November 1886-May 1891
* Rear-Admiral
Compton E. Domvile, May 1891-March 1894
* Captain
Henry Coey Kane, March 1894-August 1897
* Rear-Admiral
Edmund Jeffreys, August 1897-January 1901
* Captain
William H. May
Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy), Admiral of the Fleet Sir William Henry May (31 July 1849 – 7 October 1930) was a Royal Navy Officer. As a junior officer he took part an expedition to rescue Commander Albert Hastings Markham, Albert Markham ...
, January–April 1901
* Rear-Admiral
Angus MacLeod, April 1901-January 1904
* Rear-Admiral
Henry Deacon Barry, January 1904-February 1905
* Rear-Admiral
John R. Jellicoe. February 1905-August 1907
* Captain
Reginald H.S. Bacon, August 1907-December 1909
* Captain
Archibald G.H.W. Moore, December 1909-June 1912
* Captain
Frederick C.T.Tudor, June 1912-August 1914
* Captain
Morgan Singer, August 1914-March 1917
Directors of Naval Ordnance
Included:
* Captain
Frederic Charles Dreyer
Admiral Sir Frederic Charles Dreyer, (8 January 1878 – 11 December 1956) was an officer of the Royal Navy. A gunnery expert, he developed a fire control system for British warships, and served as flag captain to Admiral Sir John Jellicoe at ...
, March 1917-June 1918
* Captain
Henry R. Crooke, June 1918-September 1920
* Captain
Roger R.C.Backhouse, September 1920-December 1922
* Captain
Joseph C.W.Henley, December 1922-May 1925,
* Captain
Charles M. Forbes, July 1925-July 1928
* Captain
Julian F.C.Patterson, July 1928-April 1931,
* Captain
F. Thomas B. Tower, April 1931-July 1933
* Captain
Bruce A. Fraser, July 1933-March 1936
* Captain
Charles E. B. Simeon, March 1936-May 1939,
* Captain
John C. Leach, May 1939-January 1941
* Captain
William R. Slayter, January–August 1941
* Captain
Oliver Bevir, August 1941-March 1944
* Captain
Charles H. L. Woodhouse, March 1944-February 1945
* Rear-Admiral
Charles H. L. Woodhouse, March 1945-February 1946
* Captain Dennis M. Lees, February 1946-December 1948
* Captain
Henry A. King, December 1948-June 1951
* Captain
William J. Yendell, June 1951-March 1954
* Captain
John Graham Hamilton
Admiral Sir John Graham Hamilton, (12 July 1910 – 27 October 1994) was a Royal Navy officer who served as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet from 1964 to 1967.
Naval career
Hamilton joined the Royal Navy in 1924, and specialised in gunne ...
, March 1954-March 1956
* Captain
Richard E. Washbourn, March 1956-May 1958
* Rear-Admiral
Gilbert C. de Jersey, May–July 1958
Assistant Directors
Included:''
Assistant Directors of Torpedoes
* Captain
Arthur K. Wilson, 1887–1888
* Captain
Edmund F. Jeffreys, 1889–1893
* Captain William H. 1893–1895
* Captain The Hon.
Maurice A. Bourke, 1895-1896
* Captain Sir
Baldwin W. Walker, 1895-1897
* Captain
Ernest A. Simons, 1898
* Captain
George Le C. Egerton, 1898– 1899
* Captain
Alexander W. Chisholm-Batten, 1899–1901
* Captain
George Le C. Egerton, 1901–1902
* Captain
Henry B. Jackson, 1902–1903
* Captain The Hon.
Alexander E. Bethell, 1903–1906
* Captain
Bernard Currey, 21 December 1906–1908
* Captain
Stuart Nicholson Stuart Nicholson may refer to:
* Stuart Nicholson (footballer) (born 1987), English footballer
* Stuart Nicholson (jazz historian) (born 1948), British jazz historian, biographer, music journalist, music critic, and academic
* Stuart Nicholson (org ...
