A new timeline depicting the history of the Royal Navy from the mid-19th century to the modern era has been officially opened at Britannia Royal Naval College.

The timeline, which is an extension of the Britannia Museum, comes as the museum received its formal accreditation by Arts Council England (ACE).

Designed and produced by David Craddock, the timeline starts in 1863, when the wooden hulk HMS Britannia arrived in the Dart to start the Royal Navy’s long association with Dartmouth.

It places the history of officer training in the local area in the context of the wider Royal Navy together with national and global history. It also includes displays and biographies of some of the Royal Navy’s greatest leaders starting with Admiral of the Fleet Sir John ‘Jacky’ Fisher and ending with Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Leach.

The Lord Glendonbrook, Michael Bishop, unveiled the plaque to officially open the timeline. It was funded by the Michael Bishop Foundation and the Britannia Association.

Doctor Jane Harrold, Britannia Museum curator, said: “The Commanding Officer of the College, Captain Jol Woodard, came up with the idea of the timeline.

“We were very keen to embrace it as an opportunity to take the Museum out into the main corridor in a way that everyone passing through the College would be able to appreciate and learn from.

“As well as David, who we had worked with on our Britannia’s Voices oral history project, our museum trustee, Mike Pearce, was heavily involved in developing the content, particularly of the naval history line.”

The Britannia Museum was the brainchild of curator Dr Richard Porter. It was opened by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh in July 1999 and eight years later the Britannia Museum Trust was established to safeguard the history and artefacts. The establishment of proper governance was also a necessary precondition of accreditation; a benchmark for good practice in the museum world and the route to funding for projects such as Britannia’s Voices in 2015-17.

The Museum room was refurbished in 2013 with funds raised from the sale of Britannia 150 swords. It was at this point that the ‘house style’ was developed by the original museum designer Angela White, which is carried through to the new timeline.

The faint lettering in the background are the words of the Royal Navy’s ethos; courage, commitment, discipline, respect, integrity and leadership, while the letters themselves are inspired by the lettering used by the architect, Sir Aston Webb, on the front of the College.

Dr Harrold said: “ACE accreditation is recognition that the Britannia Museum is a professionally run body which meets nationally recognised standards. Chief among the proponents of accreditation was David Lingard, who having successfully completed the process for the Dartmouth town museum gamely volunteered to go through the whole, rigorous process again on behalf of the Britannia Museum.

“Accreditation is not however the end of the process; much work and many challenges lie ahead to maintain and develop the Museum as an integral part of the BRNC.”