Godfrey served as Director of the Naval Intelligence Division from February 1939 to November 1942

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John Henry Godfrey (1888–1971) entered the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1903, served in the Dardanelles campaign in 1915, held staff and command postings through the 1920s–30s — including command of HMS Repulse (1936–39) — and was promoted Rear-Admiral on taking up the post of Director of Naval Intelligence (DNI) in February 1939, a post he held until November 1942, when he was made Vice-Admiral. He later commanded the Royal Indian Navy (1943–46). The National Maritime Museum's own catalogue of his papers confirms the collection includes "papers relating to his time as Director of Naval Intelligence (DNI), including several Naval Intelligence Division (NID) monographs." A second, independent Tier 2 source (Dr Paul Winter, previewing his forthcoming book Fathoming the Führer) corroborates the same start and end dates in nearly identical language. Godfrey is widely described as an inspiration for Ian Fleming's fictional "M" — Fleming served under him in the NID during the war.

This dates and anchors the man behind the Admiralty Code's 1939 origin, which the vault had previously cited only through a secondhand account of the invention itself, without ever separately confirming Godfrey's own tenure and career from a direct biographical record.