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ADMIRALTY ADMINISTRATION
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See also:ADMIRALTY See also:ADMINISTRATION . 1. The Administrative See also:System.—That the See also:navy (q.v.) is the only real See also:defence of the See also:British islands has been recognized by See also:English See also:people ever since the days of See also: The salient characteristic of the admiralty is a certain flexibility and See also:elasticity with which it See also:works. Its members are not, in a rigid sense, heads of departments. Subject to the necessary and constitutional supremacy of the See also:cabinet See also:minister at their See also:head, they are jointly and co-equally " commissioners for executing the See also:office of high admiral of the See also:United See also:Kingdom, and of the territories thereunto belonging, and of high admiral of the colonies and other dominions." The members of the Board are in See also:direct and See also:constant communication with the first lord and with one another, as also with the civil departments which work under their See also:control. It was en-joined by See also: In 1632 it appears to have been See also:independent, but " still retained that evil pre-See also:eminence in See also:sloth and incapacity it had already earned and has never since lost.
administration being conducted under the navy and victualling boards apart from, but yet subject to, the admiralty itself. This was a system which continued during the time of all the great See also:wars, and was not abolished until 1832, when See also:Sir James See also:Graham, by his reforms, put an end to what appeared a divided control. Whatever may have been the demerits of that system, it sufficed to maintain the navy in the time of its greatest achievements, and through all the wars which were waged with the Spaniards, the Dutch and the See also:French. The See also:original authority for the present constitution of the Admiralty Board is found in a declaratory See also:act (Admiralty Act 1690), in which it is enacted that " all and singular authorities, jurisdictions and powers which, by act of parliament or otherwise, had been lawfully vested " in the lord high admiral of See also:England had always appertained, and did and should appertain, to the commissioners for executing the office for the time being " to all intents and purposes as if the said commissioners were lord high admiral of England." The admiralty See also:commission was dissolved in 1701, and reconstituted on the See also:death of See also:Prince See also:George of See also:Denmark, lord high admiral in 1709. From that time forward, See also:save for a See also:short See also:period in 1827-1828, when the See also:duke of See also:Clarence was lord high admiral, the office has. remained in commission.
A number of changes have been made since the amalgamation of the admiralty and the Navy Board by Sir James Graham in 1832 (see NAVY, History), but the See also:general principle remains the same, and the constitution of the Admiralty Board and civil departments is described below. The Board consists of the first lord and four naval lords with a civil lord, who in theory are jointly responsible, and are accustomed to meet sometimes daily, but at all times frequently; and the system developed provides for the subdivision of labour, and yet for the co-ordinated exertion of effort. The system has worked well in practice, and has certainly won the approval and the admiration of many statesmen. Lord George See also: Under the patent the full See also:power and authority are conferred upon " any two or more " of the commissioners, though, in the patent of See also:Queen See also:Anne, the See also: Competent critics believed that she would be unsafe, and said so before she was built; but the admiralty of Lord See also:Derby's cabinet of 1866 gave their consent to her construction. She was commissioned See also:early in 187o, and capsized in the See also:Bay of See also:Biscay on the 7th of See also:September of that See also:year. Mr Childers, who was nominally responsible for allowing her to be commissioned, distributed blame right and See also:left, largely upon men who had not approved of the ship at all, and had been exonerated from all See also:share of responsibility for allowing her to be built. The disaster was justly held to show that a civilian first lord cannot dispense with the advantage of constant communication with his professional advisers. When Mr Childers retired from the admiralty in March 1871, his successor, Mr See also:Goschen (See also:Viscount Goschen), reverted to the original system. It cannot be said, however, that the question of ultimate responsibility is well defined. The duke of Somerset, Sir James Graham and Sir See also: (R. V. 11.) other lords and secretaries See also:rest duties very carefully defined, and they direct the civil departments which are the machinery of naval administration. The first naval lord, the second naval lord and the junior naval lord are responsible to the first lord in relation to so much of the business concerning the personnel of the navy and the movements and See also:condition of the fleet as is confided to them, and the additional naval lord or controller is responsible in the same way for the material of the navy; while the parliamentary secretary has See also:charge of See also:finance and some other business, and the civil lord of all See also:shore works—i.e. docks, buildings, &c.—and the permanent secretary of special duties. The first lord of the admiralty is the cabinet minister through whom the navy receives its See also:political direction in accordance with imperial policy. He is the representative of the navy in parliament, which looks to him for everything concerned with naval affairs. The members of the Board are his advisers; but if their See also:advice is not accepted, they have no remedy except protest or resignation. It cannot be denied that the responsibility of the members of the Board, if their advice should be disregarded, must cease, and it is sufficiently obvious that the remedy of resignation will not always commend itself to those whose position and See also:advancement depend upon the favour of the government. Something will be said a little later concerning the working of the system and the relation of the first lord to the Board in regard to the navy estimates. In addition to general direction and supervision, the first lord Ms special charge of promotions and removals from the service, and of matters See also:relating to honours and rewards, as well as the appointments of See also:flag officers, captains and other officers of the higher ranks. With him rests also the nomination for the See also:major See also:part to naval cadetships and assistant clerkships. Apart from the first lord, the first naval lord is the most important officer of the Board of Admiralty. It seems to be unquestionable that Sir James Graham was right in describing the See also:senior naval lord as his " first naval adviser." Theoretically, the first naval lord is responsible for the personnel of the fleet; but in practice he is necessarily concerned with the material also as soon as it is put into commission, and with the actual commissioning of it. It is correct to say that he is chiefly concerned with the employment of the fleet, though his advice has See also:weight in regard to its character and sufficiency, and is always sought in relation to the See also:shipbuilding See also:programme. Broadly speaking, the first naval lord's duties and authority See also:cover the fighting efficiency and employment of the fleet, and upon him and upon the controller the naval business of the country largely falls. He directs the operations of the admiral See also:superintendent of naval reserves in regard to See also:ships, the hydrographer, the director of naval ordnance, so far as the gunnery and See also:torpedo training establishments are concerned, and the naval intelligence department, and he has charge of all matters relating to dis.