27 April 2008

Victoria Cross: C. C. Dobson

CLAUDE CONGREVE DOBSON, DSO

Commander, Royal Navy

Born: 1 January 1885, Barton Regis, Bristol
Died: 26 June 1940, Chatham, Kent

Citation: For most conspicuous gallantry, skill and devotion to duty on the occasion of the attack on Kronstadt Harbour on the 18th August, 1919. Commander Dobson organised and was in command of the Coastal Motor Boat Flotilla. He led the flotilla through the chain of forts to the entrance of the harbour. Coastal Motor Boat No. 31, from which he directed the general operations, then passed in, under a very heavy machine-gun fire, and torpedoed the Bolshevik Battleship "Andrei Pervozanni," subsequently returning through the heavy fire of the forts and batteries to the open sea.

(London Gazette Issue dated 11 Nov 1919, published 11 Nov 1919.)


Note: Lieutenant G C Steele, of CMB 88, was also awarded the Victoria Cross for this operation; four other officers received the DSO (including Lieutenant A W S Agar VC), and seven received the DSC.

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