1.
Aconitum
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These herbaceous perennial plants are chiefly native to the mountainous parts of the Northern Hemisphere, growing in the moisture-retentive but well-draining soils of mountain meadows. Most species are poisonous and must be dealt with carefully. The dark green leaves of Aconitum species lack stipules and they are palmate or deeply palmately lobed with five to seven segments. Each segment again is trilobed with coarse sharp teeth, the leaves have a spiral arrangement. The lower leaves have long petioles, the tall, erect stem is crowned by racemes of large blue, purple, white, yellow, or pink zygomorphic flowers with numerous stamens. They are distinguishable by having one of the five sepals, called the galea, in the form of a cylindrical helmet. Two to 10 petals are present, the two upper petals are large and are placed under the hood of the calyx and are supported on long stalks. They have a spur at their apex, containing the nectar. The other petals are small and scale-like or nonforming, the three to five carpels are partially fused at the base. The fruit is an aggregate of follicles, a follicle being a dry, Aconitum species have been recorded as food plant of the caterpillars of several moths. The yellow tiger moth Arctia flavia, and the purple-shaded gem Euchalcia variabilis are at home on A. vulparia, the purple-lined sallow Pyrrhia exprimens, and Blepharita amica were found eating from A. septentrionale. The dot moth Melanchra persicariae occurs both on A. septentrionale and A. intermedium, the golden plusia Polychrysia moneta is hosted by A. vulparia, A. napellus, A. septentrionale, and A. intermedium. Other moths associated with Aconitum species include the wormwood pug Eupithecia absinthiata, satyr pug E. satyrata, Aterpia charpentierana and it is also the primary food source for the Old World bumblebee Bombus consobrinus. The roots of A. ferox supply the Nepalese poison called bikh, bish and it contains large quantities of the alkaloid pseudaconitine, which is a deadly poison. A. palmatum yields another of the bikh poisons, the root of A. luridum, of the Himalaya, is said to be as poisonous as that of A. ferox or A. napellus. Several species of Aconitum have been used as arrow poisons, the Minaro in Ladakh use A. napellus on their arrows to hunt ibex, while the Ainu in Japan used a species of Aconitum to hunt bear. The Chinese also used Aconitum poisons both for hunting and for warfare, Aconitum poisons were used by the Aleuts of Alaskas Aleutian Islands for hunting whales. Usually, one man in an armed with a poison-tipped lance would hunt the whale, paralyzing it with the poison
2.
Order of Liberation
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The Order of Liberation is a French Order which was awarded to heroes of the Liberation of France during World War II. It is a high honour, second only after the Légion d’Honneur. Very few people, military units and communes were ever awarded it, a different order, the Médaille de la Résistance was created and awarded for lesser but still distinguished deeds by members of the Resistance. The Order of Liberation was established by General de Gaulle in order n°7, the object of the Order was to “reward people, of the military or civilian communities, who will have distinguished themselves in the task of liberating France and her Empire”. There were no restrictions as to age, sex, rank, origin or nationality, nor any regarding the nature of the deeds, the Order has a single rank, the title of Compagnon de la Libération. General de Gaulle, founder of the Order, was the only Grand Maître of the Order, the Order was usually bestowed by the traditional French military ceremony of prise darmes. The last awards to French citizens, units and communes were made on 23 January 1946, awards to foreign nationals were made until 1960. The medal of the Order is called the Croix de la Libération and it is a 31 mm wide by 33 mm high rectangular bronze shield bearing a 60 mm high vertical gladius on its obverse. On the blade of the gladius, a black enamelled Cross of Lorraine, on the reverse, in Latin, a relief inscription in bold letters on four rows, “PATRIAM SERVANDO VICTORIAM TULIT”. Green represents hope, black represents mourning, symbolizing the state of France in 1940, the ribbon at first had diagonal black stripes, but the Order was only awarded in that form during August–September 1942. Amongst the 1036 Companions of the Order,65 were killed before the end of the war, members of the French resistance, especially the more famous ones, often received the Order under their nom de guerre. The youngest, Mathurin Henrio, was 14 when he was dead by Nazi officers for refusing to answer questions on the whereabouts of Maquisards. On June 18,1996, at Mont Valérien, the 18 military units which had awarded the Cross of Liberation were given a green. Occupied by German troops and subjected to the harshest of repression, has given to the French, by individual and collective actions. By the blood of her children, showed to the whole World the French will for national liberation. Grenoble, awarded on May 4,1944 Heroic city at the vanguard of the French Resistance, draped in her pride, despite the arrest and the massacre of her best sons, put up a fierce fight to the Germans at every instant. Despising the interdictions given by the invaders and their accomplices, demonstrated on November 11,1943 her certainty of Victory and her will to take part in it. By her courage in the presence of the invader and by the energy with which she sustained the harshest of trials
3.
