Wilmot Nicholson
{{Short description|Royal Navy admiral (1872-1947)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Wilmot Nicholson
|birth_date= 18 May 1872
|death_date= {{death-date and age|9 June 1947 |18 May 1872}}
|birth_place=
|death_place=
|image=
|caption=
|nickname=
|allegiance= {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} United Kingdom
|serviceyears= 1891–1927
|rank= Admiral
|branch= 23px Royal Navy
|commands= HMS Exmouth
HMS Dreadnought
HMS Hogue
Harwich Force
HMS Collingwood
HMS Furious
HMS Eagle
2nd Cruiser Squadron
|unit=
|battles=Samoan crisis
World War I
|awards=Companion of the Order of the Bath
|laterwork=
}}
Admiral Wilmot Stuart Nicholson CB (18 May 1872 – 9 June 1947) was a Royal Navy officer who became Chief of the Submarine Service.
Naval career
Nicholson joined the Royal Navy in 1891.{{London Gazette|issue=26356|page=7551|date=23 December 1892}} He was serving as a midshipman in the corvette HMS Calliope when, in "one of the most famous episodes of seamanship in the 19th century", the vessel was the only ship present to avoid being sunk or stranded in the tropical cyclone that struck Apia, Samoa in 1889 during the Samoan crisis.Lyon, p. 39.{{cite web|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8167104|title=Admiral's wife freed|publisher=The Argus|date= 9 May 1941|accessdate=6 September 2015}} In July 1902 he was posted as first lieutenant and gunnery officer on the pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Prince George, serving in the Channel Squadron.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence |date=8 July 1902 |page=11 |issue=36814}} Promoted to captain on 30 June 1909,{{cite web|url=http://www.admirals.org.uk/admirals/individual.php?RecNo=382|title=Wilmot Stuart Nicholson|publisher=Admirals.org|accessdate=6 September 2015}} he became commanding officer of the battleship HMS Exmouth in July 1912 and of the battleship HMS Dreadnought in December 1912.{{cite web|url=http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/ROYAL%20NAVY%20WARSHIPS.pdf|title=Captains commanding Royal Navy Warships|accessdate=6 September 2015|archive-date=14 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714184102/http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/ROYAL%20NAVY%20WARSHIPS.pdf|url-status=dead}}
Nicholson served in the First World War becoming commanding officer of the cruiser HMS Hogue in August 1914: in the action of 22 September 1914 two torpedoes struck Hogue while sailing in the Broad Fourteens; within five minutes, Nicholson gave the order to abandon ship, and after 10 minutes she capsized before sinking at 07:15, result in significant loss of life.Massie, p. 134 After commanding the Harwich Force from 1915 to 1916, he became commanding officer of the battleship HMS Collingwood in December 1916 and of the battlecruiser HMS Furious in March 1917.
After the war Nicholson commanded the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle during her trials.Friedman, p. 79 He went on to be commander of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron in May 1921 and Chief of the Submarine Service in September 1923.{{cite web|url=http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Senior%20Royal%20Navy%20Appointments%201900-.pdf|title=Senior Royal Navy Appointments|accessdate=6 September 2015|archive-date=15 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315105247/http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Senior%20Royal%20Navy%20Appointments%201900-.pdf|url-status=dead}}
Family
Nicholson's wife, Christabel Sybil Caroline Nicholson, was arrested for possession of a paper obtained illegally from the American Embassy in 1940 during the Second World War but was found not guilty of offences under the Official Secrets Act in May 1941.
References
{{reflist}}
Sources
- {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=British Carrier Aviation: The Evolution of the Ships and Their Aircraft|year=1988|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=0-87021-054-8}}
- {{cite book| last =Lyon| first =David| title =Steam, Steel and Torpedoes| work = The Ship| publisher =W.S. Cowell, Ltd. for HM Stationery Office| year =1980| location =Ipswich| isbn =0-11-290318-5 }}
- {{cite book|title=Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea |last=Massie|first=Robert K.|authorlink=Robert K. Massie|publisher=Johnathan Cape|year=2004|location= London|isbn=0-224-04092-8}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef|before=Hugh Sinclair}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chief of the Submarine Service|years=1923–1925}}
{{s-aft|after=Vernon Haggard}}
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson, Wilmot}}