STAFF, NAVAL. All the principal navies of to-day have a body of officers specially charged with war plans, operations, intelligence and the policy to be adopted in such professional matters as training, design of warships, naval aircraft and arma ment.
In the British Navy the Naval Staff at the Admiralty (q.v.) consists of the Chief of the Naval Staff, who is the First Sea Lord, the Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff, the Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff, together with the directors and officers of the various staff divisions. The latter include : operations, plans, in telligence, trade, gunnery, torpedo, training and staff duties, to gether with the naval air and tactical sections.
At sea, the commander-in-chief has a staff which includes a chief of staff, captain of the fleet, staff officers for operations, gunnery, torpedo, signals, wireless, intelligence, aviation, physical training, engineering, accountancy, medical duties and education. Flag officers in command of divisions or squadrons have a smaller number of staff officers, certain duties being combined or omitted where they are carried out in the fleet flagship. In addition every admiral has a personal staff consisting of his flag lieutenant (A.D.0 ) and secretary.
Previous to the World War, although Britain had the largest and most powerful navy of any nation and in consequence was regarded as being a leader in naval enterprise, both the Admiralty and the fleet were singularly deficient in a properly organised staff. This may be attributed in part to the influence of traditions emanating from the days of the sailing navy, when communica tions were slow and primitive and once an admiral was out of sight of land he was thrown entirely on his own resources and had to act as circumstances arose or as emergency rendered necessary.
Even in more modern times, unfortunately, a school of thought developed which was definitely antagonistic to the idea of a naval staff. As late as the outbreak of the World War there were to be found a number of flag officers of distinction who resented the suggestion that they could be assisted in the execution of their command by comparatively young officers who, it seemed to them, would be usurping some of the functions of an admiral.
The influence of this reactionary school of thought continued to dominate Admiralty policy in this matter until, in 1911, the matter was brought to a head by the discovery that the Admiralty had one lot of war plans and the War Office another, and that these were by no means attuned. In 1912, Winston Churchill, as First Lord, initiated the principle of a Naval Staff. The resignation of the then First Sea Lord, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson followed Incidentally this marked the end of the "one-man" regime. With his retirement, too, may be said to have disappeared the habit of intense secrecy, a habit which led to most dangerous ignorance of strategical plans and tactical intentions in the minds of those not in the innermost confidence of the high command.
In spite of the sound decision to create a naval staff, it could not be said that great progress had been made in this direction by August 1914. True there was a Chief of the Naval Staff, a Director of Operations, and from time to time, if the need arose, additional staff appointments were created, while at sea the commander-in-chief of the Grand Fleet and other admirals in important commands, had a number of officers on their staffs. But for the most part the officers in these Admiralty Departments and on the admirals' staffs at sea were untrained in staff work, while many flag officers, both ashore and afloat, had never learned how to use a staff. With traditional adaptability and with that ability to extemporise which comes from sea training, the navy met each and every emergency as it arose, sometimes success fully, but sometimes buying experience at great cost, until ulti mately victory came. But one of the outstanding lessons of the World War from a naval point of view was the necessity for not only training officers to fill numerous minor staff appointments, but also to educate those destined for higher command in the use of a staff.