The Signal Division [ 1] was a Directorate of the Admiralty Naval Staff responsible for policy, control and management of all naval communications from 1914 to 1964.
In 1906 the Admiralty set up a Signals Committee to initially investigate signaling between Royal Navy vessels and Merchant Navy vessels,[ 2] in 1914 the Admiralty War Staff had established an expanded Signal Section [ 3] to deal with all shore to ship communications following the abolition of the war staff function. The Signal Division was established on the 18 August 1917 [ 4] the divisions primary role was for receiving and sending signals to ships at sea and stations ashore, but also for the coding or cyphering of the signals. In September 1919 the division was renamed the Communications Division [ 5] until 1927 when it was again re-styled Signal Section still within the Naval Staff until 1941 when it reverted to Signal Division, it continued as a component part of the Naval Staff until 1964 when the Admiralty Department was abolished and replaced by a new Navy Department within the Ministry of Defence .
Directors of Division [ edit ] Included:[ 6]
Director Signal Section [ edit ] Rear-Admiral Sydney R. Fremantle , September, 1914 – July, 1915. Captain Christopher R. Payne, January, 1916 – May, 1917. Director Signal Division [ edit ] Captain Edward M. Phillpotts, August, 1917 – December 1917. Acting Captain Richard L. Nicholson, January, 1918 – November, 1919. Director Communications Division [ edit ] Captain Rudolf M. Burmester : November 1919-April 1920 Captain Henry K. Kitson, July, 1921 – February, 1923. Captain Raymond Fitzmaurice: February 1923-February 1925 Captain James F.Somerville : February 1925-February 1927 Director Signal Section [ edit ] Captain Charles E. Kennedy-Purvis : February 1927-March 1930 Captain James W.S.Dorling: March 1930-April 1932 Captain Arthur J. L. Murray: April 1932-September 1934 Captain Guy W.Hallifax: September 1934-October 1935 Captain W. Tofield Makeig-Jones: October 1935-September 1937 Captain Philip F. Glover: September 1937 – 1939 Director Signal Division [ edit ] Captain Philip F. Glover: September 1940 – 1941 Rear-Admiral Cedric S. Holland : March 1942-November 1943 Rear-Admiral Vaughan Morgan : November 1943-October 1945 Captain John R.S. Haines: October 1945-April 1947 Director Signal Division [ edit ] Captain Gilbert R. Waymouth: April 1947-September 1949 Captain Ralph G. Swallow: September 1949-December 1951 Captain Roy S. Foster-Brown: December 1951-February 1954 Captain Alwyn D. Lenox-Conyngham: February 1954-November 1955 Captain Robert F. T. Stannard: November 1955-November 1957 Captain Christopher A. James: November 1957-November 1959 Captain Edward T.L. Dunsterville: November 1959-March 1960 Captain W. John Parker: March 1960-November 1961 Captain John R.G. Trechman: November 1961-January 1965 Deputy Directors of Division [ edit ] Included:[ 7]
Captain Patrick W.B. Brooking: August 1939-July 1941 Captain Francis J. Wylie: July 1941-March 1943 Captain Charles L. Firth: July 1941-May 1943 Captain Sir Philip W. Bowyer-Smith, Bt.: November 1941-October 1943 Captain J.Peter L. Reid: March 1943-December 1944 Captain Herbert F.H. Layman: February 1944 – 1945 Captain Charles L. Firth: December 1944-December 1945 Captain Laurence G. Durlacher : December 1945-March 1948 Captain Peter Dawnay: March 1948-March 1950 Captain Earl Cairns: March 1950-March 1952 Captain Edward T.L. Dunsterville: March 1952-March 1954 Captain Charles P. Mills: March 1954-April 1956 Captain Christopher A. James: April 1956-November 1957 Captain Robert R.B. Mackenzie: November 1957-December 1959 Captain Ian F. Sommerville: December 1959-February 1961 Captain the Hon. David P. Seely : February 1961-August 1963 Captain Douglas A. Poynter: August 1963-August 1965 ^ Smith, Gordon; Watson, Graham. "British Admiralty, Shore Establishments, Fleets and Station, World War 1" . naval-history.net . Gordon Smith, 23 July 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2017 . ^ Mead, Cdr. Hilary P. Retd. R.N. (1957). "Centenary of the International Signal Book". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution . 102 (607): 334– 338. doi :10.1080/03071845709419207 . ^ Hammond Hall, William Palmer; Ingram, Thomas Allen; Price, E. D. (1 January 1917). "The New Hazell Annual and Almanack,Volume 32" . Oxford University Press, p.710. Retrieved 2 March 2017 . ^ Archives, The National. "Admiralty Signal Division: History: Docket entitled "Division of Responsibility for Wireless Telegraphy Work." " . discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk . National Archives, 1936, ADM 116/3404. Retrieved 2 March 2017 . ^ Brooks, John (Dec 6, 2012). Dreadnought Gunnery and the Battle of Jutland: The Question of Fire Control . Routledge. p. 266. ISBN 9781135765545 . ^ Mackie, Colin. "Senior Royal Navy Appointments from 1865" (PDF) . Gulabin . Colin Mackie, p.55, January 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2017 . ^ Mackie, Colin. "Senior Royal Navy Appointments from 1865" (PDF) . Gulabin . Colin Mackie, p.55, January 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017 . Primary source for this article is by Harley Simon, Lovell Tony, (2017), Signal Division (Royal Navy), dreadnoughtproject.org, http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org .
