Department of the Director of Dockyards


The Department of the Director of Dockyards, also known as the Dockyard Branch and later as the Dockyards and Fleet Maintenance Department, was the British Admiralty department responsible from 1872 to 1964 for civil administration of dockyards, the building of ships, the maintenance and repair of ships at dockyards and factories, and the supervision of all civil dockyard personnel.

History

Originally, responsibility for the civil management of Royal Navy Dockyards lay with the Navy Board, and in particular the Surveyor of the Navy who supervised the Navy Board's resident commissioners of the navy based at each individual yard. Following the abolition of the Navy Board in 1832, responsibility for administration of the yards passed to the Board of Admiralty. The resident commissioners were replaced by yard superintendents, however they were primarily responsible for military administration of the yards.
The Surveyor of the Navy survived the re-organisation until 1869, when his office was merged with that of the Third Naval Lord to become Controller of the Navy. Between 1850 and 1861, the dockyards had been subject to an investigation into management practices; the committee responsible for the investigation concluded that under the existing system was completely inefficient. In 1872, to ease the burden of work on the Controller and to action reforms suggested by the inquiry, a Surveyor of Dockyards was appointed to answer these criticisms. He was originally supervised by the Director of Naval Construction, who was responsible for both design and construction, and also dockyard work.
In December 1885 the post of Surveyor of Dockyards was abolished and replaced by a Director of Dockyards. The new Director was instructed to visit the dockyards frequently, "for the purpose of conferring personally with the superintendents and officers in regard to the ships and works in progress." However, inefficiencies led to a recommendation by George Robinson, Lord Ripon in which he suggested there should be a separation of the functions and duties of the naval design and construction branches, which would remain distinct from each other, and that the branches should both coordinate and operate a sort of checks and balance system. A set of instructions issued on 28 May 1886 communicated that the Director of Dockyards would no longer be subordinate to the Director of Naval Construction. Instead, he was made solely responsible to the Controller for the building of ships at dockyards, and for the maintenance and repair of ships, of boats, and of all steam machinery in ships, boats, dockyards, and factories. In 1892 the post of Director of Dockyards was changed to Director of Dockyards and Works until 1913, when it was again renamed to Director of Dockyards and Repair.
During and after World War One, from 1917 to 1919, further restructuring with the Admiralty took place with the creation of the post of Deputy Controller for Dockyards and Shipbuilding, to which the Director of Dockyards and Repairs would now report to. The department under this name would remain in place until 1957, when it was renamed Dockyards and Fleet Maintenance Department under the control of a Director-General until 1964. Following the merger of the Admiralty into a new and much larger Ministry of Defence under the Navy Department, it was again renamed as the Department of Dockyards and Maintenance until 1968. In 1969, overall responsibility for dockyards changed, and now came under the control of a new Chief Executive, Royal Dockyards. who was head of the Royal Dockyards Management Board.

Duties

A director's duties included:
Head of Department included:

Surveyor of Dockyards

Dockyard Division
Fleet Maintenance Division
Marine Services Division
Naval Dockyards