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written by new jersey

the full text is divided into four chapters, this is the first chapter

before discussing, let's first define the nelson era in the title of this article. the nelson era roughly corresponds to the period of the french revolution and the napoleonic wars. so generally speaking, the time range for describing the royal navy during this period is from the beginning of the french revolution in 1793 to the end of the napoleonic wars in 1815. but since nelson himself died in the battle of trafalgar in 1805, the time period discussed in this article is 1793~1805.

there are already a lot of military histories describing the royal navy in nelson's era, so this article will introduce some issues that are less concerned with popular military history, including the operating status and structure of the admiralty, the promotion of officers, the daily work of the fleet commander, and the classification of warships.

1. overview of the navy department

in 1793, as the french revolutionary army entered the netherlands, britain declared war on france. the british parliament was divided into two factions in their attitude towards france. one faction was the tories and portland whigs represented by prime minister pitt the younger, who believed that "the british system is the most perfect system in the world" and demanded "fighting for the survival of the country"; the other faction was the fox whigs, who recognized revolutionary ideas, supported the french revolution, and opposed fighting with the french army. in order to find as many political allies as possible, pitt reorganized the government and attracted portland whigs into the government. in the appointment of the first lord, pitt believed that the current first lord, his brother, earlof chatham, was not lacking in talent, but he did fit the image of being called "the notorious lazy man in the cabinet" by the outside world. although he could be employed in peacetime, he was not competent for wartime work. there were some voices within the navy to bring lord sandwich, who had previously served as the lord admiral in the north government, back to power, but pitt believed that based on sandwich's poor performance in the american war of independence, it was not a good choice to let him return to the admiralty. pitt eventually chose lord spencer as the minister, and sir charles middleton entered the admiralty committee.

in 1794, the admiralty underwent some changes. this was in response to the war and to show the portland whigs that pitt was not opposed to reasonable reforms. in order to reduce the burden on the navy board and avoid unnecessary disputes, the transportation committee, which had been abolished in the early years of the hanoverian dynasty, reappeared on the historical stage and was responsible for the transportation of the army. as in the war of the league of augsburg, this committee was still partially controlled by the secretary of state. in 1795, it took over the responsibility of managing prisoners of war from the sick and injured committee.

little pete

middleton appointed bentham as attorney general. the attorney general was a clerk on the admiralty board and had absolute power in the dockyards. bentham lived up to expectations and supported important inventions and innovations. during his tenure, the portsmouth dry dock was rebuilt to accommodate larger ships and caissons were introduced to replace dock gates; he also promoted the use of steam engines in the dockyard, such as copper plate mills and block machines.

middleton's tenure was short-lived. in november 1795, the cabinet asked laforey, the commander of the navy in the west indies, to resign. spencer needed middleton's signature to execute this order. but middleton believed that this behavior was not in line with the tradition of the admiralty. he refused to accept spencer's request and resigned in anger. however, middleton did not completely leave the navy. as pitt's personal naval adviser, he still had a certain influence.

since lord howe became first lord of the admiralty in 1783, parliament and the admiralty had introduced a number of financial reforms. the reforms accelerated during spencer's time. this included the impeachment of the food committee. parliament and the admiralty committee believed that the members of the food committee considered their position to be sinecure, and most of them had protection in parliament, which led to inefficiency and even unwillingness to come to work. there was also a lot of corruption. since 1787, one committee after another has investigated it. however, it was not until 1807 that the reform of the food committee was completed.

another important reform was the struggle for the ownership of budgetary power. the financial power of the navy has always been in its own hands. the admiralty is basically independent of the control of the ministry of finance, has its own income, and its expenditures are audited and inspected by the admiralty itself. the funding of the navy is approved by a vote of parliament, and the ministry of finance has little influence on the finances of the admiralty or the navy budget. the admiralty only needs to list the financial estimates and report to the privy council, which will be submitted to parliament for approval. its funding allocation does not have to be strictly implemented in accordance with the requirements given by parliament. according to tradition, the financial budget of the navy is the responsibility of the comptroller. starting in 1797, the admiralty and the ministry of finance launched a decade-long tug-of-war, and the ministry of finance seized the budgetary power from the comptroller. this incident was also the beginning of the loss of the admiralty's financial power.