Royal Navy
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The Royal Navy is the United Kingdoms naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the medieval period. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century, from the middle decades of the 17th century and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century it was the worlds most powerful navy until surpassed by the United States Navy during the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing the British Empire as the world power during the 19th. Due to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, following World War I, the Royal Navy was significantly reduced in size, although at the onset of the Second World War it was still the worlds largest. By the end of the war, however, the United States Navy had emerged as the worlds largest, during the Cold War, the Royal Navy transformed into a primarily anti-submarine force, hunting for Soviet submarines, mostly active in the GIUK gap. The Royal Navy is part of Her Majestys Naval Service, which includes the Royal Marines. The professional head of the Naval Service is the First Sea Lord, the Defence Council delegates management of the Naval Service to the Admiralty Board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence. The strength of the fleet of the Kingdom of England was an important element in the power in the 10th century. English naval power declined as a result of the Norman conquest. Medieval fleets, in England as elsewhere, were almost entirely composed of merchant ships enlisted into service in time of war. Englands naval organisation was haphazard and the mobilisation of fleets when war broke out was slow, early in the war French plans for an invasion of England failed when Edward III of England destroyed the French fleet in the Battle of Sluys in 1340. Major fighting was confined to French soil and Englands naval capabilities sufficed to transport armies and supplies safely to their continental destinations. Such raids halted finally only with the occupation of northern France by Henry V. Henry VII deserves a large share of credit in the establishment of a standing navy and he embarked on a program of building ships larger than heretofore. He also invested in dockyards, and commissioned the oldest surviving dry dock in 1495 at Portsmouth, a standing Navy Royal, with its own secretariat, dockyards and a permanent core of purpose-built warships, emerged during the reign of Henry VIII. Under Elizabeth I England became involved in a war with Spain, the new regimes introduction of Navigation Acts, providing that all merchant shipping to and from England or her colonies should be carried out by English ships, led to war with the Dutch Republic. In the early stages of this First Anglo-Dutch War, the superiority of the large, heavily armed English ships was offset by superior Dutch tactical organisation and the fighting was inconclusive
4.
Flower-class corvette
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The Flower-class corvette was a British class of 267 corvettes used during World War II, specifically with the Allied navies as anti-submarine convoy escorts during the Battle of the Atlantic. Royal Navy ships of class were named after flowers, hence the name of the class. The majority served during World War II with the Royal Navy, several ships built largely in Canada were transferred from the RN to the United States Navy under the lend-lease programme, seeing service in both navies. Some corvettes transferred to the USN were manned by the US Coast Guard, the vessels serving with the US Navy were known as Temptress and Action-class patrol gunboats. After World War II many surplus Flower-class vessels saw worldwide use in other navies, HMCS Sackville is the only member of the class to be preserved as a museum ship. The term corvette was originally a French name for a sailing warship. In the 1830s the term was adopted by the RN for sailing warships of similar size. With the arrival of power, paddle- and later screw-driven corvettes were built for the same purpose, growing in power, size. In 1877 the RN abolished the corvette as a category, corvettes and frigates were then combined into a new category. The months leading up to World War II saw the RN return to the concept of a small escort warship being used in the shipping protection role, the modified Flowers were slightly larger and somewhat better armed. All Flower-class vessels, of original or modified design, that saw service with the USN are known as Action-class gunboats, and carried the hull classification symbol PG. In early 1939, with the risk of war with Nazi Germany increasing, one particular concern was the need to protect shipping off the east coast of Britain. What was needed was something larger and faster than trawlers, but still enough to be built in large numbers, preferably at small merchant shipyards. They were intended as convoy escort ships that could be produced quickly and cheaply in large numbers. The Flower class became a resource for North Atlantic convoy protection until larger vessels such as destroyer escorts. Flower-class vessels were slow for a warship, with speed of 16 kn. The original Flowers had the standard RN layout, consisting of a forecastle, a well deck, then the bridge or wheelhouse. The crew quarters were in the focsle while the galley was at the rear, the modified Flowers saw the forecastle extended aft past the bridge to the aft end of the funnel, a variation known as the long forecastle design
5.
