Claude Congreve Dobson
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox military person Rear-Admiral Claude Congreve Dobson, VC, DSO<ref>"Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. ref no 94698: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April 1948</ref> (1 January 1885 – 26 June 1940) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Biography
Dobson was born in Clifton, Bristol, and was educated at Clifton College.<ref>Bristol Post Template:Webarchive</ref> He was an experienced submariner and small motor boat captain who served in World War I. He was 34 years old, and a commander in the Royal Navy serving with the North Russia Relief Force when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC:
On 18 August 1919 at Kronstadt, Russia, Commander Dobson was in command of the Coastal Motor Boat Flotilla which he led through the chain of forts to the entrance to Kronstadt harbour. CMB 31BD, a 55 ft boat, from which he directed the general operations then passed in under heavy machine-gun fire and hit the battleship Andrei Pervozvanny with both torpedoes, subsequently returning through heavy fire to the open sea.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> CMB 31BD was commanded and helmed by Lieutenant Russell Hamilton McBean.<ref>Supplement to the London Gazette, citation, 11 November 1919</ref>
His VC is currently displayed at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.<ref>Victoria Cross (MED2102) Template:Webarchive</ref>
See also
- Gordon Charles Steele - awarded VC in same action
- Augustus Agar - took part in the operation, awarded VC for an early action in a CMB and precluded from the main operation because of his special work for the secret services.
- Russell Hamilton McBean - awarded DSO in same action
References
- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
- Valiant Hearts, Atlantic Canada and the Victoria Cross, by John Boileau, 2005, publishers Nimbus Publishing ltd.
- Template:Cite book
External links
- 1885 births
- 1940 deaths
- British recipients of the Victoria Cross
- Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
- Royal Navy personnel of the Russian Civil War
- Royal Navy rear admirals
- People educated at Clifton College
- Royal Navy recipients of the Victoria Cross
- Royal Navy officers of World War I
- Burials in Kent
- Royal Navy submariners
- Military personnel from Bristol
- 19th-century Royal Navy personnel