This is an important new history of decision-making and policy-making in the British Admiralty from Trafalgar to the aftermath of Jutland. C. I. Hamilton explores the role of technological change, the global balance of power and, in particular, of finance and the First World War in shaping decision-making and organisational development within the Admiralty. He shows that decision-making was found not so much in the hands of the Board but at first largely in the hands of individuals, then groups or committees, and finally certain permanent bureaucracies. The latter bodies, such as the Naval Staff, were crucial to the development of policy-making as was the civil service Secretariat under the Permanent Secretary. By the 1920s the Admiralty had become not just a proper policy-making organisation, but for the first time a thoroughly civil-military one.

An important new history of decision-making and policy-making in the British Admiralty from Trafalgar to the aftermath of Jutland.

About the Author
C. I. Hamilton teaches modern European history at the University of the Witwatersrand. His previous publications include Portsmouth Dockyard Papers, 1852-1869: From Wood to Iron (2005).

Reviews
'... a contribution to the wider field of institutional history ... both succinct and absorbing.' David McLean, Victorian Studies



Book Information
ISBN 9780521765183
Author C. I. Hamilton
Format Hardback
Page Count 356
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 710g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 159mm * 21mm