Norman Douglas Holbrook
Norman Douglas Holbrook Norman Holbrook (born
9 July 1888 Southsea,
Hampshire; died
Midhurst,
Sussex 3 July 1976) 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.
He was 26 years old, and a
Lieutenant in the
Royal Navy during the
First World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.
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A scale model of the B11 in Holbrook |
On
13 December 1914 in the
Dardanelles,
Turkey, Lieutenant Holbrook was in command of the submarine
B11, an old and obsolete craft built in 1905. Notwithstanding the difficulties of a treacherous current in the Straits, he dived under five rows of mines and torpedoed and sank the Turkish battleship
Mesudiye, which was guarding the mine-field. He then succeeded in bringing the
B11 back to the Mediterranean, in spite of being attacked by gun fire and torpedo boats. When they got back to safety the
B11 had been submerged for 9 hours.
Holbrook was the first submariner to be awarded the VC.
He later achieved the rank of
Commander.
Holbrook is probably the only VC recipient to have a town (and until May
2004) a local government area named for him. On
24 August,
1915 amid a wave of anti-German feeling related to the
First World War the name of the
New South Wales Eastern
Riverina town of Germanton was changed to
Holbrook to honour the recent VC recipient. He subsequently visited the town on three occasions. His widow, Mrs Gundula Holbrook, donated his medal to the Council of the Shire of Holbrook in
1982 and subsequently made a substantial donation to the establishment of a submariners' memorial on the town in
1995 and in
1997 visited the town to unveil it.
A bronze statue of Lt. Holbrook stands in Germanton Park, Holbrook.
Holbrook's medal was donated to the Council of the Shire of Holbrook, New South Wales in
1982. It subsequently passed to
Greater Hume Shire Council upon the amalgamation of several Riverina shires in May
2004. As of April 2006 the medal, together with Holbook's other decorations, is kept in a bank vault. It is not on public display. Replicas may be seen at the Submarine Museum, Holbrook.
*
Monuments To Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
*
The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
*
VCs of the First World War - 1914 (Gerald Gliddon, 1994)
*
VCs of the First World War - The Naval VCs (Stephen Snelling, 2002)
*
Holbrook, New South Wales*
Location of grave and VC medal (West Sussex)*
Notes on the town and the several memorials with images*
ÇANAKKALE GEÇİLMEZ page(in Turkish) about the action and the battleship sunk in the action (with images)
*
Greater Hume Shire CouncilThis page has been
migrated from the
Victoria Cross Reference with permission.
