The records cover the life-time of the College from its establishment in 1873 to its closure in 1998. The records are varied, but many relate to the staff at the College. They include pay rolls, volumes detailing staff leave and discharge and service registers. There are also accounting records - bills, receipts, expenditure, imprest books etc. One of the more interesting groups of records are the volumes of "reports", covering the period 1877-1922, which include miscellaneous records relating to Sub-Lieutenants passed, awards, sick leave, discharge, stationary demands, applications to join the College, letters to the Admiralty etc. The collection also includes registers of correspondence and letters-out for the period 1873-1947. Relating to the students, there are a few registers of students on courses 1873-97 and also volumes of Acting Sub-Lieutenants' examination results and passing certificates 1873-1911. These records duplicate those held by the National Archives and further records relating to students can be found there. The more modern twentieth century records mainly relate to courses ran by the College. They include lists of students on courses, Board of Studies minutes, course syllabuses etc, but are not complete. The collection also includes a large photographic archive.

Administrative / biographical background
The Royal Naval College was established by Order of Council on the 1st February 1873 "to provide for the education of Naval Officers of all ranks above that of midshipman, in all branches of theoretical and scientific study bearing upon their profession" (Admiralty Circular no. 8, RNC, Greenwich). It absorbed the School of Naval Architecture, previously based in Kensington. Subjects studied included maths, mechanics, experimental sciences, hydrography, navigation, marine engineering and naval architecture. Students ranged in rank from Acting Sub-Lieutenant to Captain. There were three main groups of students studying at the College: Lieutenants studying gunnery and engineering, who had to pass nine months in the College before they could commence their practical course in the EXCELLENT: fifty to one hundred Sub-Lieutenants, who had completed five years at sea: and about one hundred volunteers of all ages and ranks attending on half-pay. Royal Marine Officers, Dockyard Apprentice Scholars, Merchant Marine Officers, private and foreign students could also study at the College. The College was primarily a tactical school, despite the establishment of the War Course in 1900 and the renaming of the College "The Royal Naval War College" in 1907. During this period, the eminent naval historian Sir Julian Corbett lectured on history and strategy. During World War I, the College was used partly as a barracks and also for scientific experimental work. 27,000 officers of the Royal Naval Reserve and Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve passed through the College. By 1939 all Sub-Lietenants went to the College for two terms for a course in general education and in the elementary study of war. At the outbreak of war, most courses ceased and the Staff College reopened in Novemebr 1943. In 1947 the Combined Staff College was instituted and ran thirty-four courses over the period January 1947 to December 1967. The Department of Nuclear Science and Technology opened in 1959 and was the largest in the College. It provided the essential qualifying courses for offciers who were to operate nuclear submarines or who would be involved in nuclear research. Only after passing the examination at the College could students procees to further training at the full-power shore based nuclear reactor at Dounreay. The Joint Service Defence College, an independent Ministry of Defence Establishment offering courses to prepare British officers of the three services, was relocated to the Royal Naval College in 1983. The JSDC and Royal Naval College were subsumed into a new Joint Service Command and Staff College based at Bracknell in 1998 and the adminstration of the Royal Naval College buildings passed to the Greenwich Foundation.