The Royal Naval College, Greenwich, was a
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
training establishment between 1873 and 1998, providing courses for naval officers. It was the home of the Royal Navy's
staff college, which provided advanced training for officers. The equivalent in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
was the
Staff College, Camberley
Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, was a staff college for the British Army and the presidency armies of British India (later merged to form the Indian Army). It had its origins in the Royal Military College, High Wycombe, founded in 1799, which ...
, and the equivalent in the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
was the
RAF Staff College, Bracknell.
History
The Royal Naval College, Greenwich, was founded by an
Order in Council
An Order in Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom, this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council ('' ...
dated 16 January 1873. The establishment of its officers consisted of a president, who was always a flag officer; a captain, Royal Navy; a director of studies; and professors of mathematics, physical science, chemistry, applied mechanics, and fortification. It was to take in officers who were already sub-lieutenants and to operate as "the university of the Navy". The director of studies, a civilian, was in charge of an academic board, while the captain of the college was a naval officer who acted as
chief of staff
The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...
.
The
Royal Naval War College, which had been established at Greenwich in November 1900 before being removed to first Devonport and then Portsmouth, transferred its activities to the college at Greenwich in 1914. During
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
the Royal Naval College was requisitioned as a barracks and for scientific experiments. The training of officers was not resumed until 1919.
On 30 October 1939 the college began to train officers of the
Women's Royal Naval Service
The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS; popularly and officially known as the Wrens) was the women's branch of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. First formed in 1917 for the World War I, First World War, it was disbanded in 1919, then revived in ...
. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the college increased the number of officers of both sexes trained for an expanded Navy. Its major task was the training of fighting officers, and around 35,000 men and women graduated during that period. In 1943, the beautiful Admiral's House on the north wing of King Charles Court was damaged by a direct hit from a German bomb; another bomb hit the front of the building.
The Navy's Department of Nuclear Science and Technology opened on the college premises in 1959, and
JASON
Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece is featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Med ...
, the department's research and training reactor, was commissioned in the King William building in 1962.
In 1967 Queen
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
knighted
Francis Chichester on the river steps of the college, honouring his achievement in circumnavigating the world as a solo yachtsman, using the old route of the
clipper
A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. The term was also retrospectively applied to the Baltimore clipper, which originated in the late 18th century.
Clippers were generally narrow for their len ...
s, becoming the first to do so. His was also the fastest such circumnavigation, taking nine months and one day.
The
Royal School of Naval Architecture, which had been part of the college since 1873, transferred to
University College London
University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
in 1967. The Royal Naval College continued to train women until 1976, when their courses were transferred to the
Britannia Royal Naval College
Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth, also known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...
.
From 1983 the relocated
Joint Services Defence College also occupied much of the King Charles building.
With a shrinking Royal Navy, the decision was taken to close RNC Greenwich in 1998. All initial officer training is now carried out at the
Britannia Royal Naval College
Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth, also known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...
, and the new
Joint Services Command and Staff College, created in 1997, took over the
staff college functions.
Buildings
The college was established in buildings designed by
Sir Christopher Wren and built between 1696 and 1712, then intended to serve as the
Greenwich Hospital, a home for disabled sailors. This closed in 1869, when the pensioners were transferred to other places, leaving the buildings available for a new use. The site of the former hospital had once been occupied by the medieval
Palace of Placentia, or "Palace at Greenwich", begun by
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, in 1428.
After the Royal Navy departed in 1998 the buildings were opened to the public as the
Old Royal Naval College.
Presidents
:''See also''
:Admiral presidents of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich
The president of the college was a full-time post until 1982 when it became an honorary role held by the
Second Sea Lord (and from 1994 an honorary role held by the
Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff).
[Royal Navy Senior Appointments]
at gulabin.com, accessed 9 October 2013 Presidents included:
[
*]Vice-Admiral
Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral.
Australia
In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...
Sir Astley Cooper Key (1873–1875)
*Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...
