Varyl Begg

Who was Varyl Begg?

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Varyl Cargill Begg GCB, DSO, DSC, KStJ was a Royal Navy officer. He fought in World War II as gunnery officer in a cruiser taking part in the North Atlantic convoys, the Norwegian campaign and the occupation of Iceland and then as gunnery officer in a battleship operating in the Mediterranean Fleet during the Battle of Cape Matapan. After that he commanded a destroyer during the Korean War and was Commander-in-Chief of Far East Command during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation. He was First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff in the late 1960s. In that role he vehemently opposed plans to introduce large new aircraft carriers and instead managed to persuade the Government to develop the design for three small "through-deck cruisers".