USN General Board Papers
The United States Navy’s General Board was established to provide the Secretary of the Navy with coordinated professional advice on naval policy. It brought together senior serving and retired officers to consider strategy, fleet composition, ship design, construction programmes, overseas bases and war planning.
Although the General Board possessed no executive authority, its recommendations exerted considerable influence over the development of the US Navy, particularly during the expansion of the battle fleet before the First World War and throughout the interwar period. It provided an important forum in which strategic requirements could be translated into the characteristics of proposed warships.
The USN General Board Files are held by the US National Archives in Washington DC. They are arranged in thematic files, with each investigation given a unique 'serial number'.
The table below documents the serials investigated by the USN General Board from 1913-50.
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| Serial Number | Subject | File | Date | Box | Notes |
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