-cipline. The mobilization of the fleet, both in regard to personnel and material, also falls to him, and among a See also:mass of other business in his department are necessary preparations for the See also:protection of See also:trade and the See also:fisheries. It will thus be seen that the first naval lord is the See also:chief officer of the Board of Admiralty, and that the operations of the other members of the Board all have relation to his work, which is no other than preparation for war. It may here be remarked that it appears most necessary to See also:change the naval lords frequently, so that there may always be in the Board some one who possesses See also:recent See also:touch with the service afloat. The second naval lord may be regarded as the coadjutor of the first naval lord, with whose operations his duties are very closely related, though, like every other member of the Board, he is subordinate only to the first lord. The duties of the second naval lord are wholly concerned with the personnel of the fleet, the See also:manning of the navy and mobilization. In his hands rests the direction of naval See also:education, training and the affairs of the royal marine forces. The training establishments and colleges are in his hands. He appoints navigating officers and lieutenants to ships (unless they be to command), sub-lieutenants, midshipmen and cadets, engineer officers, gunners and boatswains, and supervises the management of the reserve. . In his provinceis the mobilization of the personnel, including the See also:coastguard and the royal naval reserve. Necessarily, the first and second naval lords work together, and upon occasion can replace each other., Most important are the duties that fall to the additional naval lord and controller. He has charge of everything that concerns the material of the fleet, and his operations are the See also:complement of the work of the first naval lord. A great number of civil departments are directed by the controller, and his survey and supervision extend to the See also:dockyards and See also:building establishments of the fleet. He submits plans to the Board for new ships, and is responsible for carrying into effect its decisions in regard to all matters of construction and equipment. The building operations both in the dockyards and in private yards are therefore under his supervision. In regard to all these matters the director of naval construction and the engineer-in-chief are the heads of the civil departments that carry on the work. Again, the See also:con-troller is responsible in regard to armament—both gunnery and torpedo—and it is the work of his department to see to all gunnery and torpedo fittings, and to magazines, See also:shell-rooms and electric apparatus. The officer in immediate charge of this branch of the controller's work, under his direction, is the director of naval ordnance. In regard to work at the dockyards (q.v.) the controller is aided by the director of dockyards. He supervises this officer in preparing the programme of work done in the dockyards, the See also:provision of the material required and its See also:appropriation to particular work in accordance with the See also:pro-gramme. Other officers who conduct great operations under the authority and responsibility of the controller are the director of stores, who maintains all necessary supplies of See also:coal and stores at home and abroad, and examines the See also:store accounts of ships, and the inspector of dockyard expense accounts, who has charge of the accounts of dockyard See also:expenditure and seeing that outlay is charged as directed. In regard to the navy estimates, the controller, through his subordinates, is responsible for the preparation and administration of the votes for shipbuilding and naval armaments, except in regard to some sub-headings of the former, and thus in recent years for the expenditure of some-thing like £i5,000,000 or over. The junior naval lord has in his hands the very important duties that are concerned with the transport, medical and victualling services, as well as the regulation of hospitals, the charge of coaling arrangements for the fleet and other duties that conduce to the See also:practical efficiency of the navy. He also appoints chaplains, naval instructors, medical officers (except in special cases) and officers of the accountant branch. A vast business in regard to the See also:internal See also:economy of ships greatly occupies the junior lord. He has charge, for example, of See also:uniforms, See also:prize-See also:money, bounties, naval savings See also:banks, and See also:pensions to See also:seamen and See also:marines and the widows of naval and marine officers. The work of the junior naval lord places under his direction the director of transports, the director-general of the medical department, the director of victualling, and, in regard to particular matters, the director of stores, the accountant-general, the See also:chaplain of the fleet, and the Intelligence Department, so far as the junior lord's department is concerned. The civil lord supervises, through the director of works, the Department of Works, dealing with admiralty buildings and works, construction and labour, contracts and purchases of building stores and land. He is also responsible for the civil See also:staff of the naval establishments, except in regard to certain officials, and for duties connected with See also:Greenwich See also:Hospital, compassionate allowances, charitable funds, and business of like character. The accountant-general, in regard to these matters, is directed by him, and the director of Greenwich Hospital is under his authority. The parliamentary and financial secretary is responsible for the finance of the department, the navy estimates and matters of expenditure generally, and is consulted in regard to all matters involving reference to the See also:treasury. His position in regard to The See also:drawback is, that a naval lord can only go on leave by throwing all his work on a colleague already overweighted with work. estimates and expenditure is very important, and the accountant-general is his officer, while he has financial control over the director of contracts. The financial secretary also examines proposals for new expenditure. A most important See also:official of the Board is the permanent secretary, whose office has been described as the "See also:nerve-centre" of the admiralty, since it is the channel through which papers for the lords of the admiralty pass for the intercommunication of departments and for the See also:correspondence of the Board. The tradition of admiralty See also:procedure largely rests with the permanent secretary, and it is most important that he should be chosen from one of the branches, and should have served in as many of them as possible, in order that he may possess a thorough knowledge of the theory and practice of the admiralty system. In addition to the secretarial duties of the permanent secretary's department, the permanent secretary has charge of the military, naval and legal branches, each under a principal clerk, the civil branch and the See also:record office. The various branches deal with matters concerning the commissioning of ships and the distribution of the fleet, and the manning and discipline of the navy, with other associated matters, being the channels for the operations of the naval lords. It is a highly important function of the department of the permanent secretary to preserve the inter-related working of the various departments, and to keep unbroken the See also:thread of administration when a new Board is constituted. . 