Royal Navy 'Navy Lists'

Royal Navy 'Navy Lists'

The Navy List was a complete register of all commissioned officers in the Royal Navy on the Active List, plus retired/emergency officers still serving. It was used for administration, seniority, and to meet international law requirements that warships be commanded by listed officers. They were usually corrected to the 18th of the month prior to issue.

Contents included:

• Officer listings: name, rank, seniority date, current ship or shore establishment, and decorations
• Ships in commission: every RN ship, with her commander and principal officers
• Shore establishments: naval bases, training schools and dockyards, with staff
• Officers of the Royal Marines
• Officers on retired pay, plus those who had commuted pensions
• Pay scales and regulations: tables of pay, allowances and uniform regulations
• Alphabetical index

The Navy List began in 1814 as a quarterly register of commissioned officers, but frequency of issue varied over time. Two versions existed in wartime: a full confidential version and an expurgated public one. An Appendix to the Navy List contained rates of pay, conditions of retirement, uniform regulations, etc.

The table below lists the 20th-century Navy Lists held in soft copy, along with download links where available to versions published online by Archive.org, the National Library of Scotland, or The National Archives. TNA references are also provided for issues held at The National Archives in the ADM 177 series.