Bondsmen are acquired from a variety of means, such as rounding up criminals or unsavory elements of Imperial society or simply being born into their status aboard a vessel. Alongside Servitors, these poor souls undertake the most thankless and often most dangerous tasks on a vessel. The lowest level of personnel in the Navy hierarchy are bondsmen, which in truth are little more than slaves. One of the foremost duties of the Navy is to transport the Imperial Guard to warzones, and as such every Navy vessel no matter how small will sport some means of training deck to accommodate them. These include Navigators from the Navis Nobilite for navigation, Astropaths for interstellar communication, and Tech-Priests from the Adeptus Mechanicus for higher maintenance. Imperial Navy vessels require personnel from other Imperial factions in order to function. Typically, Naval Security troopers are equipped with black body armour and shotguns. These consist of units of armed soldiers intended to put down mutinies, board enemy ships, and protect Imperial Navy installations.

The Imperial Navy also operates Naval Security Battalions, also known as Naval Armsmen. The Imperial Navy has a corps of Commissars that oversee the morale and discipline of Naval personnel, known as the Fleet Commissariat. He oversees five Segmentum Lord High Admirals.Д«elow the Lord Admirals are various Sector and Battlefleet commanders, then individual ship Captains and junior officers and below them a myriad array of Non-Commissioned Officers. The Imperial Navy is headed by the Lord High Admiral of the Imperial Navy who is often one of the High Lords of Terra.

Size of the ships in the imperial fleet