United States Navy bureau system

The "bureau system" of the United States Navy was the Department of the Navy's material-support organization from 1842 through 1966. The bureau chiefs were largely autonomous, reporting directly to the Secretary of the Navy and managing their respective organizations without the influence of other bureaus. In 1966, the bureaus were gradually replaced by unified commands (generally known as "systems commands" or SYSCOMs) reporting to the Chief of Naval Operations.

Before the bureaus
For the first several decades of the Navy Department's existence, all procurement and material matters were handled directly by the Office of the Secretary of the Navy. As the Navy expanded during the War of 1812, it became clear that this system was not sufficient for the Service's needs.

On February 7, 1815, Congress established a three-member Board of Naval Commissioners to handle material-support matters. As part of the Navy Secretary's office, the Board's jurisdiction generally extended only logistical matters such as supply and construction. The Secretary of the Navy remained in control of many operational aspects of the Navy.

Establishment of the bureau system, 1842
Ultimately, the Board system was unable to provide the Navy with the necessary technical and management control. Among other things, naval technology was becoming increasingly complex during the first half of the 19th century, and required more specialized oversight. In the early 1840s, Congress decided to abolish the Board of Naval Commissioners and replace them with a more specialized bureaucracy based on broad functional areas such as shipbuilding.

The first five bureaus were established by Act of Congress on August 31, 1842. They were the:
 * Bureau of Naval Yards and Docks
 * Bureau of Construction, Equipment, and Repairs;
 * Bureau of Provisions and Clothing;
 * Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography; and
 * Bureau of Medicine and Surgery

Reorganization, 1862
The system was reorganized during the early years of the Civil War. By an act of Congress of July 5, 1862, the existing bureaus were reorganized and increased to eight. As reorganized, these included the:
 * Bureau of Yards and Docks;
 * Bureau of Provisions and Clothing;
 * Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd);
 * Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting;
 * Bureau of Construction and Repair;
 * Bureau of Steam Engineering (later the Bureau of Engineering);
 * Bureau of Navigation (BuNav); and
 * Bureau of Medicine and Surgery

Late 19th century through World War II
The bureau system dominated the Navy's procurement for the rest of the 19th century and into the World War II years. There were a few changes, often brought about by changes in technology or changing missions.

The increasing role of Naval aviation, for example, led Congress in 1921 to consolide technical authority under a new Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer), with responsibility for the procurement of naval aircraft. Previously, this responsibility had been divided among several other Navy bureaus.

Other changes were more superficial, as in 1892 when the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing was renamed the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts (BuSandA).

World War II brought about several other changes. The Bureau of Ships (BuShips) was established in 1940, through the merger of the Bureau of Construction and Repair and the Bureau of Engineering. In 1942, the Bureau of Navigation was renamed the Bureau of Naval Personnel (BuPers), to reflect its change in mission.

Post-World War II through the 1960s
The bureaus' traditional autonomy became hard to maintain after World War II, with the Armed Services' greater emphasis on "Jointness." The complexity of post-war weapons systems was promoting a "systems engineering" approach—an approach that did not fit well with the bureau systems' semi-independence. Other problems related to jurisdiction; the Bureau of Aeronautics' work on unmanned aircraft, for example, overlapped to some degree with the Bureau of Ordnance's work on guided missiles. This particular controversy was resolved in 1959 with the establishment of the Bureau of Naval Weapons (BuWeps), which merged BuAer and BuOrd.

The bureau system largely came to an end in the mid-1960s, in the midst of the Defense Dept.'s overhaul of its entire planning and budgeting system. The bureaus were replaced with "systems commands," or SYSCOMs, which consolidated their functions into broader "systems." The Bureau of Naval Weapons, for example, was replaced by the Naval Air Systems Command, with responsibility for all aircraft, aerial weapons, and related systems, and by the Naval Ordnance Systems Command. BuShips was replaced with the Naval Ship Systems Command (which was later combined with the Naval Ordnance Systems Command to form the Naval Sea Systems Command), with responsibility for all naval shipbuilding. With modifications, the systems-command model remains in place today.