3. Business and Responsibility.—The manner in which the Admiralty Board conducts the great operations under its charge has been indicated. It would be impossible here to describe it in detail, though something concerning the civil departments, which are the machinery of naval administration, will be found below. It will, however, indicate the character of admiralty administration if we explain to some extent the conditions which surround the preparation of the estimates and the ship-building programme, the more so because this matter has been the See also:battle-ground of critics and supporters of the admiralty. It has already been pointed out that the naval lords, if they dissent from the estimates that are presented, have no remedy but that of protest or resignation. Into the controversies that have arisen as to the responsibility of the several lords it is unnecessary to enter here. The Admiralty Board possesses, in fact, the character of a council, and its members can only be held responsible for their advice. It has even been contended that, in the circumstances, it should not be See also:incumbent upon them to sign the navy estimates, and there have been instances in which the estimates have been presented to parliament without the See also:signature of certain naval lords. It is in any case obvious, as has been explained above, that the ultimate responsibility must always rest with the first lord and the cabinet, by whom the policy of the country is shaped and directed. In the report of the Hartington Commission in 1890 (the chairman of which became 8th duke of See also:Devonshire) to inquire into the civil and professional administration of the Naval and Military Departments, and the relation of these departments to each other and to the treasury, the following recommendation occurs: "On the first lord alone should rest the responsibility of deciding on the provision to be made for the naval requirements of the empire, and the existence of a council should be held in no degree to diminish that responsibility." Two conditions primarily See also:rule the determination as to the strength of the navy. They are, the foreign policy of the cabinet, and, on the ground of practical expediency, the amount of money available. " The estimates and strength of the navy," said See also:Rear-Admiral See also:Hotham before the select committee on the navy estimates, 1888, " are matters for the cabinet to determine." " Expense," said Sir Anthony Hoskins, " governs everything." The needs of the empire and financial considerations, as it is scarcely necessary to remark, may prove to be antithetical conditions governing the same problem, and in practice it follows that the Admiralty Board directs its operations in accordance with the views of the government, but limited by the public funds which are known to be available. Such considerationssuggest a practical See also:limitation of responsibility, so far as the several lords of the admiralty are concerned, but it may be presumed to be their See also:duty individually or collectively to See also:place their views before the first lord; and Lord George Hamilton told the select committee of 1888 that, if his colleagues should represent to him that a certain expenditure was indispensable for the efficiency of the service, he would recognize that all financial considerations should be put on one See also:side. The commissioners reported that this was the only common-sense view of the matter, and that it was difficult to see on what other footing the control of navy expenditure, consistently with responsibility to parliament, could be placed. Two practical considerations are See also:bound up with the shipbuilding programme—the carrying forward of the work in See also:hand and the new construction to be begun, since it is absolutely necessary that proper provision should be made for the employment and distribution of labour in the dockyards, and for the See also:purchase of necessary materials. Through the director of naval construction and the director of dockyards, the controller is kept informed as to the progress of work and the amount of labour required, as also in regard to the building facilities of the yards. These matters, in a general way, must See also:form a subject of discussion between the first naval lord and the controller, who will report on the subject toe the first lord. The accountant-general, as the financial officer of the Board, will be called upon to place the proposed estimates upon a financial basis, and when the views of the cabinet are known as to the amount of money available, the several departments charged with the duty of preparing the various votes will proceed with that work. The financial basis alluded to is, of course, found in the estimates of the previous year, modified by the new conditions that arise. There has been in past times a haphazard character in our shipbuilding pro-grammes, but with the introduction of the Naval Defence Act of 1889, which looked ahead and was not content with hand-to-mouth provision, a better state of things has grown up, and, with a larger sense of responsibility, a policy characterized by something of continuity has been developed. Certainly the largest See also:factor in the better state of things has been the growth of a strong See also:body of public See also:opinion as to the supreme value of the navy for See also:national and imperial welfare.
Another important and related matter that comes before the Board of Admiralty is the character and See also:design of ships. The naval members of the Board indicate the classes and qualities desired, and it is the practice that the See also:sketch-design, presented in accordance with the instructions, is fully discussed by the first naval lord and the controller, and afterwards by the Board. The design then takes further shape, and when it has received the final See also:sanction of the Board it cannot be altered without the sanction of the same authority. A similar procedure is found in the other business of the Admiralty Board, such as shore-works, docks and the preparation of offensive and defensive plans of warfare—the last being a very important matter that falls into the operations of the Naval Intelligence Department, which has been described, though not with perfect accuracy, and certainly in no large sense, as " the See also:brain of the navy." That department is under the direction of the first naval lord.
