Director of Naval Construction

The Director of Naval Construction (DNC) was a senior British civil servant post in the Admiralty, that part of the British Civil Service that oversaw the Royal Navy. The post existed from 1860 to 1966.

The postholder was the senior member of the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors. Members of the Corps were responsible for the designing and building warships, whether they were built in the Royal Dockyards (such as Chatham) or contracted out to private industry (such as Armstrong Whitworth). The Director was a naval architect as well as a manager.

Work in the dockyards was covered to some extent by the two posts of Director of Naval Construction and the separately held Director of Dockyards. The latter's officers were responsible for checking that work contracted out by the former was being undertaken correctly.

In designing warships the Director of Naval Construction had to work with the Engineer-in-Chief, another Admiralty post, which existed from 1847 to 1889. The Engineer-in-Chief post arose after the adoption of steam engines for propulsion.

Shipbuilding

Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.

Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both commercial and military, are referred to as "naval engineering". The construction of boats is a similar activity called boat building.

The dismantling of ships is called ship breaking.

History

Prehistory

Archaeological evidence indicates that humans arrived on Borneo at least 120,000 years ago, probably by sea from the Asian mainland during an ice age period when the sea was lower and distances between islands shorter (See History of Borneo and Papua New Guinea). The ancestors of Australian Aborigines and New Guineans also went across the Lombok Strait to Sahul by boat over 50,000 years ago.

4th millennium BC