Geoffrey Saxton White

He steered his submarine through shellfire to save the crew.

Geoffrey Saxton White was born at Bromley, Kent, on 2 July 1886, the son of William Henry and Alice White. His family lived at Charlwood Park House in Surrey. Educated at Parkfield School, Haywards Heath, and then in Bradfield College's Navy Class in 1900–1901, he entered naval training in HMS Britannia in May 1901, aged fourteen. He went to sea in HMS Aboukir in 1902 and became a midshipman that year. His early appointments included Amphitrite and the battleships Glory and Venerable, with service overseas and in the Channel Fleet. He became a sub-lieutenant in 1906 and a lieutenant in October 1908.

In January 1909 White began submarine instruction at Portsmouth in the depot ship HMS Mercury. He subsequently served as first lieutenant of B7 before receiving command of A4 in July 1911. Command of C27 followed later that year. He married Sybil Thomas at Plymouth in June 1911; they had two sons, Peter and Anthony, and a daughter, Sheila.

White returned to the surface fleet in April 1914 for service in the battleship HMS Monarch, remaining through the opening period of the First World War. Back in submarines in 1915, he commanded D6 in 1916 before taking over E14 from Edward Courtney Boyle that August. He was promoted lieutenant-commander in October 1916. E14 operated in the Mediterranean and was sent to Corfu in 1917 to reinforce the Allied effort to contain enemy submarines passing through the Otranto Straits.

In January 1918 White was ordered to penetrate the Dardanelles and attack the battlecruiser Goeben, which had grounded near Nagara Point after striking mines. E14 sailed from Mudros on 27 January and negotiated the defended straits, but the target had already been refloated. White turned back. At about 8.45 a.m. on 28 January he fired a torpedo at an enemy vessel. Eleven seconds later an explosion extinguished the lights, sprang the forward hatch and left E14 leaking badly. The submarine rose to a depth of fifteen feet and came under fire from the shore forts, then submerged again.

As control deteriorated and the air supply dwindled, White brought E14 to the surface. With the boat steered from below, he remained exposed on deck while shore batteries fired from both sides. After roughly half an hour, the damage had become so severe that he turned towards the shore to give his men a chance of escape. A shell killed him before the submarine sank. Nine men survived and became prisoners. White was thirty-one, and his death ended his naval career during the action itself. His posthumous Victoria Cross was announced on 24 May 1919.

Official Victoria Cross citation London Gazette, 24 May 1919, issue 31354, page 6445 Lieutenant-Commander Geoffrey Saxton White, R.N.

For most conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty as Commanding Officer of H.M. Submarine "E 14" on the 28th of January, 1918.

"E 14" left Mudros on the 27th of January under instructions to force the Narrows and attack the "Goeben," which was reported aground off Nagara Point after being damaged during her sortie from the Dardanelles. The latter vessel was not found and "E 14" turned back. At about 8.45 a.m. on the 28th of January a torpedo was fired from "E 14" at an enemy ship; 11 seconds after the torpedo left the tube a heavy explosion took place, caused all lights to go out, and sprang the fore hatch. Leaking badly the boat was blown to 15 feet, and at once a heavy fire came from the forts, but the hull was not hit. "E 14" then dived and proceeded on her way out.

Soon afterwards the boat became out of control, and as the air supply was nearly exhausted, Lieutenant-Commander White decided to run the risk of proceeding on the surface. Heavy fire was immediately opened from both sides, and, after running the gauntlet for half-an-hour, being steered from below, "E 14" was so badly damaged that Lieutenant-Commander White turned towards the shore in order to give the crew a chance of being saved. He remained on deck the whole time himself until he was killed by a shell.