The shipbuilding programme may be described as the corner-See also: The executive departments, except in regard to the hulls and machinery of ships and the special requirements of the director of works, do not make purchases of stores, that work resting with the director of navy contracts. Most of the important executive and spending branches are in the department of the controller, and it will be well, while we are dealing with the material side of the navy, to describe briefly their character and duties. The civil branches of the navy tributary to the controller are those of the director of naval construction, the engineer-in-chief, the See also:directors of naval ordnance, of dockyards and of stores, and the inspector of dockyard expense accounts. The first duty of the controller is, as has been explained, in relation to the design and construction of ships and their machinery, and the executive officials who have charge of that work are the director of naval construction and the engineer-in-chief, whose operations are closely inter-related. A vast administrative stride has been made in this particular branch of the admiralty. The work of design and construction now go forward together, and the admiralty designers are in See also:close touch with the work in hand at the dockyards. This has been largely brought about by the institution, in 1883, of the royal See also:corps of naval constructors, whose members interchange their duties between the designing of ships at the admiralty and practical work at the dockyards. It is through the director of naval construction that many of the spending departments are set in motion, since he is responsible both for the design of ships and for their construction. It deserves to be noticed, how-ever, that a certain obscurity exists in regard. to the relative duties of the director of naval construction and the director of dockyards touching constructive works in the yards. The former officer has also' charge of all the work given out to See also:contract, though it is the business of the dockyard officials to certify that the conditions of the contract have been fulfilled. In all this work the director of naval construction collaborates with the engineer-in-chief, who is an independent officer and not a sub-See also:ordinate, and whose procedure in regard to machinery closely resembles that adopted in the matter of contract-built ships. The director of naval ordnance is another officer of the Controller's Department whose operations are very closely related to the duties of the director of naval construction, and the relation is both intimate and sustained, for in the Ordnance Department everything that relates to guns, See also:gun-mountings, magazines, torpedo apparatus, See also:electrical fittings for guns, and other electrical fittings is centred. A singular feature of this branch of administration is that the navy long since lost direct control of ordnance matters, through the duties connected with naval gunnery, formerly in the hands of the See also:master-general of the ordnance, and those of the Board of Ordnance—a department common to the sea and land services—being vested in 1855 in the secretary of state for war. A more satisfactory state of things has grown up through the See also:appointment of the director of naval ordnance, taking the place of the naval officer who formerly advised the director of See also:artillery at the War Office. Expenditure on ordnance has also been transferred from the See also:army to the navy estimates, and a Naval Ordnance Store Department has been created. It cannot be said that the condition is yet satisfactory, nor can it be until the navy has control of and responsibility for its own ordnance. The assistant-director of torpedoes is an officer instituted at the admiralty within recent years, and his duty is to assist the director of naval ordnance in all torpedo matters. The director of dockyards replaced the surveyor of dockyards in 1885, at about which time the inspector of dockyard expense accounts was instituted. It is upon the director of dockyards (q.v.) that the responsibility of the controller devolves in regard to the management of dockyards and naval establishments at home and abroad, and to the performance of work in these establishments, ship and See also:boat building, maintenance, See also:repairs and refits. In this department the programme for work in the See also:dock-yards is prepared, as well as certain sections of the navy estimates. We now come to the Stores Department, with the director of stores as its chief. This officer, about the year 1869, took over the storekeeping duties previously vested in the storekeeper-general. The Naval Store Department is charged with the custody and issue of naval, as distinguished from victualling and ordnance stores, to be used in naval dockyards and establishments for the building, fitting and repairing of warships. Ithas, however, no concern with stores that belong to the Department of Works. The business of the director of stores is also to receive and issue the stores for ships of all classes in commission and reserve, and he deals with a vast See also:array of See also:objects and materials necessary for the fleet, and with coals and coaling. He frames the estimates for his department, but his purchases are made through the director of navy contracts. In practice the See also:main business of the Stores Department is to see to the pro-See also:vision of stores for the navy, and to the proper See also:supply of these at all the establishments, and for this purpose its officials direct the movements of storeships, and arrange for the despatch of colliers, the director being charged to be " careful to provide for His Majesty's ships on foreign stations, and for the necessary supplies to foreign yards." Another important business of the director of stores is the examination of the store accounts of ships as well as some other accounts. Although the director of stores is really in the department of the controller, he is supervised in regard to the coaling of the fleet by the junior naval lord. The inspector of dockyard expense accounts has been alluded to. He is the officer charged with keeping a record of expenditure at the dockyards and of supervising expense accounts. It may be useful to add a note concerning the spending of the money. Within the controller's department, as has been explained, are centred the more important spending branches of the admiralty. While the work of design- toreEadt . ships and preparing plans is in progress, the director of stores, the director of dockyards and other officials of that department concerned are making preparation for the work. The necessary stores, comprising almost every imaginable class of materials, are brought together, and the director of stores is specially charged to obtain accurate See also:information in regard to requirements. He is not, however, a purchasing officer, that work being undertaken by the director of navy contracts, who is concerned with the whole business of supply, except in regard to hulls and machinery of ships built by contract, and the special requirements of the director of works. 
