Admiral of the Fleet is a five-starnaval officer rank and the highest rank of the Royal Navy, formally established in 1688.[1] The five-star NATO rank code is OF-10, equivalent to a field marshal in the British Army or a Marshal of the Royal Air Force. Apart from honorary appointments, no new admirals of the fleet have been named since 1995, and no honorary appointments have been made since 2014.
The origins of the rank can be traced back to John de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Beauchamp de Warwick, who was appointed 'Admiral of the King's Southern, Northern and Western Fleets' on 18 July 1360.[2] The appointment gave the command of the English navy to one person for the first time; this evolved into the post of Admiral of the Fleet.[3] In the days of sailing ships the admiral distinctions then used by the Royal Navy included distinctions related to the fleet being divided into three divisions – red, white, or blue. Each division was assigned at least one admiral, who in turn commanded a number of vice-admirals and rear admirals. While the full admirals were nominally equals, tradition gave precedence to the Admiral of the White who held the fleet rank in addition to his substantive role.[1]
Eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
The Restoration era brought a general reorganisation of naval ranks and structure, including formalisation of the admiral of the fleet role. In a break with tradition the rank was awarded to the most senior Admiral of the Red, who retained this substantive rank while also serving as Admiral of the Fleet. Appointments were for life, remunerated via a £5 daily stipend and an annual allowance of £1,014 for the hiring and maintenance of servants. It was intended that only one officer would hold the rank at any time, with their presence aboard any naval vessel to be denoted by the flying of the Royal Standard from the main mast.[4]
The ranks of Admiral of the Fleet and Admiral of the Red were formally separated from 1805, with an announcement in the London Gazette that "His Majesty [has] been pleased to order the Rank of Admirals of the Red to be restored"[5] in His Majesty's Navy..." as a separate role. The same Gazette promoted 22 men to that rank.[6] From the nineteenth century onward there were also occasional variations to the previous requirement that only one Admiral of Fleet could serve at one time. In 1821 George IV appointed Sir John Jervis as a second admiral of the fleet, to balance the Duke of Wellington's promotion as a second Field Marshal in the British Army. In 1830 King William IV increased the number of admirals of the fleet to three, though these additional lifetime postings subsequently lapsed. Between 1854 and 1857 there was no admiral of the fleet at all as the most senior naval officer of the time – Admiral of the Red Thomas Le Marchant Gosselin – was mentally ill and had not served at sea for forty-five years.[7][8] In deference to Gosselin's seniority the position was instead left vacant until his death in 1857, whereupon it was filled by Admiral Charles Ogle.[4]
Twentieth century
The organisation of the British fleet into coloured squadrons was abandoned in 1864, though the rank of admiral of the fleet was maintained. The title of First Naval Lord was renamed First Sea Lord in 1904.[9]
During the two World Wars a number of serving officers held active commissions as admirals of the fleet, as well as the First Sea Lord—e.g. Sir John Tovey.[10]
Following the creation of the Chief of the Defence Staff in 1959, the five naval officers appointed to that position became admirals of the fleet. Recognizing the reduced post–Cold War size of the British Armed Forces, no further appointments were made to the rank after 1995 when Sir Benjamin Bathurst was appointed admiral of the fleet on his retirement as First Sea Lord. The rank was not abolished and in 2012 the Prince of Wales (now King Charles III) became an honorary admiral of the fleet (as well as field marshal and marshal of the Royal Air Force), in recognition of his support to Queen Elizabeth II in her role of as Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces. In 2014, Lord Boyce, a former First Sea Lord and Chief of the Defence Staff, was also appointed an honorary admiral of the fleet.[12]
^ a b"Information sheet no 055: Squadron Colours" (PDF). nmrn-portsmouth.org.uk. The National Museum Royal Navy. 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
^St. George Tucker (1996). Blackstone's commentaries: with notes of reference to the constitution and laws, of the federal government of the United States, and of the Commonwealth of Virginia; with an appendix to each volume, containing short tracts upon such subjects as appeared necessary to form a connected view of the laws of Virginia as a member of the federal union. Vol. 1 (Originally published: Philadelphia : William Young Birch, and Abraham Small, 1803. ed.). Union, NJ: Lawbook Exchange. p. xxxiii. ISBN 9781886363168.
^"Trafalgar Ancestors, Glossary". nationalarchives.gov.uk. National Archives, 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
^ a bKemp, Peter, ed. (1993). The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 6. ISBN 0192820842.
^The Dictionary of National Biography (Volume 20, page 394) says of James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier that he "seems to have been as ignorant of naval history as careless of naval prestige, and must be considered one of the chief of the perpetrators of the official blunder which, in the warrant of 9 Nov. 1805 appointing admirals of the red, spoke of the rank as restored to the navy, whereas, in point of fact, it had never previously existed."
^Heald, Tim (1991). The Duke: A Portrait of Prince Philip. London: Hodder and Stoughton. pp. 264–267. ISBN 0-340-54607-7.
^"2014 Birthday Honours for service personnel and defence civilians". Ministry of Defence. 13 June 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
^"Naval Ranks NMRN Portsmouth". www.nmrn-portsmouth.org.uk. The National Museum Royal Navy, Portsmouth. 2019. Archived from the original on 26 September 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
^"Russell, Edward, Earl of Orford". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/24304. Retrieved 16 May 2015. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^Hattendorf, John B. (2004). "Rooke, Sir George". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/24059. Retrieved 16 May 2015. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^"Shovell, Sir Cloudesley". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25470. Retrieved 16 May 2015. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^"Leake, Sir John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/16238. Retrieved 16 May 2015. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^"Fairborne, Stafford". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9069. Retrieved 16 May 2015. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^"Aylmer, Matthew". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/936. Retrieved 16 May 2015. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^"Byng, George, first Viscount Torrington". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4262. Retrieved 16 May 2015. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)