Corvette
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A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper warship, the warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloop-of-war. The modern types of ship below a corvette are coastal patrol craft, in modern terms, a corvette is typically between 500 tons and 2,000 tons although recent designs may approach 3,000 tons, which might instead be considered a small frigate. The word corvette is first found in Middle French, a diminutive of the Dutch word corf, meaning a small ship, from the Latin corbis, the rank corvette captain, equivalent in many navies to lieutenant commander, derives from the name of this type of ship. During the Age of Sail, corvettes were one of many types of smaller than a frigate. They were very closely related to sloops-of-war, the role of the corvette consisted mostly of coastal patrol, fighting minor wars, supporting large fleets, or participating in show-the-flag missions. The English Navy began using small ships in the 1650s, the first reference to a corvette was with the French Navy in the 1670s, which may be where the term originated. The French Navys corvettes grew over the decades and by the 1780s they were ships of 20 guns or so, the British Navy did not adopt the term until the 1830s, long after the Napoleonic Wars, to describe a small sixth-rate vessel somewhat larger than a sloop. Most corvettes and sloops of the 17th century were around 40 to 60 ft in length and they carried four to eight smaller guns on a single deck. Over time, vessels of increasing size and capability were called corvettes, by 1800, they reached lengths of over 100 ft, ships during the steam era became much faster and more manoeuvrable than their sail ancestors. Corvettes during this era were used alongside gunboats during colonial missions. Battleships and other vessels were unnecessary when fighting the indigenous people of the Far East. The modern corvette appeared during World War II as an easily built patrol, first Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, later Prime Minister, had a hand in reviving the name corvette. During the arms buildup leading to World War II, the corvette was almost attached to the Tribal-class destroyer. The Tribals were so much larger than and sufficiently different from other British destroyers that some consideration was given to resurrecting the classification of corvette and this idea was dropped, and the term applied to small, mass-produced antisubmarine escorts such as the Flower class of World War II. The first modern corvettes were the Flower class and their chief duty was to protect convoys throughout the Battle of the Atlantic and on the routes from the UK to Murmansk carrying supplies to the Soviet Union. They were very seaworthy and maneuverable, but living conditions for ocean voyages were appalling, because of this, the corvette was superseded in the Royal Navy as the escort ship of choice by the frigate, which was larger, faster, better armed, and had two shafts. The Royal Australian Navy built 60 Bathurst-class corvettes, including 20 for the Royal Navy crewed by Australians and these were officially described as Australian mine sweepers, or as minesweeping sloops by the Royal Navy, and were named after Australian towns
6.
Marine steam engine
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A marine steam engine is a steam engine that is used to power a ship or boat. Reciprocating steam engines were replaced in marine applications during the 20th century by steam turbines. The first commercially successful engine was developed by Thomas Newcomen in 1712. The steam engine improvements brought forth by James Watt in the half of the 18th century greatly improved steam engine efficiency. In 1807, the American Robert Fulton built the worlds first commercially successful steamboat, simply known as the North River Steamboat, following Fultons success, steamboat technology developed rapidly on both sides of the Atlantic. The first successful transatlantic crossing by a steamship occurred in 1819 when Savannah sailed from Savannah, Georgia to Liverpool, the first steamship to make regular transatlantic crossings was the sidewheel steamer Great Western in 1838. As the 19th century progressed, marine engines and steamship technology developed alongside each other. A wide variety of reciprocating steam engines were developed over the course of the 19th century. The two main methods of classifying such engines are by connection mechanism and cylinder technology, most early marine engines had the same cylinder technology but a number of different methods of supplying power to the crankshaft were in use. Thus, early engines are classified mostly according to their connection mechanism. Some common connection mechanisms were side-lever, steeple, walking beam, however, steam engines can also be classified according to their cylinder technology. One can therefore sometimes find examples of engines which were classified under both methods, such as the walking beam. Over time, as most engines became direct-acting but cylinder technologies were growing more complex, Some of the more commonly encountered types of marine steam engine are listed in the following sections. Note that not all of these terms may have been used exclusively in relation to marine applications, the side-lever engine was the first type of steam engine to be widely adopted for marine use in Europe. The side-lever was an adaptation of the earliest form of steam engine and these levers extended, on the cylinder side, to each side of the bottom of the vertical engine cylinder. A piston rod, connected vertically to the piston, extended out of the top of the cylinder and this rod attached to a horizontal crosshead which, at each end, was connected to vertical rods. These rods connected down to the levers on each side of the cylinder and this formed the connection of the levers to the piston on the cylinder side of the engine. The other side of the levers were connected to each other with a horizontal crosstail and this crosstail in turn connected to and operated a single connecting rod, which turned the crankshaft
7.