Sir Edward Gennys Fanshawe (1875–1878)
*Admiral Sir Charles Frederick Alexander Shadwell (1878–1881)
*Admiral Sir Geoffrey Phipps Hornby (1881–1882)
*Admiral William Garnham Luard (1882–1885)
*Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Brandreth (1885–1888)
*Admiral Sir William Graham (1888–1891)
*Admiral Sir Richard Vesey Hamilton (1891–1894)
*Admiral Sir Walter James Hunt-Grubbe (1894–1897)
*Admiral Sir Richard Tracey (1897–1900)
*Admiral Sir Robert More-Molyneux (1900–1903)
*Admiral Sir Robert Hastings Penruddock Harris (1903–1906)
*Admiral Sir Arthur Dalrymple Fanshawe (1906–1908)
*Admiral Sir John Durnford (1908–1911)
*Admiral Sir Frederic William Fisher (1911–1914)
*Vice-Admiral The Hon. Sir Alexander Edward Bethell (1914–1915)
*Vice-Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly (1915–1916)
*Admiral Sir Henry Bradwardine Jackson (1916–1919)
*Vice-Admiral Sir William Christopher Pakenham (1919–1920)
*Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick Tudor (1920–1922)
*Rear-Admiral Herbert Richmond (1922–1923)
*Admiral Sir George Hope (1923–1926)
*Admiral Sir Richard Webb (1926–1929)
*Vice-Admiral John McClintock (1929)
*Vice-Admiral Sir William Henry Dudley Boyle (1929–1932)
*Vice-Admiral Sir Barry Domvile (1932–1934)
*Vice-Admiral Sir Ragnar Colvin (1934–1937)
*Vice-Admiral Sir Sidney Bailey (1937–1938)
*Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Kennedy-Purvis (1938–1940)
*''Vacant'' (1940–1943)
* Commodore Augustus Agar (1943–1946)['Agar, Captain Augustus Willington Shelton', in ''Who Was Who 1961–1970'' (London: A. & C. Black, 1979 reprint, )]
*Vice-Admiral Sir Patrick Brind (1946–1948)
*Vice-Admiral Geoffrey Oliver (1948–1950)
*Admiral Sir Harold Kinahan (1950–1952)
*Vice-Admiral Sir Aubrey Mansergh (1952–1954)
*Admiral Sir William Andrewes (1954–1956)
*Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Barnard (1956–1958)
*Rear-Admiral David Cairns, 5th Earl Cairns (1958–1961)
*Rear-Admiral Sir Alexander Gordon-Lennox (1961–1962)
*Rear-Admiral Morgan Morgan-Giles (1962–1964)
*Vice-Admiral Sir Ian Lachlan Mackay McGeoch (1964–1965)
*Rear-Admiral Patrick Bayly (1965–1967)
*Vice-Admiral Sir Horace Lyddon (1967–1968)
*Rear-Admiral Edward Gueritz (1968–1970)
*Rear-Admiral Martin Noel Lucey (1970–1972)
*Rear-Admiral Edward William Ellis (1972–1974)
*Rear-Admiral Derek Willoughby Bazalgette (1974–1976)
*Rear-Admiral Charles Weston (1976–1978)
*Rear-Admiral Anthony John Cooke (1978–1980)
*Rear-Admiral John Hildred Carlill (1980–1982)
*Admiral Sir Simon Cassels (1982–1986)
*Admiral Sir Richard George Alison Fitch (1986–1988)
*Admiral Sir Brian Brown (1988–1991)
*Admiral Sir Michael Livesay (1991–1993)
*Admiral Sir Michael Henry Gordon Layard (1993–1994)
*Admiral Sir John Richard Brigstocke (1994–1995)
*Vice-Admiral Sir Jeremy Joe Blackham (1995–1997)
Directors of Studies
The following individuals served as Director of Studies:
Notable professors
* William Burnside, Professor of Mathematics (1885–1919)
* Bernard Parker Haigh, Professor of applied mechanics, known for the Haigh diagram (appointed 1913)
* Peter Stanley Lyons, Director of Music (1950–1954)
* John Knox Laughton, Head of Department of Meteorology
Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...
and Marine Surveying (1873–1885)
* Christopher Lloyd, Professor of History (1962–1967)
* Bryan Ranft, Professor of History and International Affairs (1967–1977)
* Arnold William Reinold, Professor of Physics (1873–1908)
Notable students
* Commodore Augustus Agar (1890–1968)[
*]Admiral of the Fleet
An admiral of the fleet or shortened to fleet admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to field marshal and marshal of the air force. An admiral of the fleet is typically senior to an admiral.
