OBITUARY
V ICE-ADM. SIR Charles 
HUGHES HALLETT
    
   Planning of wartime
»    anti-aircraft defences
Vice-Admiral Sir Charles
‘Hughes Hallett, KCB, CBE,
who died on December 2 at the
age of 87, served in both world
wars, holding important staff
positions,‘ and also, as an
inventor and-organiser, made a
significant contribution to
improving the air defences of
the Fleet in the years leading up
to the Second World War.
Cecil Charles Hughes Hallett
was born on April 6 1898 and
entered the Royal Navy in
1911. As a midshipman he went
to sea in HMS Vengeance in-
i9l4 and thereafter saw service
at the Dardanelles, Where he
mmmanded a' picket boat
1,-if riding troops_on'beaches raked
by heavy fire, and was later in
the Grand Fleet at Jutland.
Immediately after the war he
spent a period at ‘Emmanuel
College, Cambridge. and later
specidised in gunnery, and
sperl ‘year on the experimen-
tal statf of HMS Excellent. In
1931 he received an award from
the Lott Naval Trust Efiiciency
Fund forhis invention of a foot
, pedalfiring gear forgyro firing.
1 Between 1936 and 19,38 he
was at the Naval Ordnance
Department where he was
responsible for the anti-aircraft
rearmament of the Fleet.
In 1940 he took command of
the anti-aircraft cruiser HMS
Curacoa, with the task of
providing AA defence for
convoys off p the east coast of
Scotland which were a natural
target for German air attacks.
In 1942 he went to Admiralty
where, for the next two years, he
was involved in the planning of
a whole range V of _ amphibious
operations from Madagascar to
the Normandy landings. During
this period he also accompanied
Churchill to the conferences at
Casablanca, Washington, Que-
bec and Cairo.
From p 1944 he was in
command of the aircraft carrier
Implacable, taking part in raids
on German convoys off the
Norwegian coast, before joining
the first Aircraft Carrier
Squadron in the Far East for the
final phase of operations against
Japan. I -
After the war he held senior
appointments, among them,
Chief of Staff to Admiral Sir
Philip Vian, Commander-ire
Chief Home Fleet, 1950-51 and
finally, Admiral British Joint
Services Mission, ‘Washington,
I952-54. i .
After retirement he pursued,_a
‘business career and was chair-
man of the Gas Purification and
Chemical Co Ltd from 1958 to
1960, as well as being personal
assistant to the chairman of the
Charterhouse Group, A1955-59,.
He was a Younger Brother of
Trinity .House, 1938, a Master
of the Company of Glovers,
1968, and a Fellow of the
British Institute of ' Manage-
rnent.