At the same time, the civil departments of the admiralty being held responsible for the administration of the votes they compile, it is their duty to See also:watch the outlay of money; and to see that it is well expended, the accountant-general being directed to assist them in this work. The system is closely jointed and well administered, but it possesses a very centralized character, which interferes to some extent with flexible working, and with the progress of necessary repairs, especially in foreign yards. In so far as ships given out to con-See also:tract are concerned (and the same is the case in regard to propelling machinery built by contract), the director of navy con-tracts plays no part, the professional business being conducted through the controller of the navy, who is advised thereon by the director of naval construction and the engineer-in-chief. The work conducted in private establishments is closely watched by the admiralty officials, and is thoroughly tested, but, mutatis mutandis, the system in regard to contract-built ships is practically the same as that which prevails in the dockyards. 4. Naval Finance: The Accountant-General's Department.—The subject of naval finance is one of great complexity and of vast importance. The large sums of money with which the admiralty deals in the way of both estimates and expenditure, amounting recently to about £30,000,000 annually, implies the existence of the great organization which is found in the department of the accountant-general of the navy. Under the authority of the first lord, the parliamentary and financial secretary is responsible for the finance of the admiralty in general, and for the estimates and the expenditure, the accounts and the purchases, and for all matters which concern the relations of the admiralty to the treasury and to other departments of the government; and in all the practical and advisory work the accountant-general is his officer, acting as his assistant with the director of naval contracts who, under the several lords, is concerned with the business of purchase. The organization of the accountant-general's department has undergone many changes, and the resulting condition is the out-come of various modifications which have had for their purpose to give to this officer a measure of financial control. There have been various views as to what the duties of the accountant-general should be. After the reorganization of the admiralty by Sir James Graham in 1832, the accountant-general was regarded as a recording and accounting officer, wholly concerned with See also:receipt and expenditure. His duties were limited to the auditing of accounts, payments and expenditure generally. Owing to changes effected in 1869, which made the parliamentary secretary, assisted by the civil lord, responsible for finance at the admiralty, bringing the naval and victualling store departments into his charge, the accountant-general was invested with the power of criticizing these accounts financially, though he did not as yet possess any financial control, and the position was little changed by fresh rules made in 1876. It was not until 188o that the powers of the accountant-general were enlarged in this direction. It was then ordered that he should be consulted before any expenditure which the estimates had not provided for was incurred, and before any money voted was applied to other purposes than those for which it was provided. The effect of this order was not happy, for the accountant-general could not under-take these duties without setting up See also:friction with the departments whose accounts he criticized. It was contemplated by the admiralty in 1885 to make the accountant-general the assistant of the financial secretary, and to raise him to the position of a permanent officer of finance instead of being an officer of See also:account invested with imperfect authority in the direction of control. A select committee of the House of Commons reported that the accountant-general possessed no financial control over the departments, and that there was an urgent need for establishing such a control. At the time the position of that officer did not enable him to exercise any sufficient general supervision over expenditure, and there was no permanent high official expressly charged with finance. Accordingly, after being submitted to a departmental committee, a fresh arrangement was made in See also:November 188, whereby the accountant-general, under the authority of the financial secretary, was given a direct share in the preparation of the estimates. His written concurrence was required before the final approval of the votes, and each See also:vote was referred to him for his approval or observations, and he was to exercise a financial See also:review of expenditure and to see thatit was properly accounted for. He became, in fact, " the officer to be consulted on all matters involving an expenditure of naval funds." It was believed that economical administration would result; but much opposition was raised to the principle that was involved of submitting the proposals of responsible departments to the inexpert criticism of a financial authority. Mr Main, assist-See also:ant accountant-general, stated before the Royal Commission 'on Civil Establishments, 1887, that the effect had been to develop a tendency to withhold information or to afford only partial information, as well as to cause friction when questions were raised affecting expenditure, accompanied by protests, even in those cases in which these questions were manifestly of a legitimate character. The result was discouraging, and in the opinion of Mr Main had done much to weaken financial control and to defeat the purpose of the order. It is unnecessary to detail the various changes that have been made by the institution of dock-yard expense accounts in the department of the controller, and by various other alterations introduced. The treasury instituted an independent See also:audit of store accounts which greatly affected the position of the accountant-general, and the Royal Commission on Civil Establishments reported that the Board of Admiralty were of opinion that they could dispense with the accountant-general's review altogether. The commission was, however, of opinion that the accountant-general should be the permanent assistant and adviser, on all matters involving the outlay of public money, of the financial secretary. The onerations of the accountant-general are now conducted in accoraance with the order in council of the 18th of November 188, and of an office memorandum issued shortly afterwards. He thus acts as See also:deputy and assistant of the parliamentary and financial secretary, and works with a finance committee within tb. admiralty, of which the financial secretary is See also:president andthe accountant-general himself See also:vice-president. The duties of the department are precisely defined as consisting in the criticism of the See also:annual estimates as to their sufficiency before they are passed, and in advising the financial and parliamentary secretary as to their satisfying the See also:ordinary conditions of economy. The accountant-general also reviews the progress of liabilities and expenditure, and in relation to dockyard expenditure he considers the proposed programme of construction as it affects labour, material and machinery. He further reviews current expenditure, or the employment of labour and material, as distinguished from See also:cash payments of the yard, as well as proposals for the spending of money on new work or repairs of any See also:kind for which estimates are currently proposed. The accountant-general's department has three principal divisions: the estimates See also:division, the navy pay division, and the invoices and claims division. In the first of these is the See also:ledger branch, occupied with the work of accounts under the several