In the summer of 1917 the growth of the convoy system necessitated further expansion of the Naval Staff, and a Mercantile Movements Division was added.  The duties of this division were to organize and regulate the movements of convoys of merchant ships.  A staff of officers had been by this time sent abroad to the ports from which convoys were directed to sail, and the Mercantile Movements Division, acting in close touch with the Ministry of Shipping, arranged the assembly and movements of the convoys and their protection.

The organization of the portion of the Staff under the A.C.N.S. at this stage is shown below.

A.C.N.S.
|
------------------------------------------------
|              |               |               |
Director of     Director of     Director of     Director of
Mercantile      Trade           Anti-Sub-       Mine-Sweeping
Movements       Division.       marine          Division. 
Division.       (Captain R.N.)  Division.       (Captain R.N.)
(Captain R.N.)       |          (Captain R.N.)       |
|            Staff.            |             Staff.
--------------                     Staff.
|            |
Convoy      Movements
Section.      Section.

The portion of the organization under the A.C.N.S. comprised the following numbers in December, 1917: 

Mercantile Movements Division, 36 Officers, with a clerical staff.

Trade Division, 43 Officers, with a clerical staff of 10 civilians.

Anti-Submarine Division, 26 Officers, with a clerical staff.

Mine-Sweeping Division, 8 Officers, with a clerical staff.

Of this number practically the whole of the Mercantile Movements and Anti-Submarine Divisions were added during the year 1917, whilst large additions were also made to the Trade Division, owing to the great increase of work.

During the first half of the year 1917 the Operations Division of the Naval Staff received a much needed increase of strength by the appointment of additional officers, charged, under the Director of the Operations Division, with the detailed preparation of plans for operations.  Further additions to this branch of the Staff were made in the latter half of the year.

Matters were in this position with the reorganization of the Naval Staff in hand and working towards a definite conclusion when, to the intense regret of those who had been privileged to work with him, Sir Edward Carson left the Admiralty to become a member of the War Cabinet.

Before leaving the subject of work at the Admiralty during Sir Edward Carson’s administration, mention should be made of the progress made in the difficult task of providing officers for the rapidly expanding Fleet.  The large programme of small craft started in the early part of 1917 involved the eventual provision of a great number of additional officers.  Admiral Sir Cecil Burney, the Second Sea Lord, took this matter in hand with conspicuous success, and the measures which he introduced tided us over a period of much difficulty and made provision for many months ahead.  Sir Cecil Burney, by reason of his intimate knowledge of the personnel—­the result of years of command afloat—­was able to settle also many problems relating to personnel which had been the cause of dissatisfaction in the past.