The General Board of the United States Navy was an advisory body of the United States Navy, somewhat akin to a naval general staff and somewhat not. The General Board was established by general order 544, issued on March 13, 1900 by Secretary of the Navy John Davis Long. The order was officially recognized by Congress in 1916. The General Board was disbanded in 1951.

Henry Clay Taylor was a rear admiral in the United States Navy who served in the American Civil War and the Spanish–American War. He also served as Chief of the Bureau of Navigation and President of the Naval War College.