Inaugural holder Benjamin Gonson | ||
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Member of Navy Board (1546-1832), Board of Admiralty (1832-1848) Reports to First lord of the Admiralty Nominator First lord of the Admiralty Appointer Prime Minister
Subject to formal approval by the Queen-in-Council Term length Not fixed (typically 3–7 years) | ||
The Surveyor of the Navy was a civilian officer in the Royal Navy. Was a former principle commissioner and member of both the Navy Board from the inauguration of that body in 1546 and Board of Admiralty from 1832-1848, the post holder held overall responsibility for the design of British warships.
Contents
History
Although until 1745 the actual design work for warships built at each Royal Dockyard was primarily the responsibility of the individual Master Shipwright at that Royal Dockyard. For vessels built by commercial contract (limited to wartime periods, when the Royal Dockyards could not cope with the volume of work), the Surveyor's office drew the designs to which the private shipbuilders were required to build the vessels. From 1745 design responsibility was centred in the Surveyor's office, with the Master Shipwrights in the Dockyard responsible for implementation. In 1832 the Navy Board was abolished and all of its functions were brought under the sole control of the Board of Admiralty, the Surveyor was a new member of the combined board until 1848. In 1859 the post of Surveyor of the Navy was re-styled as Controller of the Navy.
List of Surveyors 1546–1859
In date order (note that the post of Surveyor was frequently shared, which enabled the Admiralty to have competitive designs prepared for evaluation):