History of the branch
Prior to World War One, all Royal Navy images were taken by serving personnel with a keen interest in photography, using their own camera equipment.
In late 1918, it was decided the Royal Navy needed an official photographic branch for intelligence and reconnaissance purposes. A year later in September 1919 an Admiralty Fleet Order was issued and a school of photography opened at Tipner Rangers (HMS Excellent) in Portsmouth.
In June 1937, changes to the branch meant photographers were no longer given dual purpose roles but were instead deployed with the sole responsibility of providing imagery. By the end of World War Two, 1,000 photographers were trained for this purpose.
In the early 1960s, public relations were seen as important and Royal Navy photography was identified as a shop window for the naval service. Photographers were asked to dispatch their film and stills while stories were still relevant - providing them to news outlets across the world.
During the 1970s, among other operations, navy photographers were called upon to capture images of the Falklands War, search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and cover VIP visits to other countries.
When digital cameras were introduced in the early 1990s, the need for instant images became greater and a dedicated Royal Navy Picture Desk was formed.
By the early 2000s, despite national media having their own photographers, access to the branch's frontline imagery saw wide use of pictures and videos for global news reporting such as the Iraq War and hurricane relief in the Caribbean.
This technology went one-step further in August 2017 when for the first time, navy photographers used Wi-Fi adaptors attached to their cameras to send back pictures of aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth entering Portsmouth for the first time. It took just four minutes between the photograph being taken and it being sent to media outlets.
