Admiralty
Early 18th century: the Board Of Admiralty was created as the government department that managed naval affairs, subsuming the role of the Lord High Admiral of England.
1869 The First Lord of the Admiralty was given overriding powers. He was directly responsible to Parliament for the Royal Navy.
The Admiralty differed from other British service departments in that it functioned as an operational authority, sometimes actually issuing direct orders to ships at sea.
In the 20th century there were usually 10 members of the Board of Admiralty; 3 were members of Parliament, 6 were naval officers, and 1 was permanent secretary.
WWI During the war the Admiralty instituted the Board of Invention and Research to devise means of detecting submarines, and to carry out other investigations into aeronautics, marine engineering, anti-aircraft defences and similar matters.
1964 Subsumed in the Ministry of Defence
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Britannica