Naval Intelligence Division Totally Explained

Everything about The Naval Intelligence Division totally explained

The Naval Intelligence Division (NID) was the intelligence arm of the British Admiralty before the establishment of a unified Defence Staff in 1965. It dealt with matters concerning British naval plans, with the collection of naval intelligence. The Foreign Intelligence Committee was established in 1882, and renamed the Naval Intelligence Department in 1887. Its first head was Captain William Henry Hall; William Reginald Hall, who was Director of Naval Intelligence (DNI) during World War I, was his son.
   The NID staff were originally responsible for fleet mobilization and war plans as well as foreign intelligence collection; thus in the beginning there were originally two divisions: (1) intelligence (Foreign) and (2) Mobilization. In 1900 another division, War, was added to deal with issues of strategy and defence, and in 1902 a fourth division, Trade, was created for matters related to the protection of merchant shipping. A coastal defence division was added in 1905 which took over duties related to intelligence on port and coastal defences of foreign powers. The Trade Division was abolished in 1909 in the wake of the Committee of Imperial Defence inquiry into the feud between the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir John Fisher and former Commander-in-Chief Channel Fleet, Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, when it was discovered that the captain heading the Trade Division had been supplying the latter with confidential information during the inquiry.
   In 1910, the NID was shorn of its responsibility for war planning and strategy when the outgoing Fisher created the so-called Navy War Council as a stop-gap remedy to criticisms emenating from the Beresford Inquiry that the Navy needed a naval staff—a role the NID had been in fact fulfilling since at least 1900, if not earlier. After this reorganisation, war planning and strategic matters were transferred to the newly created Naval Mobilisation Department and the NID reverted back to the position it held prior to 1887—an intelligence collection and collation organisation.
   The importance of the NID early on was recognized to a degree that by 1902, no issue within the Royal Navy was decided, no matter how trivial, without the NID having its say on the matter.
   During World War I the NID was responsible for the Royal Navy's highly successful cryptographic efforts, Room 40.
   The NID also initiated the 30th Assault Unit whose role was information gathering, reconnaissance and sabotage. The leader of one operation, Patrick Dalzel-Job, is widely acknowledged as the main model upon which Ian Fleming (who also worked for the NID) based his most famous creation, James Bond.
   The Naval Intelligence Division Geographical Handbook Series was produced between 1941 and 1946 to provide information for the British Armed Forces.
   In 1965, the three service intelligence departments were amalgamated in the new Ministry of Defence and the NID and DNI ceased to exist.

List of Directors of Naval Intelligence

Captain William Henry Hall, 1887–1889
Rear-Admiral Cyprian Bridge, 1889–1894
Rear-Admiral Lewis Beaumont, 1895–1899
Rear-Admiral Reginald Custance, 1899–1902
Rear-Admiral Prince Louis of Battenberg, 1902–1905
Captain Charles Ottley, 1905–1907
Rear-Admiral Edmond Slade, 1907–1909
Rear-Admiral Alexander Bethell, 1909–1912
Captain Thomas Jackson, 1912–1913
Rear-Admiral Henry Oliver, 1913–1914
Rear-Admiral Sir Reginald 'Blinker' Hall, 1914–1919
Rear-Admiral Hugh 'Quex' Sinclair, 1919–1921
Rear-Admiral Maurice Fitzmaurice, 1921–1924
Rear-Admiral Alan Hotham, 1924–1927
Rear-Admiral William Fisher (Acting), 1926–1927
Rear-Admiral Barry Domvile, 1927–1930
Rear-Admiral Cecil Usborne, 1930–1932
Rear-Admiral Gerald Dickens, 1932–1935
Vice-Admiral James Troup, 1935–1939
Vice-Admiral John Godfrey, 1939–1943
Rear-Admiral Edmund Rushbrooke, 1943–1946
Vice-Admiral Edward Parry, 1946–1948
Rear-Admiral Eric Longley-Cook, 1948–1951
Rear-Admiral Sir Anthony Buzzard, 1951–1954
Vice-Admiral Sir John Inglis, 1954–1960
Vice-Admiral Sir Norman Denning, 1960–1964
Rear-Admiral Patrick Graham, 1964–1965

Further Information

Get more info on 'Naval Intelligence Division'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://naval_intelligence_division.totallyexplained.com">Naval Intelligence Division Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.