Documents relating to the Central Administration
Papers relating to the Board of Admiralty ADL/A
Papers relating to the Navy Board, General Business ADL/B
Papers relating to the Board of Admiralty (foreign) ADL/AF
Document relating to the Ordinary
Papers relating to the ordinary ADL/C
Papers relating to Naval Stores ADL/D
Papers relating to Dockyards ADL/E
Papers relating to Victualling Matters ADL/F
Papers Relating to Transport Matters ADL/G
Papers Relating to the Ordnance ADL/H
Papers Relating to Manning and Impressing ADL/J
Manning and Impressing (Foreign) ADL/JF
Reserves and Sea Fencibles ADL/K
Papers relating to Dockyards ADL/E
Personal documents
Royal Navy Personnel Pay and Allotments ADL/L
Royal Navy Personnel Health and Medical Matters ADL/M
Royal Navy Personnel Dress and Uniform ADL/N
Royal Navy Personnel Medals and Awards – general ADL/P
Royal Navy Personnel Commissions, Warrants and other Officers service documents (Including Medals and Awards and Pursers’ Bond) ADL/Q
Royal Navy Personnel Service Documents of Petty Officers and Ratings (including Medals and Awards) ADL/R
Royal Navy Personnel Service Documents of Marines ADL/S
Royal Navy Personnel Greenwich Hospital Documents (Including Chatham Chest) ADL/T
Royal Navy Personnel Wills and Legal Documents ADL/U
List of Ships and Squadrons
Royal Navy ADL/V
Foreign Navies ADL/VF
Royal Navy Ship’s Papers ADL/W
Royal Navy Prize Papers ADL/X
General and Small collections ADL/Z

Administrative / biographical background
The Navy Board (formerly known as the Council of the Marine or Council of the Marine Causes) was the commission with responsibility for day-to-day civil administration of the Royal Navy between 1546 and 1832. Its responsibilities were the construction and maintenance of the ships through the Royal Dockyards of Deptford, Woolwich, Portsmouth and Chatham; the operations of the dockyards and other naval establishments . In addition to this the Navy Board was in charge of the procurement of victuals (obtained from private contractors or "agents"), stores, supplies and services for the fleet and provision of ordnance items. It was also responsible for all civilian and naval pay and for the appointment of junior officers and warrant officers. The Board of Admiralty was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requirements of the Royal Navy; at that point administrative control of the navy was still the responsibility of the Navy Board.