BL 4 inch Mk IX naval gun
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This turned out to be unworkable in practice. Janes Fighting Ships of 1919 commented, 4-inch triples are clumsy and they are not mounted in one sleeve, have separate breech mechanism, a gun crew of 23 to each triple. Guns were thereafter used in single-gun mountings, typically on smaller ships as primary armament, in World War II the gun was employed on many small warships such as Flower-class corvettes and minesweepers, primarily for action against surfaced submarines. This was the last BL4 inch gun in British service, naval Weapons of World War Two
8.
Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
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The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original German 20 mm Becker design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models employed by both Allied and Axis forces during World War II, and many still in use today. During World War I, the German Reinhold Becker developed a 20 mm caliber cannon and this used a 20x70 RB cartridge and had a cyclic rate of fire of 300 rpm. It was used on a scale as an aircraft gun on Luftstreitkräfte warplanes. Because the Treaty of Versailles banned further production of weapons in Germany. SEMAG continued development of the weapon, and in 1924 had produced the SEMAG L, the Oerlikon firm, named after the Zürich suburb where it was based, then acquired all rights to the weapon, plus the manufacturing equipment and the employees of SEMAG. In 1927 the Oerlikon S was added to the product line. This fired a larger cartridge to achieve a muzzle velocity of 830 m/s, at the cost of increased weight. The purpose of development was to improve the performance of the gun as an anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapon. An improved version known as the 1S followed in 1930, three sizes of gun with their different ammunition and barrel length, but very similar mechanisms, continued to be developed in parallel. In 1930 Oerlikon reconsidered the application of its gun in aircraft and introduced the AF and AL, designed to be used in flexible mounts, the 15-round box magazine used by earlier versions of the gun was replaced by drum magazine holding 15 or 30 rounds. In 1935 it made an important step by introducing a series of guns designed to be mounted in or on the wings of fighter aircraft, designated with FF for Flügelfest meaning wing-mounted, these weapons were again available in the three sizes, with designations FF, FFL and FFS. The FF fired a larger cartridge than the AF, 20x72RB. The FF weighed 24 kg and achieved a velocity of 550 to 600 m/s with a rate of fire of 520 rpm. The FFL of 30 kg fired a projectile at a velocity of 675 m/s with a rate of fire of 500 rpm. And the FFS, which weighed 39 kg, delivered a high velocity of 830 m/s at a rate of fire of 470 rpm. Apart from changes to the design of the guns for wing-mounting and remote control, for the FF series drum sizes of 45,60,75 and 100 rounds were available, but most users chose the 60-round drum. The 1930s were a period of global re-armament, and a number of foreign firms took licenses for the Oerlikon family of aircraft cannon
9.
