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Admiralty

This article is about the naval armed forces of the United Kingdom. For information on maritime law, see admiralty law.
The Admiralty (officially Lords Commissioners for Executing the Office of Lord High Admiral) or the Board of the Admiralty is a division of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence overseeing the affairs of the Royal Navy.

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'.

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 to and from the board and the 'Lord High Admiral' a number of times until 1709 when the powers of the 'Lord High Admiral' were legally enshrined in 'the Board of the Admiralty' and its ministerial president the 'First Lord of the Admiralty'.

In 1831 the Navy Board was abolished as a separate entity and its duties and responsibilities were given over to the Admiralty. In 1964 the Admiralty was subsumed into the Ministry of Defence along with the War Office[?] and the Air Ministry.

Table of contents

Lord High Admirals, 1413-1628

Lord High Admirals and First Lords of the Admiralty, 1628-1709

First Lords of the Admiralty, 1709-1964

incomplete?

Admirals of the Fleet, 1795-1827

First Sea Lords, 1828-Present

wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump