Ixaniad Admirality

The **Admiralitatis**, also called the **Imperial Admiralty** or simply *the Admiralty* in Low Gothic, is a department of the Adeptus Administratum that commands the Imperial Navy and is led by the Lord High Admiral on Terra. The Admiralitatis primarily consists of the Admiralty Board, for the logistics and civil administration of fleet affairs, and the Admiralty War Staff, responsible for operational and long term strategic planning as well as fleet deployment. Although it is under the authority of the Lord High Admiral of the Imperial Navy, due to his many other duties the day to day management of the Admiralitatis falls to the office of the First Space Lord, usually held by a full admiral or a Lord Admiral. The First Space Lord serves as the chief of the Admiralty War Staff. Each sector is presided over by a Lord Admiral.

The main purpose of the Admiralitatis is to perform the necessary staff work for the naval service. Due to the vastness of the Emperor's fleet and its responsibility for controlling all known space, coordinating operations can be difficult, and the Admiralty's role is to assist the Lord High Admiral in coordinating naval operations between sectors and within, drilling down into an increasingly disseminated spread of forces and commanders.

In addition, the Admiralitatis coordinates its activities with the Imperial Guard commanders and various civilian bodies, as necessary, for the purpose of assisting the war effort. The Civil Lord of the Admiralty, for example, works closely with the Merchant Fleets, which represent 90% of the Imperium's interstellar traffic, to help organize the supply lines for the Navy. It is far less well known, however, than its Guard counterpart, the Departmento Munitorum. Unlike the Admiralty, the Departmento Munitorum is not in charge of military strategy and the Guard's senior command is more decentralized.

The Imperial Navy of the Ixaniad sector serves as a microcosm of the greater imperium, but is marked by intense factionalism. Sector politics come into play in all areas of broader Ixaniad interaction and the Navy is no different. Loyalities to individual houses taint otherwise pure service, and patronage of one of the great houses of the sector is often nessecary. The admirality board, often staffed by admirals of different house loyalities, is highly inefficient at times, and only curtailed by periodic intervention of the Inquisition or by coup of the Lord Commissar Admiral, after which the board must be replaced.

## History

The Imperial Navy was initially established with a naval staff due to the vastness of the project, but after the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy resulted in the division of the formerly unified naval and ground forces known as the Imperial Army. Further wars fought against different threats in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy have shown that the Imperial Navy's reduced size has made it harder for naval units to effectively carry out independent operations, and made managing it easier. Thus several naval theorists and commanders had begun to call for the establishment of a central command on Terra to coordinate the Fleet's activities and to provide staff work, instead of leaving every admiral and officer without any direction.

Given the size of the Imperial Navy and the scope of its mission in controlling all known space, it was believed such an organization was necessary, as opposed to the Imperial Guard which had no formal general staff and carried out operations on a more local basis. Admirals argued that the Guard's nature allowed it to do this effectively, but the Navy having to execute operations across mass distances and essentially serve as the backbone of the Imperium's entire war effort, a body to centrally coordinate this herculean task was needed. Initially the highest officers of the Navy were mainly technical specialists, and staff work was entirely neglected. However this began to change from the Horus Heresy onward as the Fleet could not longer depend on regularly receiving new ships to replace the losses and thus tactical- and strategic-minded officers were needed.

## Structure

*The structure of the Ixaniad Admiralty is as follows.*

* **Admiralty Board**
	+ Controller Department
	+ Shipbuilding Department
	+ Admiralty High Court
	+ Fleet Commissariat

*Chief of the War Staff,*

* Admiralty War Staff, presided by Lord Admiral

*Members of the War Staff responsible for individual departments*

* Lord Second Admiral – personnel
	+ Mobilization Division
* Lord Third Admiral – intelligence
	+ Naval Intelligence Division
	+ Signal Division
* Lord Fourth Admiral– logistics
	+ Trade Division
	+ Navigation Division
* Lord Fifth Admiral – operations (*Deputy Chief of War Staff*)
	+ Operations Division
	+ Plans Division
* Lord Commissar Admiral – Fleet Commissariat
* Lord Commandant of Armsmen – Naval Armsmen, otherwise known as the Naval Security Battalions

*Other members of the Admiralty responsible for civilian functions*

* Civil Lord of the Admiralty – coordinates with the Merchant Fleets, civil fleets, and Rogue Traders for supply and logistics within the sector.
* High Justice of the Admiralty – oversees judicial matters, including allocating loot confiscated from pirates within the sector.

