The glacier was mapped during the 1952–54 British North Greenland expedition led by Commander James Simpson.

It was named after the British Admiralty in order to commemorate the assistance given to the expedition by the Royal Navy.

The structure of the cliffs on either side of Admiralty Glacier was examined by the British North Greenland expedition geologists.

Expedition member and glaciologist Hal Lister wrote the following from a campsite at the glacier itself: The striking rock-colours of reds, browns and blacks were edged with snow that was rose-coloured in the fading sun.

The whole atmosphere was of gaunt grandeur, terrific and awesome beneath the jagged, pinnacled cliffs.