United States Navy bureau system The " bureau system " of the United States Navy was the Department of the Navy ' s material - support organization from 1842 through 1966 . The bureau chiefs were largely autonomous , reporting directly to the Secretary of the Navy and managing their respective organizations without the influence of other bureaus . In 1966 , the bureaus were gradually replaced by unified commands ( generally known as " systems command s " or SYSCOMs ) reporting to the Chief of Naval Operations . Before the bureaus . For the first several decades of the Navy Department ' s existence , all procurement and material matters were handled directly by the Office of the Secretary of the Navy . As the Navy expanded during the War of 1812 , it became clear that this system was not sufficient for the Service ' s needs . On February 7 , 1815 , Congress established a three - member Board of Naval Commissioners to handle material - support matters . As part of the Navy Secretary ' s office , the Board ' s jurisdiction generally extended only logistical matters such as supply and construction . The Secretary of the Navy remained in control of many operational aspects of the Navy . Establishment of the bureau system , 1842 . Ultimately , the Board system was unable to provide the Navy with the necessary technical and management control . Among other things , naval technology was becoming increasingly complex during the first half of the 19th century , and required more specialized oversight . In the early 1840s , Congress decided to abolish the Board of Naval Commissioners and replace them with a more specialized bureaucracy based on broad functional areas such as shipbuilding . The first five bureaus were established by Act of Congress on August 31 , 1842 . They were the : Reorganization , 1862 . The system was reorganized during the early years of the Civil War . By an act of Congress of July 5 , 1862 ( ) , the existing bureaus were reorganized and increased to eight . As reorganized , these included the : Late 19th century through World War II . The bureau system dominated the Navy ' s procurement for the rest of the 19th century and into the World War II years . There were a few changes , often brought about by changes in technology or changing missions . The increasing role of Naval aviation , for example , led Congress in 1921 to consolide technical authority under a new Bureau of Aeronautics ( BuAer ) , with responsibility for the procurement of naval aircraft . Previously , this responsibility had been divided among several other Navy bureaus . Other changes were more superficial , as in 1892 when the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing was renamed the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts ( BuSandA ) . World War II brought about several other changes . The Bureau of Ships ( BuShips ) was established in 1940 , through the merger of the Bureau of Construction and Repair and the Bureau of Engineering . In 1942 , the Bureau of Navigation was renamed the Bureau of Naval Personnel ( BuPers ) , to reflect its change in mission . Post - World War II through the 1960s . The bureaus ' traditional autonomy became hard to maintain after World War II , with the Armed Services ' greater emphasis on " Jointness . " The complexity of post - war weapons systems was promoting a " systems engineering " approach — an approach that did not fit well with the bureau systems ' semi - independence . Other problems related to jurisdiction ; the Bureau of Aeronautics ' work on unmanned aircraft , for example , overlapped to some degree with the Bureau of Ordnance ' s work on guided missiles . This particular controversy was resolved in 1959 with the establishment of the Bureau of Naval Weapons ( BuWeps ) , which merged BuAer and BuOrd . The bureau system largely came to an end in the mid - 1960s , in the midst of the Defense Dept . ' s overhaul of its entire planning and budgeting system . The bureaus were replaced with " systems command s , " or SYSCOMs , which consolidated their functions into broader " systems . " The Bureau of Naval Weapons , for example , was replaced by the Naval Air Systems Command , with responsibility for all aircraft , aerial weapons , and related systems , and by the Naval Ordnance Systems Command . BuShips was replaced with the Naval Ship Systems Command ( which was later combined with the Naval Ordnance Systems Command to form the Naval Sea Systems Command ) , with responsibility for all naval shipbuilding . With modifications , the systems - command model remains in place today .