### Admiralty Board

#### Controller Department

The **Controller Department** is the records-keeping branch of the Admiralty, led by the **Controller of the Navy**, an office often held by older naval officers approaching retirement. The Controller Department manages all archival documents as well as written orders of the Admiralty and directives from the Lords High Admiral, and informational files on all Imperial Navy formations and their combat chronicles. In addition, the Controllers record the loss and casualties taken by different naval units to the best of their ability, coordinating with the War Staff. It cooperates closely with the Estate Imperium, the Administratum's archival office, and provides it with information on the Fleet.

#### Shipbuilding Department

The **Shipbuilding Department** is responsible for working with the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Departmento Munitorum to organize the construction of new warships for the Imperial Navy depending on its needs. The **Director of Shipbuilding** is usually a Rear Admiral or Vice Admiral. Despite its name the organization spends more time negotiating to get ships constructed rather than overseeing the construction effort itself, which are under the authority of local shipyards and the Departmento Munitorum. The department also helps coordinate the needs of different naval units to assign them new vessels according to demand and importance of their position.

#### Fleet Commissariat

The **Fleet Commissariat** is the department that oversees Commissars, political officers which were stationed aboard almost every vessel of the Imperial Navy that kept the crews in line. The Commissariat's personnel are constantly vigilant for any sign of mutiny or Chaotic infiltration aboard warships. The Fleet Commissariat is responsible for overseeing all affairs relating to the Navy's commissars in particular, including recruitment, training, assignments, and promotions. The department was usually led by a Commissar-Captain, equivalent to a regular naval Captain, while it fell under the overall authority of the **Lord Commissar Admiral**, who is responsible for all fleet-related internal security matters. The military police of the Navy falls under the authority of the Lord Commissar Admiral.

#### Admiralty High Court

The **High Court of the Admiralty** has jurisdiction over all legal cases which concern naval personnel. Judges are appointed for life by the Lord High Admiral of the Navy. It works closely with the Fleet Commissariat, although it notable that the High Court's job is limited as Commissars and other officers usually take care of many cases on the spot rather than go through formal procedures. Led by the **High Justice**, usually a civilian bureaucrat.

### Admiralty War Staff

#### Operations Division

The **Operations Division** is the section of the War Staff responsible for determining the composition of all Imperial Navy fleets, squadrons, and flotillas, as well as all operational planning and monitoring. Members of the Operations staff work directly with the Lord High Admiral of the Navy, along with the chief of naval staff the First Space Lord, to execute his commands and advise him based on their knowledge and intelligence. The Operations Division orders the movements of each of the Imperium's fleets across the galaxy based on orders from the Lord High Admiral and his council, as well as the needs of individual commanders for operations. The staff officers of the division also have the unenviable task of ensuring that information on the location of important vessels and units was updated at all times, to the best of their ability, which they do with holographic maps displaying all of their known locations.

They also maintain records regarding all ship refits and statuses, ammunition resupplying, and other immediate needs of fleet units. To carry out these tasks they work closely with the Intelligence Division and the Signals Division.

The Operations Division falls under the authority of the First Space Lord, and is usually led by a Captain or Commodore-Captain holding the post of **Director of Operations**. Occasionally, due to its direct role in the daily activities of the Navy, it is led by a Rear Admiral. It is divided into five sections, each of which is usually led by a Commander.

