Bombing and the geography of Admiralty administration in two world wars

Abstract

ABSTRACT The construction of so many temporary Admiralty offices in St James's Park during the First World War, despite the threat of enemy bombing, shows that British naval administrative efficiency then depended significantly on the close physical proximity of offices, albeit supplemented where necessary by additional liaison mechanisms. Subsequently, however, changing office practices, and advances in communications infrastructure and technology, made it possible for the administration to stretch itself very considerably. That was fortunate, since developments in warfare, including a great increase in the accuracy and weight of bombing attacks, demanded dispersion. By the Second World War, it can be argued there were four different Admiralties in the country, London, Bath, and Western Approaches and Rosyth Commands. They were not quite separate, however, but functionally linked with each other and with numerous other naval establishments, to the degree one could no longer identify Admiralty headquarters geographically; instead, it existed wherever there were officials and officers who carried out Admiralty functions.