First Sea Lord - 1919-1946
| 1919-1927 | David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty |
| 1927-1930 | Sir Charles Madden |
| 1930-1933 | Sir Frederick Field |
| 1933-1938 | Ernle Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield |
| 1938-1939 | Sir Roger Backhouse |
| 1939-1943 | Sir Dudley Pound |
| 1943-1946 | Andrew Cunningham, 1st Baron Cunningham of Hyndhope |
In 1919 David Beatty became First Sea Lord. Beatty's brilliant handling of the battle cruisers in the battle of Jutland led some months later (Dec. 1916) to him succeeding Sir John Jellicoe as Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet, in which capacity he received the surrender of the German fleet on Nov. 21 1918. He was raised to the peerage in 1919 as Earl Beatty, Visct. Borodale of Borodale, Baron Beatty of the North Sea, receiving the thanks of Parliament and £100,000. On becoming First Sea Lord, Beatty immediately set in motion measures for a reorganization of the naval staff on lines which would give the younger school of naval thought and experience a chance to make itself felt. He attended at Washington, D.C., in 1921 the Conference on the Limitation of Armament. As First Sea Lord, Beatty opposed the cuts in naval strength. He used his high profile and popularity to press the navy's case in government with some success. Convinced the Navy was the first line of Imperial defence, he stressed the need for a strong battlefleet and advocated the construction of a base at Singapore to meet the Japanese threat. He struggled unsuccessfully to regain control of the Fleet Air Arm.
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