It is also a generic ter ...
David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty (1871–1936)
* George Richard Bethell (1849–1919), Royal Navy officer and Conservative politician
*Admiral Hugo Biermann (1916–2012), Chief of the South African Navy and the South African Defence Force
* Basil Charles Barrington Brooke (1895–1983), admiral and first-class cricketer
* Sir Henry Harvey Bruce (1862–1948), admiral
*Admiral of the Fleet Lord Cunningham of Hyndhope (1883–1963)
* Vice Admiral A. H. Asoka de Silva (1931–2006), Commander of the Navy of Sri Lanka from 1983 to 1986
* Vice Admiral Henry George DeWolf (1903–2000), Canadian naval officer
* Admiral Sir Frederic Charles Dreyer (1878–1956)
*Admiral of the Fleet Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...
(1921–2021)
*Admiral Sir William Wordsworth Fisher (1875–1937)
*Prince Charles, Count of Flanders
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
, Prince-Regent of Belgium
*Rear Admiral Musharraf Hussain Khan (1932–2018), Chief of Bangladesh Navy Staff from 1973 to 1979
* Admiral D. Basil Gunasekara (born 1929), Commander of the Sri Lankan Navy from 1973 to 1979
* Admiral Henry Perera, Commander of the Sri Lankan Navy from 1979 to 1983
* Hugh Alfred Vernon Haggard (1908–1991), Royal Navy submariner
*Admiral of the Fleet Lord Hill-Norton (1915–2004)
* Vice Admiral Sir J. G. T. Inglis (1906–1972), Head of Naval Intelligence
* Prince Abhakara Kiartivongse (1880–1923), of the Siamese royal family, a founder of modern Royal Thai Navy
* Admiral of the Fleet Lord Lewin (1920–1999)
* Rear-Admiral Simon Robert Lister (born 1959), Royal Navy officer, now Director, Submarines
* Dudley Leigh Aman, 1st Baron Marley (1884–1952), soldier and Labour politician
* Rear Admiral Sir David Martin (1933–1990), Royal Australian Navy officer and Governor of New South Wales
*Vice Admiral Mark Mellett, Chief of Staff
The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...
of the Irish Defence Forces
*Admiral of the Fleet Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1900–1979), last Viceroy of India, First Sea Lord, Chief of the Defence Staff
*Lieutenant-General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...
Arthur Ernest Percival (1887–1966)
*Marshal of the Royal Air Force
Marshal of the Royal Air Force (MRAF) is the highest rank in the UK's Royal Air Force (RAF). In peacetime it was granted to RAF officers in the appointment of Chief of the Defence Staff (United Kingdom), Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), and to ...
Charles Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford (1893–1971), Chief of the Air Staff
*Admiral Sa Zhenbing (1859–1952), Premier of the Republic of China, Chief of the Republic of China Navy
* Prince Arisugawa Takehito (1862–1913), of the Japanese imperial family, a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy
*Rear Admiral David Watson Taylor (1864–1940), naval architect and engineer of the United States Navy
*Admiral of the Fleet Tōgō Heihachirō (1848–1934), Imperial Japanese Navy
*Admiral of the Fleet Lord Tovey (1885–1971)
* Sir Patrick Wall (1916–1998), Royal Marines commando and Conservative politician
* Josiah Wedgwood, 1st Baron Wedgwood (1872–1943), Liberal and later Labour politician
Since decommissioning
Now known as the Old Royal Naval College, the college's former buildings are open to the public and are the home of three attractions; the Painted Hall, the chapel, and the Discover Greenwich visitor centre. The site has also been used as a film location, appearing in ''Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...
'' (2009) and ''The Foreigner'' (2017) and as the setting for the final clash on Earth in '' Thor: The Dark World''.
See also
* Britannia Royal Naval College
Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth, also known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, En ...
* Royal Naval College of Canada
* Royal Canadian Naval College
* Royal Australian Naval College
References
{{coord, 51, 28, 56, N, 0, 00, 24, W, region:GB-LND_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title
Grade I listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Greenwich
History of the Royal Borough of Greenwich
Military history of London
Former training establishments of the Royal Navy
Staff colleges
1873 establishments in England
1998 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Educational institutions disestablished in 1998