votes and sub-heads of votes, and with preparing the navy appropriation account, as well as the estimates and liabilities branch, in which the navy estimates are largely prepared after having been proposed and worked out in the executive departments of the admiralty. There are also ships' establishments and salaries branches. The navy pay division includes the full and See also:half-pay branch and a registry section. There is also the seamen's pay branch, which audits ships' ledgers and See also:wages, and has charge of all matters concerning the wages of seamen. The victualling audit is also in this branch, and is concerned with payments for savings in lieu of See also:victual-See also:ling and some other matters. Further, the navy pay division examines ships' ledgers, and is concerned with the service, characters, ages, &c., of men as well as with allotments and pensions. The third division of the accountant-general's department, known as that of invoices and claims, conducts a vast amount of clerical work through many branches, and is concerned with the management of naval savings banks and matters touching prize-money and bounties. The importance of this great department of the admiralty cannot be overrated. It is, in the first place, of supreme importance that the navy estimates should be placed upon a See also:sound financial basis; andin practice the Board requires the concurrence of the accountant-general to the votes before they are approved, and thus in greater or less degree this officer is concerned in the preparation of every one of the votes. He does not concern himself with matters of larger policy outside the domain of finance, and it must be confessed that there appears to be something anomalous in his " review " of naval expenditure. It is, however, a See also:mark of the flexibility or elasticity of the admiralty system that in practice the operations of the accountant-general's department work easily, and that admiralty finance is recognized as having been placed upon a sound and efficient basis. There are important financial officers outside the accountant-general's department concerned with assisting the controller. The inspector of dockyard expense accounts, who is entirely in the controller's department, enables him to exercise careful supervision over expenditure and the distribution of funds to special purposes. This work, however, though highly important, is merely one part of the system of financial control. Within recent years the bonds have been considerably tightened, and the work is untainted by corruption. It is true that in exercising rigid supervision over expenditure the work has become more centralized than is desirable, and it is a mark of change within recent years that See also:local officers have been in larger measure deprived of independent powers. This, indeed, is a necessary condition of financial control, or at least a condition which it is not easy to change where rigid control is necessary. 5. Mobilization of the Fleet.—By the mobilization of the fleet is meant the placing of naval resources upon a war footing, in readiness in all material and personal respects for hostile operations. A See also:complete mobilization for purposes of practice in See also:peace time would dislocate seafaring See also:life in a manner which would be justifiable only by actual war. Thus no country in peace manoeuvres calls out all its naval reserves, or makes use of the See also:auxiliary cruisers—merchant ships for which a subvention is paid, and which are constructed with a view to use in warfare. Experience has shown that when vessels are commissioned they are liable to numerous small breakdowns of their machinery if they are manned by crews who have no familiarity with them. Many accidents of this kind had occurred in the British navy at manceuvres, though it could not be shown that the See also:vessel was defective, or that the See also:crew was either untrained or negligent. These experiments led the admiralty to adopt a new system in 1904, designed to obviate the See also:risk that vessels would be crippled at a See also:critical moment by want of acquaintance on the part of the crew with their machinery. Under this system all vessels which are considered to be available for war are divided into two classes:—first, those in full commission which constitute the different squadrons maintained at all times; and secondly, those which form the reserve and are kept in partial commission—or rather partially manned though in commission. These are kept at the home ports—Chatham, See also:Portsmouth, Plymouth—in re-serve squadrons under a flag-officer who will command them in war. Each vessel has a captain, a second in command, and a proportion of other officers including engineer, navigating and torpedo officers. Two-fifths of her full complement of crew are always on board, and they include the most skilled men needed for the proper management of the machinery of all kinds—more especially that of the torpedoes and guns. These vessels go to sea for periodical practice. When therefore the fleet must be mobilized for war it will only be necessary to fill up the number of trained men by the less skilled hands from the naval See also:barracks occupied by the sailors not belonging to any particular ship, or from the naval reserve. All ranks of the navy are placed on a roster by which they successively serve in ships in full commission, are quartered in the naval barracks and drafted from them to the ships of the reserve, from which they return teethe sea-going ships. It is calculated that there are always men enough in the barracks to complete the crews of a small See also:squadron for emergency service without disturbing the See also:regular routine of the peace See also:establishment. The British admiralty may claim that though the machinery at its command in the past was not perfect it has commonly been able to send a squadron to sea more rapidly than any other power in See also:Europe. Much depends on the arrangement of the stores as well as the disposition of the men. The introduction at the end of the 18th See also:century of the businesslike practice of keeping the fittings of each ship together by them-selves, did much to facilitate the rapid mobilization of a portion of the British fleet in 1790 which impressed all Europe. The prompt manning of a special service squadron in 1895 in consequence of the troubles then arising in connexion with the former See also:South See also:African See also:Republic, showed that even before its plans for mobilization were completed the admiralty had its resources well in hand. (R .V. H.) As regards the navies of countries other than Great See also:Britain, their government is in the hands of ministers or departments Other variously constituted. The See also:Russian admiralty is a countries. highly organized See also:bureau, divided into departments, and under the supreme control of a high admiral, usually a See also:grand duke of the Imperial House. The See also:German admiralty was, till 1872, a branch of the War Office, though governed by a vice-admiral under a naval prince of the reigning See also:family. In 1872 it was severed from the War Office, though remaining an See also:appanage thereof, and a general of the army was placed at its head. The French minister of marine, assisted by a permanent staff, controls the navy of See also:France on a highly centralized system of administration; but the departments