Archives, The National. "Admiralty Signal Division: History", Vol 2. discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. National Archives, 1936 . ADM 116/3404. Archives, The National. "Records of Naval Staff Departments". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. National Archives, 1883-1978, ADM Division 10. Black, Nicholas (2009). The British Naval Staff in the First World War. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. ISBN 9781843834427 . Mackie, Colin, (2010-2014), British Armed Services between 1860 and the present day — Royal Navy - Senior Appointments, http://www.gulabin.com/ . Rodger. N.A.M., (1979) The Admiralty (offices of state), T. Dalton, Lavenham, ISBN 978-0900963940 Smith, Gordon (2014), British Admiralty, Part 2 - Changes in Admiralty Departments 1913-1920, Naval-History.Net.
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Office of the Deputy Controller Production Office of Extra Naval Assistant to Second Sea Lord Office of the Inspector Gun Mountings Office of the Keeper of Records Office of the Senior Psychologist (Naval) Office of the Senior Psychologist of the Navy Office of the Translator of French and Spanish Languages Office of the Vice Controller Air Office of the Vice Controller of the Navy Organisation and Methods Department Packet Service Regional Organisation for Merchant Shipbuilding and Repairs Royal Corps of Naval Constructors Royal Flying Corps Royal Marine Police Royal Marines Office Office of the Chaplain of the Fleet Royal Naval Academy Royal Naval Aircraft Workshops Royal Naval Air Service Royal Naval Air Stations Royal Naval Armaments Depot Royal Naval Auxiliary Service Royal Naval Cordite Factories Royal Naval Propellant Factory Royal Naval College Royal Naval College and the School for Naval Architecture Royal Naval College, Dartmouth Royal Naval College, Greenwich Royal Naval College, Keyham Royal Naval College, Osborne Royal Naval Engineering College Royal Naval Film Corporation Royal Naval Hospital Royal Naval Medical Depot Royal Naval Minewatching Service Royal Naval Mine Depot Royal Naval Patrol Service Royal Naval Scientific Service Royal Naval Sick Quarters Royal Naval Torpedo Depot Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal Naval War College Royal Naval War College, Portsmouth Royal Navy Dockyard Royal Navy Medical Service Royal Navy Shore Signal Service Royal Observatory, Greenwich Royal School of Naval Architecture Salvage Department School of Mathematics and Naval Construction Scientific Research and Experiment Department Sea Transport Branch Sea Transport Department Sea Transport Division Ship Department Ship Design Department Signal Department Signal School Sixpenny Office Statistics Department Steam Department Superintendent of De-magnetisation Torpedo Experimental Establishment Transport Department Undersurface Warfare Department Victualling Department Volunteer Boys and Cadet Corps Weapons Department Weapons Department (Naval) Women's Royal Naval Service Wireless Telegraphy Board Direction/Command of the Fleet Naval formations after 1707 1st Fleet 2nd Fleet 3rd Fleet Commander-in-Chief, Africa Atlantic Fleet Commodore, Arabian Seas and Persian Gulf Australia Station Cape of Good Hope Station Cape and West Africa Station Battle Cruiser Fleet Battle Cruiser Force Caspian Flotilla Channel Fleet Channel Squadron Commander-in-Chief, Coast of Ireland Cork Station Coast of Scotland Commander-in-Chief, China Commander-in-Chief, Dover Flag Officer, East Africa East Indies Station East Indies and China Station Eastern Fleet Far East Fleet English Channel Grand Fleet Flag Officer Gibraltar Harwich Force Home Fleet Jamaica Station Leith Station Commander-in-Chief, Levant Levant and East Mediterranean Commander-in-Chief, Leeward Islands Mediterranean Fleet Medway Newfoundland Station New Zealand Division New Zealand Naval Forces Nore 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