Martin Dunbar-Nasmith

Admiral Sir Martin Eric Dunbar-Nasmith, VC, KCB, KCMG (1 April 1883 – 29 June 1965) was a Royal Navy officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was born Martin Eric Nasmith, adding "Dunbar" to his surname in 1923.

Nasmith was born on 1 April 1883 at 136 Castelnau in Barnes, which was then in the county of Surrey and is now in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.

Educated at Eastman's Royal Naval Academy in Winchester and HMS Britannia at Dartmouth, Nasmith joined the Royal Navy in 1898.

On 8 May 1912, King George V was in HMY Victoria and Albert in Weymouth Bay to witness Fleet manoeuvres. Because of heavy fog, the programme was disrupted, and the King expressed the desire to dive in a submarine. He embarked on HM Submarine D4, under then Lieutenant Nasmith's command, and (in the words of The Times of 10 May) "made a lengthy run in her when she was submerged." What made the occasion all the more remarkable was the presence on board of his second son, Prince Albert, who was to become King George VI, of Winston Churchill (First Lord of the Admiralty and future prime minister), and of then Captain Roger Keyes, Inspecting Captain of Submarines, who was to become the first Director of Combined Operations (the Commandos) in the early part of the Second World War.

A former prime minister, Arthur Balfour, was also embarked, but the then prime minister, H. H. Asquith, who had been with the King's party earlier in the day, had had to return to London on urgent business and did not dive in D4. Nasmith's diary records that: "We remained under water for ten to 15 minutes, during which time he showed great interest in the proceedings, periscope in particular."

A Navy News article from July 2012 by Commander William Corbett (at whose parents' wedding Nasmith had proposed the toast to the health of the bride and groom), records that Nasmith often wondered what would have happened to the course of 20th century history had he sunk that day, a not unreasonable thought, given that he had very nearly sunk in the Solent in 1905 whilst in command of HM Submarine A4.

Dunbar-Nasmith was 32 years old, and a lieutenant commander during the First World War, when the following actions took place for which he was awarded the VC.

During the period 20 May – 8 June 1915 in the Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles, Turkey, Lieutenant-Commander Nasmith, in command of H.M. Submarine E.11, destroyed one large Turkish gunboat, two transports, one ammunition ship, three store ships and four other vessels.