Hedgehog (weapon)
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The Hedgehog was a forward-throwing anti-submarine weapon that was used during the Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War. The device, which was developed by the Royal Navy, fired up to 24 spigot mortars ahead of a ship when attacking a U Boat and it was deployed on convoy escort warships such as destroyers and corvettes to supplement the depth charges. Statistics show that in the Second World War out of 5,174 British depth charge attacks there were 85.5 kills, in comparison, the Hedgehog made 268 attacks for 47 kills, a ratio of 5.7 to 1. Although a failure, the Fairlie was designed to fire depth charges ahead of a ship when attacking a submarine and this principle of forward-firing projectiles was considered viable. It was from this, secret research undertaken by the Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development led to the development of the Hedgehog, the weapon was a multiple spigot mortar or spigot discharger, a type of weapon developed between the wars by Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Blacker, RA. The spigot mortar was based on early infantry trench mortars, the spigot design allowed a single device to fire warheads of varying size. The propelling charge was part of the weapon and worked against a rod set in the baseplate which fitted inside a tubular tail of the bomb. This principle was first used on the Blacker Bombard 29mm Spigot Mortar, the adaptation of the bombard for naval use was made in partnership with MIR under Major Millis Jefferis who had taken Blackers design and brought it into use with Army. The weapon fires a salvo of 24 bombs in an arc, the mounting initially was fixed but was later replaced by a gyro-stabilised one to allow for the rolling and pitching of the attacking ship. The system was developed to solve the problem of the target submarine disappearing from the attacking ships ASDIC when the ship came within the minimum range. Carrying a Torpex charge weighing 16 kg, each mortar had a diameter of 18 cm, the projectiles were angled so they would land in a circular shape with a diameter of 40 m about 180 m ahead of a stationary ship. The projectiles would then sink at about 7 m/s and they would reach a submerged U boat, for example at 200 ft in under 9 seconds. Sympathetic detonation of projectiles near those contacting hard surfaces was a possibility, the prototype launcher was tested aboard HMS Westcott in 1941, but there were no submarine kills until November 1942, after it had been installed aboard one hundred ships. Initial success rates - of about 5% - were only better than depth charges. Swells and spray frequently covered the launcher during heavy North Atlantic weather, the disappointment of a quiet miss discouraged crews who might otherwise assume depth charge explosions had damaged their target or at least frightened the enemy. The Royal Navy launched hedgehog so seldom in early 1943 a directive was issued ordering captains of ships equipped with hedgehog to report why they had NOT used hedgehog on an underwater contact, the results were blamed on crew inexperience and low confidence in the weapon. By the end of the war, statistics showed that on average, in response to this new deadly threat to its U Boats, the Kriegsmarine brought forward its programme of acoustic torpedoes in 1943, beginning with the Falke. These new homing torpedoes could be employed effectively even without the use of a periscope, providing submarines a better chance to remain undetected, in the Pacific Theater, USS England sank six Japanese submarines in a matter of days with Hedgehog in May 1944
10.
Depth charge
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A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful. Most depth charges use high explosive charges and a set to detonate the charge. Depth charges can be dropped by ships, patrol aircraft, Depth charges were developed during World War I, and were one of the first effective methods of attacking a submarine underwater. They were widely used in World War I and World War II and they remained part of the anti-submarine arsenals of many navies during the Cold War. Depth charges have now largely replaced by anti-submarine homing torpedoes. A depth charge fitted with a warhead is known as a nuclear depth bomb. These were designed to be dropped from a plane or deployed by an anti-submarine missile from a surface ship, or another submarine. All nuclear anti-submarine weapons were withdrawn from service by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and they were replaced by conventional weapons whose accuracy and range had improved greatly as ASW technology improved. The first attempt to fire charges against submerged targets was with aircraft bombs attached to lanyards which triggered them, a similar idea was a 16 lb guncotton charge in a lanyarded can. Two of these together became known as the depth charge Type A. Problems with the lanyards tangling and failing to function led to the development of a chemical pellet trigger as the Type B and these were effective at a distance of around 20 ft. A1913 Royal Navy Torpedo School report described a device intended for countermining, at Admiral John Jellicoes request, the standard Mark II mine was fitted with a hydrostatic pistol preset for 45 ft firing, to be launched from a stern platform. Weighing 1,150 lb, and effective at 100 ft, the design work was carried out by Herbert Taylor at the RN Torpedo and Mine School, HMS Vernon. The first effective depth charge, the Type D, became available in January 1916 and it was a barrel-like casing containing a high explosive. There were initially two sizes—Type D, with a 300 lb charge for fast ships, and Type D* with a 120 lb charge for ships too slow to leave the area before the more powerful charge detonated. A hydrostatic pistol actuated by water pressure at a pre-selected depth detonated the charge, initial depth settings were 40 or 80 ft. Because production could not keep up with demand, anti-submarine vessels initially carried two depth charges, to be released from a chute at the stern of the ship
11.
