Admiral Sir Edward Desmond Bewley McCarthy, KCB, DSO & Bar (15 November 1893 – 8 June 1966) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic Station.

[1] Promoted to captain in 1935, McCarthy was the highest ranking British officer at the Battle of Cape Passero in 1940, and[2] he commanded HMS Ajax from 1940[3] and HMS Anson from 1943, taking part in Operation Tungsten against the German battleship Tirpitz in April 1944,[4] and then becoming Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff in 1944.

[5] After the war he was appointed Rear Admiral, Destroyers in the Mediterranean Fleet and then Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic Station from 1948.

"[1] He spoke fluent Latin and Italian, and thought of Italy as his favorite foreign country.

Many of his Italian friends in London were educators and pro-democracy activists who had to flee Italy due to the fascist regime.