Former Flag Officer Commanding the Naval Service Liam Brett has died.
Commodore Brett played a pivotal role in the expansion of the service in the 1970s and 1980s.
The late Commodore Brett (86) was central to the development of the Naval Service beginning when the service commissioned Verolme Cork Dockyard to build the LE Deirdre in 1971.
Under Commodore Brett, the Naval Service grew with the acquisition of a further seven ships to allow it carry out offshore patrol and fishery protection duties after Ireland joined the EEC.
Involved in the operation to recover the Aer Lingus Viscount that crashed off Tuskar Rock in 1967 , he was also involved in the recovery operation of Air India off West Cork in 1985.
And he also played a major role in the interception by three Naval Service ships of the MV Claudia with guns for the Provisional IRA off Helvick Head in Co Waterford in 1973
Eleven years later, Commodore Brett was involved in a similarly successful operation when the LE Emer and the LE Aisling interecepted the Marita Anne with guns off the Kerry coast.
Commodore Brett, who joined the Naval Service in 1947, enjoyed a 44-year career in the Naval Service, rising to the rank of Flag Officer, serving at that rank until retirement in 1990.
Commodore Brett died on Friday at Bon Secours Care Village, Mount Desert in Cork and will be buried after requiem mass in Glounthaune on Monday.
He was a native of Cappauniac, Cahir, Co Tipperary, but lived for a period in Lucan, Co Dublin, before moving to Glounthaune in Co Cork.
He is predeceased by his wife, Eileen but survived by his daughters, Brid and Denise and sons, Martin, who followed him into the Naval Service, and Joseph, and five grandchildren.