Convoy
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A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas. Arriving at the scene of an emergency with a well-ordered unit. Naval convoys have been in use for centuries, with examples of merchant ships traveling under naval protection dating to the 12th century, the use of organized naval convoys dates from when ships began to be separated into specialist classes and national navies were established. By the French Revolutionary Wars of the late 18th century, effective naval tactics had been developed to ward off pirates. Some convoys contained several hundred merchant ships, the most enduring system of convoys were the Spanish treasure fleets, that sailed from the 1520s until 1790. When merchant ships sailed independently, a privateer could cruise a shipping lane, ships sailing in convoy presented a much smaller target, a convoy was as hard to find as a single ship. As a result of the convoy systems effectiveness, wartime insurance premiums were consistently lower for ships that sailed in convoys, losses of ships travelling out of convoy however were so high that no merchant ship was allowed to sail unescorted. In the early 20th century, the changed the balance of power in convoy battles. Steaming faster than merchant ships and firing at long ranges, a battleship could destroy many ships in a convoy before the others could scatter over the horizon. To protect a convoy against a ship required providing it with an escort of another capital ship. Battleships were the reason that the British Admiralty did not adopt convoy tactics at the start of the first Battle of the Atlantic in World War I. But the German capital ships had been bottled up in the North Sea, the Admiralty took a long time to respond to this change in the tactical position, and in April 1917 convoy was trialled, before being officially introduced in the Atlantic in September 1917. Other arguments against convoy were raised, further, large convoys were thought to overload port resources. Actual analysis of shipping losses in World War I disproved all these arguments, at least so far as they applied to transatlantic, ships sailing in convoys were far less likely to be sunk, even when not provided with any escort at all. The loss of productivity due to delays was small compared with the loss of productivity due to ships being sunk. Ports could deal more easily with convoys because they tended to arrive on schedule, Convoy duty also exposes the escorting warships to the sometimes hazardous conditions of the North Atlantic, with only rare occurrences of visible achievement. The British adopted a system, initially voluntary and later compulsory for almost all merchant ships
12.
Admiralty
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The new Admiralty Board meets only twice a year, and the day-to-day running of the Royal Navy is controlled by a Navy Board. It is common for the authorities now in charge of the Royal Navy to be referred to as simply The Admiralty. The title of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom was vested in the monarch from 1964 to 2011, the title was awarded to Philip, Duke of Edinburgh by Queen Elizabeth II on his 90th birthday. There also continues to be a Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom, the office of Admiral of England was created around 1400 although there had already been Admirals of the Northern and Western Seas. In 1546, King Henry VIII established the Council of the Marine, later to become the Navy Board, operational control of the Royal 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, the office of Lord High Admiral passed a number of times in and out of commission until 1709 after which the office was almost permanently in commission. In 1831, the first Navy Board was abolished as a separate entity, in 1964, the Admiralty along with the War Office and the Air Ministry as separate departments of state were abolished, and re-emerged under one single new Ministry of Defence. Within the expanded Ministry of Defence are the new Admiralty Board which has a separate Navy Board responsible for the running of the Royal Navy. The Army Board and the Air Force Board, each headed by the Secretary of State for Defence, the Board of Admiralty consisted of a number of Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. The Lords Commissioners were always a mixture of admirals, known as Naval Lords or Sea Lords and Civil Lords, the quorum of the Board was two commissioners and a secretary. The president of the Board was known as the First Lord of the Admiralty, after 1806, the First Lord of the Admiralty was always a civilian while the professional head of the navy came to be known as the First Sea Lord. The first real concerted effort to organise the Admiralty was started by Henry VIII. Between 1860 and 1908 there was no study of strategy and of staff work conducted within the naval service. All the navys talent flowed to the great technical universitys and it was perceived by officials within the Admiralty at this time that the running of war was quite a simple matter for any flag officer who required no formal training. The new War Staff had hardly found its feet and it struggled with the opposition to its existence by senior officers they were categorically opposed to a staff. The deficiencies of the system within this department of state could be seen in the conduct of the Dardanelles campaign, there was no mechanisms in place to answer the big strategic questions in 1914 a Trade Division was created. In 1916, Sir John Jellicoe came to the Admiralty, he organized the staff as following, Chief of War Staff, Operations, Intelligence, Signal Section, Mobilization, Trade. This for the first time gave the naval staff direct representation on the Board, the would direct all operations and movements of the fleet, while the would be responsible for mercantile movements and anti-submarine operations
France