are well organized, and work well. The See also:Italian fleet is governed on principles analogous to the French, but with a large admixture of the English representative See also:element. The See also:American system is worth describing in more detail. The president of the United States is See also:commander-in-chief of the navy—a constitutional See also:prerogative which he seldom asserts. United The Navy Department is administered by a civilian states secretary of the navy—a cabinet officer appointed by Navy De- the president—who exercises general supervision. partment Next in authority is the assistant-secretary, also a civilian nominee, who acts as an assistant, and has, besides, cer- See also:tain specific duties, including general supervision of the marine corps, naval See also:militia and naval stations beyond the See also:continental limits of the United States. The details of administration are supervised by the chiefs of bureaus, of which there are eight. They are appointed by the president from the navy See also:list for a period of four years, and have the See also:rank of rear-admiral while serving in this capacity. They have direct control of the business and correspondence pertaining to their respective bureaus; and orders emanating from them have the same force as though issued by the secretary. The bureau of See also:navigation is the executive, or military, bureau and as such promulgates and enforces the orders and regulation. prescribed by the secretary; it has general direction of the procurement, education, See also:assignment and discipline of the personnel. It also controls the movements of ships, including the authorization of manceuvres and drills, such as See also:target practice. The bureau of equipment has charge of all electrical appliances, compasses, charts and See also:fuel, and generally all that relates to the equipment of vessels, exclusive of those articles that come naturally under the See also:cognizance of other bureaus. It has charge of the naval See also:observatory, where the See also:Ephemeris is prepared annually, and of the hydrographic office, where charts, sailing directions, notices to mariners, &c., are issued. The bureau of ordnance has charge of the gun factory, proving ground, and torpedo station, and all naval magazines; all the details that pertain to the manufacture, tests, See also:installation or storage of all offensive and defensive apparatus, including See also:armour, See also:ammunition hoists, ammunition rooms, &c., though much of the actual installation is performed by the bureau of construction after consultation with the bureau of ordnance. The bureau of construction and repair has charge of the designing, building and repairing of hulls of ships, including turrets, spars and many other accessories. It builds all boats, has charge of the docking of vessels and the care of ships in reserve. The chief of this bureau is usually a naval constructor. The bureau of See also:steam See also:engineering has charge of all that relates to the designing, building and repairing of steam machinery, and of all the steam connexions on board ship. The bureau of supplies and accounts procures and distributes provisions, clothing and supplies of the pay department afloat, and acts as the purchasing See also:agent for all materials used at naval stations, except for the medical department and marine corps. It also has charge of the disbursement of money and keeping of accounts. The chief of this bureau is a pay officer. The bureau of See also:medicine and See also:surgery has charge of all naval hospitals, dispensaries and laboratories, and of all that pertains to the care of sick afloat and ashore. The chief of this bureau is a medical officer. The bureau of yards and docks has charge of construction and maintenance of wet and dry docks, buildings, See also:railways, See also:cranes, and generally all permanent constructions at naval stations. The chief of this bureau is often a civil engineer. Under the cognizance of the secretary's office is the office of the See also:judge-See also:advocate-general, an officer selected by the president from the navy list for a See also:term of four years, with the rank of captain while so serving. He is legal adviser to the department, and reviews the records of all courts and statutory boards. Under the cognizance of the assistant-secretary's office is the office of naval intelligence, which collates information on naval matters obtainable at home and abroad. The staff is composed of naval officers on shore duty, the senior in charge being usually a captain, and known as chief intelligence officer. - Several boards are employed under the various bureaus, or directly as advisers to the secretary. Some are permanent in character, while others are composed of officers employed on other duty, and are convoked periodically or when required. The naval policy board is composed of officers of high rank, and meets once a See also:month; its duties conform to those of the general. staff in armies. The board of construction consists of the chiefs of bureaus of ordnance, equipment,- construction and repair, steam engineering, and the chief intelligence officer. Its duty is to advise the secretary in all matters relating to the construction policy in detail. The general construction policy is suggested by the naval policy board. The board of inspection and survey is composed of representatives of all bureaus, who inspect vessels soon after commission and on return from a cruise, and report on the condition of the ship and efficiency of its personnel; it also conducts the official trials of new vessels. The boards for the examination of officers for promotion are composed of officers of the corps to which the See also:candidate belongs and of medical officers. Every officer is examined professionally, morally and physically at each promotion. The Navy Department is located at See also:Washington, D.C., and occupies a building together with the State and War Departments (the latter being charged solely with army affairs). The personnel (see also under Navv) is limited in number by law. The engineer corps was abolished in 1899, the then engineer-officers becoming See also:line officers in their respective relative grades. Line officers are the military and executive branch, and are required besides to perform engineer duties. They are graduates of the Naval See also:Academy. Vacancies occurring in the construction corps are filled from the graduates of the Naval Academy having the highest See also:standing in scholarship, who are given a two years' See also:graduate course, generally abroad, on being graduated from the Academy, and are then appointed assistant naval constructors. All other staff officers are appointed directly from civil life by the president, from candidates passing prescribed See also:examinations. Each representative and delegate in See also:Congress has h.uthority to nominate a candidate for naval See also:cadet whenever his congressional See also:district has no representative in the Naval Academy. The candidate must be a See also:resident of the district which the congressman represents, between fifteen and twenty years old, and must pass prescribed See also:mental and See also:physical examinations. The president is allowed ten representatives at the Academy at all times, appointed " at large," and one appointed from the District of See also:Columbia. The course of instruction