#### Plans Division

The **Plans Division** is the strategic planning and preparation arm of the Admiralty War Staff, a newer addition, being responsible for planning out larger scale naval operations and Crusades. It grew out of the Operations Division by the order of Admiral Lucius Marinus as he was believed that longer-term policy formulation was distinct from immediate operational planning. The Plans Division has a broader scope in planning out the future composition of battlefleets, sometimes further down to the level of battlegroups and squadrons, as necessary, along with naval construction programs, although these were coordinated through the Shipbuilding Department and were hard to plan due to the changes in the war situation and the capabilities of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Because of its task, its staff officers closely coordinated with the Intelligence Division, as its plans could be altered depending on drastic changes of the situation based on battlefield developments. It received hour-to-hour, day-to-day communiques from the Naval Intelligence on the movements of enemy forces and Imperial war progress. Ultimately the work done by the Plans Division affected every Imperial warship and merchantman, thus its calculations have to have as a high degree of accuracy as possible.

Because of its role the Plans Division coordinated its work with the Imperial Guard's Departmento Munitorum to provide the ground units for its planned operations. It is led by the **Director of Plans**, usually a Captain or Commodore-Captain.

#### Mobilization Division

The **Mobilization Division** is the branch of the War Staff responsible for organizing recruitment and conscription efforts to ensure that all of the Emperor's warships are fully manned. The division's officers keep track of and maintain recruitment offices, while coordinating with naval captains and admirals, to reach the necessary quota of crew that is needed by the battlefleets. As part of this, the Mobilization Division manages the recruiters and press gangs that either recruit or force "volunteers" into service as enlisted voidsmen as well as cooperating with the Imperial naval schools to train the necessary number of officers. Its liaisons often directly communicate with different Planetary Governors to organize mass recruitment drives. In addition, the division has the more shady task of overseeing the efforts to conscript slaves and indentured servants to do the dirtier, more dangerous work of operating warships. Some of its practices in this regard are kept secret.

In addition to the ship crews, it also performs a similar function for the ranks of Naval Armsmen, which are recruited in a similar way but receive better treatment and volunteer bonuses due to their importance.

The head of the division is the **Director of Mobilization**, usually a Captain or Commodore-Captain. The Director answers to the Second Space Lord, usually an Admiral or Lord Admiral, who is responsible for the Navy's entire recruitment effort and making sure that Imperial warships are fully manned.

#### Naval Intelligence Division

The **Naval Intelligence Division** of the Admiralty, also called the **No. 511** after the part of the Admiralty building on Terra that it is located in, is the intelligence arm of the Imperial Admiralty War Staff. It manages Imperial Navy Intelligence and is responsible for providing fleet intelligence on both enemy ships of different types, as well as keeping track of friendly units and their locations. It was also responsible for intercepting enemy communications, which were handled by a branch of Naval Intelligence Division, the Signals Analysis Section, and interpreted the information. After receiving intelligence, the Naval Intelligence Division analyzed it and provided it to other departments as they needed it for their tasks, including the Operations and Plans Divisions.

Under its direct command is also a special unit of veteran Naval Armsmen recruited from throughout the Navy, known as **No. 511 Commando** (also nicknamed "Naval Stormtroopers"), which is used for secretive black ops on behalf of the Naval Intelligence Division.

The division is led by the **Director of Naval Intelligence**, and due to the paramount importance of the tasks it handled, unlike the directors of other divisions this is usually held by either a Rear Admiral or a Vice Admiral. The Director of Naval Intelligence answers to the Third Space Lord, usually an Admiral or Lord Admiral, who coordinates all intelligence and communications needs of the Admiralty and the Imperial Navy.

#### Signal Division

The **Signal Division** has the responsibility of monitoring and securing all naval communications. Among its most important roles is relaying orders of the Admiralty to the different units of the Fleet stationed in the furthest corners of the known universe. Due to its role as the main contact between Terra and the various fleet formations, the Signal Division closely cooperates with other sections of the Admiralty to provide them with information on the Navy's status.

The **Director Signal Division** is most often a Captain or Commodore-Captain, but sometimes a Rear Admiral also headed the division due to its vital role in the coordination of the vast Imperial Navy. The Director answers to the Third Space Lord, an Admiral or Lord Admiral in charge of all the Navy's intelligence and communications.

