Admiralty Admiralty

Admiralty - Definition and Overview
For the international law of the sea, see Admiralty law. For the area of Hong Kong, see Admiralty, Hong Kong
Old Admiralty House, , London, , architect, 1723-26, was not admired by his contemporaries and earned him some scathing couplets from
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Old Admiralty House, Whitehall, London, Thomas Ripley, architect, 1723-26, was not admired by his contemporaries and earned him some scathing couplets from Alexander Pope

The Admiralty (officially the Admiralty Board) is a division of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence overseeing the affairs of the Royal Navy. The Admiralty Board replaced the Board of Admiralty (officially the Lords Commissioners for Exercising the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, etc.) when the functions of that office were incorporated into the Ministry of Defence in 1964.

Contents
1 History
2 Lord High Admirals, 1413-1628
3 Lords High Admiral and First Lords of the Admiralty, 1628-1709
4 First Lords of the Admiralty, 1709-1964
5 Admirals of the Fleet, 1795-1827
6 First Sea Lords, 1828-Present

History

The office of Admiral of England, or Lord Admiral and later Lord High Admiral was created in approximately 1400. In 1546 King Henry VIII established the Council of the Marine later to became the Navy Board to oversee administrative affairs of the naval service. Operational control of the Navy remained the responsibility of the Lord High Admiral, who was one of the nine Great Officers of State.

In 1628, Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission and control of the Royal Navy passed to a committee in the form of the Board of the Admiralty. Control of the Navy was passed a number of times to and from the board and the Lord High Admiral, notoriously vested in the Duke of York towards the end of Charles II's reign, until in 1709 the powers of the Lord High Admiral were finally vested in the Board of Admiralty.

The Board of Admiralty consisted of admirals (known as Sea Lords) and civilian lords, normally politicians. The professional head of the Royal Navy was (and still is) known as the First Sea Lord. The civilian minister and president of the Board was known as the First Lord of the Admiralty.

The seat of power of the Admiralty in Whitehall was clumsily designed and built by Thomas Ripley, a former carpenter and protegé of Sir Robert Walpole, whose distinctly provincial essay in such a prominent site provoked the scorn of Pope:

See under Ripley rise a new White-hall,
While Jones' and Boyles' united labours fall.
— The Dunciad (1743), book III, ii, 327-8

In 1831 the Navy Board was abolished as a separate entity and its duties and responsibilities were given over to the Board of Admiralty.

In 1964 the Admiralty was subsumed into the Ministry of Defence along with the War Office and the Air Ministry. Within the expanded Ministry of Defence are a new Admiralty Board, Army Board and Air Force Board, each headed by the Secretary of State for Defence. The Admiralty Board meets formally twice a year, and the day-to-day running of the Royal Navy is carried out by a Navy Board, which consists of the naval members of the Admiralty Board (i.e. excluding ministers).

The title of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom is now vested in the Sovereign. However, there continues to be appointed a Vice Admiral and a Rear Admiral of the United Kingdom.

See also:

Lord High Admirals, 1413-1628

Lords High Admiral and First Lords of the Admiralty, 1628-1709

First Lords of the Admiralty, 1709-1964

Admirals of the Fleet, 1795-1827

First Sea Lords, 1828-Present
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