in addition, the treasury committee attempted to investigate the fixed expenses of the admiralty. although lord spencer agreed to reduce some unnecessary expenses, he insisted that the admiralty staff must be well paid so that they could "have sufficient motivation to work during the great pressure of war." this request was also met.

in 1801, pitt resigned and addington succeeded him as prime minister. he invited john jervis, 1st earl of st vincent, to serve as the secretary of the navy. jervis, who had been fighting at sea for many years, had great distrust of the civilian staff of the navy committee. like most seamen, he believed that "the civilian staff was rotten to the core". it was the incompetence of the civilian staff that prevented the naval fleet from getting enough food, fresh water, and necessary maintenance materials at sea. lord st vincent was a stubborn person. he never listened to the advice of his colleagues and subordinates, and did not think that there was any use in discussing with the committee. st vincent did not understand any political skills. whether it was compromise, negotiation or tolerance, he regarded them all as "betrayal and weakness".

john jervis, lord st vincent

st. vincent's complaints about shipbuilding can be divided into two categories: first, no one was working hard at the shipyards. st. vincent once said that only 10% of the tasks were carried out. second, he believed that all contractors were involved in corruption. in the early 19th century, war and inflation led to a surge in food prices in britain, five to six times the price at the beginning of the previous century, and wages also increased accordingly. st. vincent turned a blind eye to these phenomena. he regarded the shipyard workers' demands for pay increases as betrayal and criminal behavior. st. vincent's solution was to dismiss all those who opposed him, whether officials or workers. when war broke out again in may 1803, st. vincent's damage to the naval shipbuilding industry was already evident. the shipyard workers had been reduced by one-fifth and their enthusiasm had been greatly hit.

st. vincent's biggest enemy was the navy committee. he hoped to kick out the existing members of the navy committee and establish a new committee controlled by himself. st. vincent placed people loyal to him in the navy committee so that the admiralty committee could supervise the navy committee in real time. he did similar things in the food committee. st. vincent nitpicked and abused the members of the navy committee without mercy. at the same time, st. vincent also placed his followers in the shipyard. and hinted that the shipyard officials should disobey the orders of the navy committee. the spies in the shipyard monitored the shipyard staff and tried to find their illegal behavior. st. vincent himself confiscated many shipyard accounts in an attempt to catch the so-called corrupt officials.

the core of st. vincent's "reform" was the naval inquiry committee established in december 1802, which was established to try to control the naval board. when st. vincent found that he had no power to dismiss the officials of the naval board and these officials would not resign voluntarily, he established an institution to investigate, convict and try. st. vincent's unreasonable behavior even angered the lord chancellor, who was also a member of addington's cabinet. the lord chancellor believed that the committee acted entirely in accordance with st. vincent's subjective will, and not only could it not achieve the goal of anti-corruption, but it might also become a protection for incompetent committees.

st. vincent's behavior obviously dealt a huge blow to the work of the admiralty. under the surveillance of the inquiry committee and various spies, members of all institutions such as the navy committee and other committees were in danger. the admiralty had lost the most basic trust. st. vincent's behavior not only left many excuses for the tories, but also created many personal enemies. st. vincent tried to combat malfunctions and corruption in the navy, but he only pointed the finger at personal moral qualities, not institutional defects. with the treaty of amiens torn up and the war with france reignited, pitt and others in the opposition began to criticize st. vincent, believing that the defense of the english channel was too negligent and the mobilization efficiency of the fleet was very low. in addition, st. vincent also took fiscal austerity measures during the war, so that the fleet going out to sea could not get sufficient logistical support. even nelson, who had a good personal relationship with st. vincent, complained about this. even so, st. vincent was still using the inquiry committee to crack down on the opposition at this time. and st. vincent's improper policies became the last straw that broke the camel's back for the addington government.

