Naval General Staff

Naval General Staff 

the highest administrative body of the navies of certain countries. They have been formed under different names, such as the Naval Command Department in Japan (1893), General Naval Staff in imperial Germany (1899), Naval General Staff in France (1902), Main Naval Staff in Italy (1907), Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in the USA (1909), and Admiralty War Staff in Great Britain (1912). Contemporary foreign navies have chief headquarters or headquarters of the navy.

The Naval General Staff was formed in Russia on Apr. 24 (May 7), 1906. It was concerned with the development of plans for warfare at sea, shipbuilding programs, plans for combat training in the navy, and the study of foreign navies. It directed the naval department of the Nicholas Naval Academy, the League for Renovation of the Navy, and other public naval organizations. During World War I (1914–18), the Naval General Staff consisted of eight departments—three operations departments (by naval theaters) and the departments of organization and tactics, statistics, air and underwater navigation, rear services, and history; each was staffed by 35 officers and 23 noncommissioned officers and seamen.

The chiefs of Naval General Staff were L. A. Brusilov (1906–08), A. A. Ebergard (1908–11), A. A. Liven (1911–14), A. I. Rusin (1914–17), and M. A. Kedrov and A. P. Kapnist (1917).

After the October Revolution of 1917 the organization of the Naval General Staff was changed several times. In 1919 it consisted of five departments with a total staff of 113. Chiefs of the Naval General Staff were E. A. Berens (1917–19) and A. N. Melent’ev (from 1919). In August 1921 the Naval General Staff was abolished, and its functions were transferred to the Operations Directorate of the Naval Headquarters of the Republic.