First Lord of the Admiralty

First Lord of the Admiralty
Royal Arms of HM Government
Department of the Admiralty
Status	Abolished
Member of	Board of Admiralty Cabinet
Reports to	Prime Minister
Nominator	Prime Minister
Appointer	Prime Minister Subject to formal approval by the King-in-Council
Term length	Not fixed typically 3–7 years
Formation	1628
First holder	Richard Weston, 1st Earl of Portland
Final holder	George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe
Abolished	1964
Superseded by	Secretary of State for Defence

The First Lord of the Admiralty,^[1] or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty,^[2] was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the direction and control of the Admiralty, and also of general administration of the Naval Service of the Kingdom of England, Great Britain in the 18th century, and then the United Kingdom, including the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, and other services. It was one of the earliest known permanent government posts. Apart from being the political head of the Naval Service the post holder was simultaneously the pre-eminent member of the Board of Admiralty. The office of First Lord of the Admiralty existed from 1628 until it was abolished when the Admiralty, Air Ministry, Ministry of Defence and War Office were all merged to form the new Ministry of Defence in 1964. Its modern-day equivalent is the Secretary of State for Defence.