in 1804, after pitt took the position of prime minister for the second time, lord melville (1st viscount melville) became the first lord of the admiralty. melville tried to make further reforms to the navy, but the inquiry committee launched another attack in the spring of 1805, impeaching melville and forcing him to resign. charles middleton, who was nearly 80 years old, finally came to the position of the highest power in the navy that he had longed for as lord barham. barham took office at a time of crisis. napoleon's grand army was eyeing england at boulogne, and the french toulon fleet, led by pierre villeneuve, left the mediterranean and disappeared. barham reorganized the admiralty, turning his colleagues on the admiralty committee into his subordinates, handing over daily work to them, and controlling the war situation from the highest level. he formulated a detailed strategy based on the royal navy's vast intelligence network. a large number of orders were issued from whitehall, directly conveying orders to the admirals. in order to keep information flowing, barham established a signal transmission network based on cruisers and signal stations, which greatly reduced the time required for message transmission. although barham was not completely absent from administrative affairs, he merged the dysfunctional injury committee with the transport committee and strictly controlled the promotion system, but he focused his work on playing against napoleon in the ocean chess game, and barham's decisive victory in this big chess game was the battle of trafalgar.

charles middleton, lord barham

since the british admiralty was undergoing a transformation from the late 18th century to the early 19th century, its institutions were frequently added and removed, and various temporary and permanent committees were established by parliament and the admiralty, which changed frequently. here we will only briefly describe the structure of the board of admiralty during lord barham's term (1805-1806).

as mentioned above, barham reorganized the admiralty committee. the admiralty committee's office is located in whitehall. apart from the secretary of the navy barham himself, the members and organizations of the reorganized admiralty committee include:

first sea/naval/professional lord. chairs the admiralty committee in the absence of the first lord of the admiralty. duties include: military correspondence, including correspondence with the port admiral. with the first lord of the admiralty's permission, is responsible for fleet operations and issues orders to admirals and captains. also responsible for ordnance and officer promotions.

second sea/naval/professional lord. liaise with subordinate committees and bodies.

third sea/naval/professional lord. under the supervision of the first lord of the admiralty, responsible for the appointment of all committee members and professional officers.

the three sea lords are of equal status, and any important resolution of the admiralty committee requires the signature of the sea lord and the countersignature of a secretary.

also features:

cival lord. "in order to allow the admiralty to concentrate on his affairs", the cival lord will sign all documents and deal with day-to-day affairs. they will also provide advice to the admiralty committee. their duties seem to be limited to signing letters that the admiralty is too busy to deal with. however, the cival lord sometimes has more naval administrative experience than the admiralty and admiralty. sometimes they also have other duties and do not work in whitehall.

first secretary. with the assistance of the second secretary, handles correspondence and other messages sent to the admiralty. messages deemed unimportant by the first secretary need not be sent to the minister. sends the conclusions of the admiralty committee, and drafts of letters written by the clerk, and checks and signs other correspondence. supervises and controls the admiralty office, and distributes its work. receives visitors to the admiralty.

second secretory. keeps the minutes book of the admiralty committee. handles applications from unemployed personnel and letters from port commanders and other officers on similar matters. supervises signal stations and coastal defense affairs. supervises the transmission of information. when necessary, writes and copies confidential letters to reduce the burden of the first secretary. the secretary is appointed by the cabinet and is only an administrator and supervisor, not a policy maker.

the admiralty office is headed by the first secretary. broadly speaking, this includes all offices and officials under the admiralty committee. these include the royal marines office, the marines cashier's office, etc. the office's duties are to deal with the navy and the sea secretary, the secretary's correspondence with naval officers, sailors, marines, subordinate committees and other naval agencies, other national departments, and private and commercial organizations. in addition, clerks keep various accounts, meeting books and lists, and are responsible for written documents such as licenses, memoranda, etc.

somerset house

in addition to the admiralty board, a large number of other naval institutions are based in somerset house. the navy board is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the navy. its main body is the naval office, and most of its members are civil servants. it has the victualling board, the transport board, the sick and hurt board, and a series of offices, such as the cashier's office and the sixpence office, which are responsible for the day-to-day administration of the navy. the navy board is responsible to the admiralty board, but for reasons of space, i will not go into detail.

to be continued