THE OUTSTANDING AND RARE GREAT WAR ‘V.C. ACTION’ D.S.M. GROUP AWARDED TO CREWMAN OF H.M. SUBMARINE B11. IN WHAT WAS A REMARKABLE FEAT OF ENDURANCE AND GALLANTRY, B.11, WITH A CREW OF JUST 16, ENTERED THE DARDANELLES AND DIVING UNDER FIVE ROWS OF MINES, TORPEDOED THE TURKISH BATTLESHIP MESSUDIYEH, ON 13 DECEMBER 1914, IMMEDIATELY ASSAILED BY GUN-FIRE AND TORPEDO BOATS, B11’S ESCAPE WAS JUST AS REMARKABLE, FOR THE SUBMARINE LOST THE USE OF ITS COMPASS AND GROUNDED SEVERAL TIMES IN SHALLOW WATERS, ALL THE TIME EXPOSED TO ENEMY FIRE BEFORE FINALLY ESCAPING. THIS ACTION RESULTED IN THE AWARD OF A VICTORIA CROSS TO LIEUTENANT N. D. HOLBROOK, THE FIRST V.C. FOR A SUBMARINE ACTION. THE ENTIRE CREW OF THE B11 WERE ALSO DECORATED OR THEIR GALLANTRY, WITH THE SECOND IN COMMAND BEING AWARDED THE D.S.O. AND THE REST OF THE 14 MAN CREW, THE D.S.M.

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL, G.V.R. ‘232229 N. L. RAE. A.B., H.M. SUBMARINE. B.11.’, 1914-15 STAR ‘232229, N. L. RAE, A.B., R.N.’, BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS ‘232229 N. L. RAE. A.B. R.N.’

V.C. London Gazette 22 December 1914: Lieutenant Norman Douglas Holbrook, Royal Navy.

‘For most conspicuous bravery on the 13th December 1914, when in command of the Submarine B.11, he entered the Dardanelles, and, notwithstanding the very difficult current, dived his vessel under five rows of mines and torpedoed the Turkish battleship Messudiyeh, which was guarding the mine-field. Lieutenant Holbrook succeeded in bringing the B.11 safely back, although assailed by gun-fire and torpedo boats, having been submerged on one occasion for nine hours.’

D.S.O. London Gazette 22 December 1914: Lieutenant Sydney Thornhill Winn.

‘In respect of his services as second in command of Submarine B.11 which torpedoed the Turkish battleship Messudiyeh in the Dardanelles on the 13th December 1914.’

D.S.M. London Gazette 1 January 1915: Able Seaman Norman Lester Rae, O.N., 232229, in a joint citation with the 13 remaining members of B11’s crew:

‘For service in the Dardanelles in Submarine B.11 on the 13th December 1914.’

Norman Lester Rae was born in Basingstoke on 19 August 1888 and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Second Class on 15 September 1904. Advanced Able Seaman on 24 April 1908, he served during the Great War in the submarine B.11 under the command of Lieutenant N. D. Holbrook. Following the outbreak of the Great War, H.M. Submarine B.11, a rather primitive vessel launched on 21 February 1906, with a crew of two officer and 14 ratings, was redeployed from Malta to Tenedos, an island just south of the entrance to the Dardanelles………………

Condition GVF, sold with research (digital), including service papers. None of the other D.S.M.’s can be located from past sales of major auction houses.

A really quite outstanding and important Submariners gallantry award.