, 21 December 1908–1911
* Captain
Edward F. B. Charlton, 1911–1914
* Captain
Philip W. Dumas, 15 August 1914–1917
* Captain Algernon H. C. Candy, 8 February 1917–1919
* Captain Brien M. Money, 1919–1921
* Captain Arthur T. Walker, 1921–1922
Assistant Directors of Naval Ordnance
* Captain
Frederick C. T. Tudor, 1906–1909
* Captain Arthur W. Craig, 1909–1911
* Captain
James C. Ley, 1911–1912
* Captain James D. Dick, 1912–1914
* Commander Basil E. Reinold, 1914-1915
* Captain Herbert R. Norbury, 1915-1916
* Captain Joseph C. W. Henley, 1917–1919
Deputy Directors
Included:''
Deputy Directors of Naval Ordnance
* Captain
Cecil V. Usborne, January 1919-May 1921
* Captain
Roger R.C. Backhouse, August–September 1920
* Captain
G.T. Carlisle P. Swabey, May 1921-October 1923
* Captain George R.B. Blount, October 1923-August 1925
* Captain Charles A. Scott, August 1925-April 1928
* Captain A. Ramsay Dewar, April 1928-September 1929
* Captain Frank Elliott, September 1929-March 1932
* Captain A. Francis Pridham, March 1932-April 1933
* Captain Eric R. Bent, April 1933-October 1934
* Captain Gerard W.T. Robertson, October 1934-March 1936
* Captain
Harold R.G. Kinahan, March 1936-June 1937
* Captain Francis W.H. Jeans, June 1937-July 1938
* Captain
Michael M. Denny, July 1938-March 1940
* Captain
William R. Slayter, March 1940-January 1941
* Captain
Frederick R. Parham, January 1941-August 1942
* Captain Patrick V. McLaughlin, August 1942-March 1943
* Captain Robert F. Elkins, March 1943-November 1944
* Captain Kenneth L. Harkness, April 1943-February 1945
* Captain Henry N.S. Brown, February 1945-October 1947
* Captain Alan F. Campbell, September 1946-September 1948
* Captain Thomas V. Briggs, October 1947 – 1949
* Captain William J. Lamb, September 1948 – 1950
* Captain
Desmond P. Dreyer, July 1949-September 1952
* Captain
Richard E. Washbourn, September 1950 – 1953
* Captain Francis W.R. Larken, September 1952-November 1955
* Captain Thomas W. Best, November 1955 – 1958
Subsidiary departments
Note: ''At various times were under the control of the Director of Naval Ordnance.''
*
Naval Ordnance Stores Department, (1891-1918)
*
Armament Supply Department, (1918-1964)
**
Royal Naval Armaments Depot
A Royal Naval Armament Depot (RNAD) is an armament depot (or a group of depots) dedicated to supplying the Royal Navy (as well as, at various times, the Royal Air Force, the British Army and foreign and Commonwealth forces). They were sister de ...
*
Department of the Chief Inspector of Naval Ordnance, (1908-1922)
*
Naval Ordnance Inspection Department, (1922-1964)
See also
*
Board of Ordnance
Notes
References
* Harley, Simon and Lovell Tony. (2017), "Naval Ordnance Department (Royal Navy)", The Dreadnought Project
http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/Naval Ordnance Department(primary sources for this article)
* Mackie, Colin. "British Armed Forces from 1860, Senior Royal Navy Appointments from 1865". gulabin. Colin Mackie, pp. 51–51, January 2017.
* The National.
Records of Naval Ordnance Departments and Establishments. discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. National Archives, 1736-1974, ADM Division 9. Retrieved 28 March 2017. This article contains text from this source, which is available under th
Open Government Licence v3.0 © Crown copyright.
External links
{{Naval Service (British)
Admiralty departments
1891 establishments in the United Kingdom
1958 disestablishments in the United Kingdom