Vice Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

Sir Geoffrey William Roger Biggs, (23 November 1938 – 29 June 2002) was a senior

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

officer who served as Deputy Commander-in-Chief Fleet from 1992 to 1995.''Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Biggs.''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

(London, England), Friday, 12 July 2002; pg. 32; Issue 67501

Early life and family

Biggs was born on 23 November 1938, the son of Lieutenant Commander (later Vice Admiral Sir) Hilary Biggs and Florence Biggs ( Backhouse) and grandson of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Backhouse. He was educated at Charterhouse and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. In 1967, Biggs married Marcia Leask; they had three sons. Following the dissolution of his first marriage, he married Caroline Kerr (née Daly) in 1981; they had one daughter.

Naval career

Biggs joined the

in 1958 and qualified as a submariner.Obituary: Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Biggs
The Telegraph, 3 July 2002 He went on to command the

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

and then the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

. In the late 1970s he also commanded the submarine patrolling the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; , ; ) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters.World Wildlife Fund, 2008. It was known earlier among Russi ...

above Norway. He was appointed Commanding Officer of the frigate and Captain of the 2nd Frigate Squadron in 1985, Director of Naval Operations and Trade under the Naval Staff at the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

in 1986 and Director of Naval Staff Duties in 1987. His last appointments were as Flag Officer Gibraltar in 1990 and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Fleet in 1992 before retiring in 1995. Biggs was appointed a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

in the

1993 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1993 were appointments by most of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other count ...

Later life

In retirement Biggs worked for

International Computers Limited International Computers Limited (ICL) was a British computer hardware, computer software and computer services company that operated from 1968 until 2002. It was formed through a merger of International Computers and Tabulators (ICT), English Ele ...

. He died on 29 June 2002, aged 63.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biggs, Geoffrey 1938 births 2002 deaths Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People educated at Charterhouse School Royal Navy vice admirals