Submarine Service VC's

Lieutenant Commander Geoffrey Saxon White

Lieutenant Commander Geoffrey Saxon White, Royal Navy On 21st January 1918

The German battlecruiser "Goeben", which had been mined while attempting a raid against Mundros, ran aground off Nargara Point in the Dardanelles. Repeated air attacks failed to achieve any noticeable results and at dusk on 27th January, HM Submarine E-14, under the command of Lieutenant Commander G.S. White left Imbros in the desperate hope of torpedoing her. Despite being caught in the anti submarine nets, White succeeded in bringing E-14 up to Nagara only to find the Geoben had gone during the night. There was nothing White could do except to reverse course and start back down the Straits. When off Chanak he sighted and fired at a large merchantman, but the torpedo exploded prematurely and E-14 was badly damaged. For two hours the submarine continued her dived passage towards the open sea but finally she became so flooded as to be uncontrollable. White gave the order to surface in the hope of making a final dash clear, but E-14 was hit by gunfire from the shore batteries. With no hope of escape White altered course towards the shore to give his crew a chance of safety, but was himself killed by shellfire shortly before E-14 sank.

Gazetted 24 May 1919.

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