HISTORY

In 1912 a group of Royal Navy officers started a Naval Society for correspondence on professional matters. In February 1913 they published the first issue of a new quarterly journal, The Naval Review. The officers were: Admiral W H Henderson (Honorary Editor), Lieutenant R M Bellairs RN, Commander K G B Dewar RN, Lieutenant T Fisher RN, Captain E W Harding RM, Commander the Hon R A R Plunkett RN, Captain H W Richmond RN, and Lieutenant H G Thursfield RN.

Churchill had set up the Naval War Staff in 1912 and there was official resistance to the new society. Indeed, shortly after the outbreak of World War I, the Admiralty ordered The Naval Review to stop publication in the interest of national security. Admiral Henderson concurred but continued to collect material and at the end of the war published The Naval Review, year by year, as it would have appeared if there had been no Admiralty embargo. Since 1919 The Naval Review has been published continuously. In World War II there was no censorship, and the regular “Notes on the War at Sea” and "Diary of the War at Sea" are important records of naval events during World War II. 

Since 1912 the editors have all been distinguished Royal Naval officers:

	Admiral W H Henderson	1913 – February 1931
	Admiral Sir Richard Webb KCMG CB	May 1931 – November 1949
	Admiral Sir Gerald C Dickens KCVO	May 1950 – February 1954
	Vice Admiral Sir Aubrey Mansergh KBE CB DSC	August 1954 – July 1972
	Vice Admiral Sir Ian McGeoch KCB DSO DSC	October 1972 – July 1979
	Rear Admiral John Nunn CBE	October 1979 - July 1983
	Rear Admiral Richard Hill	October 1983 – October 2002
	Vice Admiral Sir Jeremy Blackham KCB	January 2003 –

After nearly a century The Naval Review continues to represent the concerns and interests of its members who are primarily serving personnel in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. Nowadays contributors, uniquely in the services, can publish without the prior approval of the Ministry of Defence. Consequently circulation is limited to the membership.