Vice Admiral Sir Geoffrey Barnard KCB, CBE, DSO & Bar (12 November 1902 – 19 December 1974) was a Royal Navy officer who became Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff.
Barnard joined the Royal Navy in 1916 during the First World War, and subsequently specialised in Gunnery.[1] He was given command of the destroyer HMS Daring in 1935.[1]
He served in the Second World War as Fleet Gunnery Officer and Deputy Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, earning the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) at the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941,[2] and seeing action at the landings in North Africa in 1942.[1] He took command of the cruiser HMS Aurora in 1944,[1] and was awarded a Bar to his DSO during Operation Dragoon in 1945.[2]
After the War he became Chief Staff Officer to the Flag Officer (Air) in 1946 and Director of the Royal Navy Tactical School in 1948.[1] He was attached to the Indian Navy and commanded the Indian Navy Squadron from 1950 before being appointed Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Warfare) in 1952.[1] He became Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff and a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty in 1953 and Naval Attaché at the Joint Services Mission in Washington D. C. in 1954.[1] His last role was as President of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, in 1956 before retiring in 1959.[1]
In 1926 he married Julyan Frances Crawley; they had one son and two daughters.[2]