#### Trade Division

The **Trade Division** is responsible for monitoring the Imperium's Merchant Fleets and coordinating their efforts with those of the Imperial Navy, to both supply naval units and protect humanity's merchant shipping that connects countless worlds. Similarly to the Plans Division, it is a more recent addition to the Admiralty War Staff, originating as a section of the larger Operations Division during the tenure of Admiral Lucius Marinus as First Space Lord. Since then the Trade Division has become an important branch of the War Staff in its own right. Among its responsibilities is controlling all Merchant Fleet and civil fleet movements, overseeing the arming of "auxiliary cruisers" (armed merchantmen) if the Navy needs extra ships for an operation, and maintaining contact to some extent with various Rogue Traders.

The **Director of Trade**, heading this division, is usually a Captain or Commodore-Captain. The Director of Trade answers to the Fourth Space Lord, who is in charge of logistics for the Navy.

#### Navigation Division

The **Navigation Division** has the responsibility of maintaining the archive of galactic maps and data on planets, systems, sectors, and various other astronomic bodies that the Admiralty War Staff relies on when planning operations, as well as providing information on passing Warp Storms. The Navigation Division coordinates its activities with the Adeptus Immateria Cartographum, another branch of the Adeptus Administratum that has the responsibility of charting space and watching for Warp Storms. The division uses these sources to provide hour-by-hour reports to the rest of the Admiralty War Staff on any changing conditions as well as additional information on specific locations that the Operations or Plans Division may need.

The **Director of Navigation** is usually a Captain or Commodore-Captain.

### Department of the Civil Lord of the Admiralty

The **Department of the Civil Lord of the Admiralty** exists independently alongside the Board and the War Staff, with the Civil Lord being responsible for overall command of the Merchant Fleets and civil fleets. Among the department's other responsibilities were organizing the shipping of supplies to all naval units, particularly those for the crew, and provisioning the Navy's planet-side facilities, including bases and headquarters. To some extent the department cooperates with the Trade Division of the War Staff and the Fourth Space Lord himself, but their roles and functions are considerably different, with the Department of the Civil Lord having a much broader scope. As its name suggests, the **Civil Lord of the Admiralty** is usually a civilian (although on some occasions a retired naval officer).

### The Lord Admirals

The day-to-day functions of the Admiralty War Staff are managed by five individuals known as the **Admiralty Lords**, who usually hold the rank of Admiral, High Admiral, or Lord Admiral, and are under the overall leadership of the **Lord Admiral** in his role as the Chief of War Staff. While each staff division is led by a director, the Admirality Lords manage the divisions together and coordinate all of their activities for an overall leadership.

The Lord Admiral is primarily responsible for this task as the Chief of War Staff, and answers directly to the Lord High Admiral of the Navy as his main advisor. The **Second Lord Admiral** manages all personnel affairs, including recruitment, promotions, and training, as well as management of the Navy's officer academies. The Mobilization Division is subordinated to the Second Space Lord as well. The **Third Lord Admiral** is in charge of all intelligence and communications of the Navy, providing the Lord High Admiral with accurate, up-to-date intelligence as well as maintaining communications with the battlefleets. As part of this he oversaw the Naval Intelligence Division and Signal Division. The **Fourth Lord Admiral** is in charge of the Navy's logistics as they pertain to the immediate needs of the Navy, and manages the Trade Division to coordinate its activities with the Merchant Fleets, as well as the Navigation Division to provide the most accurate star charts and maps. He also works closely with the Civil Lord (a civilian technically not part of the Space Lords), who serves as the head of the Chartist Captains of the Merchant Fleets. The **Fifth Lord Admiral** is the Deputy Chief of War Staff and thus is responsible for operations, managing the Operations and Plans Divisions, which are regarded as the two largest and most significant branches of the War Staff as they manage fleet movements on a daily basis.

Together the Space Lords of the War Staff are subordinated to the Lord High Admiral on Terra and are widely seen as his hands, or executors of his commands. In practice, however, this is only true to a certain extent, as the Lord High Admiral is frequently attending other functions that are more related to other branches of the Imperium and the wider war effort, so the Admiralty War Staff and its Space Lords are trusted to manage the Navy on a day-to-day basis largely independently, but in his name.