at the Academy is four years, each comprising eight months' study, three months' practice cruise, and one month's furlough. At the expiration of four years, cadets are sent to cruising ships for two years' further instruction, and are then commissioned ensigns. After three years' further sea service, ensigns are promoted to lieutenants (junior grade). After this, promotion is dependent upon seniority alone, the senior officer in any grade being promoted to the lowest number in the next higher grade when a vacancy occurs in the higher grade, and not before. All officers are retired on three-fourths sea pay at the See also:age of sixty-two, or whenever a board of medical officers certifies that an officer is not physically qualified to perform all duties of his grade. A few officers are allowed to retire voluntarilyin certain circumstances, to stimulate promotion. Any officer on the retired list may be ordered by the secretary to such duty as he may be able to perform: this is a legal pro-vision to provide for emergencies. Promotion in the staff corps is dependent upon seniority, though relative rank in the See also:lower grades in some corps somewhat depends upon promotion of line officers of the same length of service, and accounts for the existence of staff officers in the same grade having different ranks. All sea-going officers, after commission, are required to spend three years at sea, and are then usually employed on shore-duty for a time, according to the needs of the service—short terms of shore-duty thereafter alternating with three-year cruises. This rule is adhered to as strictly as circumstances will permit. Shore-duty includes executive or distinctly professional duties in the Navy Department, under its bureaus, and at navy yards and stations; inspection of ordnance, machinery, dynamos, &c., under construction by private firms; duty on numerous temporary or permanent boards; instructors at the Naval Academy; recruiting duty; charge of branch hydrographic offices; inspection duty in the lighthouse establishment; at state nautical See also:schools; as attaches with United States legations; and many others. Naval constructors (usually), civil See also:engineers and professors of See also:mathematics are continuously employed on shore-duty connected with their professions, the Naval Observatory, Nautical See also:Almanac and the Naval Academy employing most of the last. See also:Warrant officers (boatswains, gunners, carpenters, sailmakers, warrant machinists and pharmacists) are appointed by the secretary, preference being given to enlisted men in the navy who have shown marked ability for the positions. They must be between twenty-one and See also:thirty-five years of age, and pass an examination. After serving satisfactorily for one year under an acting appointment, they receive warrants that secure the permanency of their office. Ten years after appointment, boatswains, gunners, carpenters and sailmakers are eligible for examination .for a commission as chief-See also:boatswain, &c., and as such they rank with, but next after, ensigns. Mates are rated by the secretary from seamen or ordinary seamen. They have no relative rank, but take See also:precedence of all See also:petty officers. Their duties approximate to those of boatswains, though they seldom serve on large cruising vessels. Clerks to pay officers are appointed by the secretary on the nominations of the pay officers. They have no rank and are not promoted or retired. Their appointments are revoked when their services are no longer needed. Boys between fifteen and seventeen years old of See also:good character, who can read and write and pass the physical examination, may enlist for the term of their minority. They enlist as third-class apprentices, and are given six months' instruction at a training station; and thence go to sea in apprentice training vessels. When proficient they are transferred to regular cruising vessels as second class, and when further qualified are rated first class. All other enlistments are for four years. Recruits must speak English. Landsmen are usually sent to sea on special training-ships until proficient, and are then sent into general service. Raw recruits may enlist as landsmen, or coal-passers or See also:mess attendants. Ordinary seamen must have served two years, and seamen four years before the See also:mast, See also:prior to first enlistment as such; and before enlistment in any other rating allowed on first enlistment, applicants must prove their ability to hold such rating. Landsmen, coal-passers, &c., as soon as they become proficient, are advanced to higher grades, and, if American citizens, may eventually become petty officers (ranking with army non-commissioned officers), with acting appointments. In twelve months, or as soon thereafter as proficiency is established, the acting appointment is made permanent, and an acting appointment for the next higher grade is issued, &c. Permanent appointments are not revokable except by See also:sentence of See also:court-See also:martial, and a See also:man re-enlists in that rating for which he held a permanent appointment in his previous enlistment. All persons re-enlisting within four months after expiration of previous enlistment are entitled to a See also:bounty equal to four months' pay, and in addition receive a " continuous service certificate," which entitles them to higher pay and to other special considerations. The same is true for each re-enlistment. When an en-listed man completes thirty years' service and is over fifty years of age he may retire on three-fourths pay. The Marine corps (see MARINES) is a wholly See also:separate military body, but it is under the control of the Navy Department. United States naval vessels are, as a rule, built at private yards under contracts awarded after competition. The government is not committed to any fixed policy or building programme. Each year the secretary recommends certain new construction. The final action rests with Congress, which must appropriate money for the new ships before the construction can be commenced. Repairing and reconstruction are usually done at government navy yards. - Ships in commission are distributed among five stations: (r) the See also:North See also:Atlantic, i.e. the Atlantic See also:coast of the United States, Central See also:America, and South America as far as the See also:Amazon, also the See also:West Indies; (2) the South Atlantic, i.e. the See also:remainder of the Atlantic coast of South America and both coasts of South See also:Africa; (3) the See also:European, comprising the coast of Europe, including the inland seas, and the North Atlantic coast of Africa; (4) the See also:Asiatic station, comprising the coast of See also:Asia, including the islands north of the See also:equator, also the See also:east coast of North Africa; (5) the Pacific station, comprising the Pacific coast of North and South America, and See also:Australia and the adjacent islands lying south of the equator. Each station is commanded by a flag officer, and the number of ships under the command varies according to circumstances. Ships in commission on special service, such as training, gunnery, See also:surveying ships, &c., are not attached to stations. The shore stations of the navy are enumerated in the See also:article on DOCKYARDS. (W. T. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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