Richard Sandford

He drove his submarine into a target and lit its fuse alone.

Richard Douglas Sandford was born in Exeter on 11 May 1891, the son of an archdeacon. He entered naval training in 1904 and served in several ships before becoming a lieutenant in 1913. Submarine training followed, with wartime service in boats including W1, G6 and C34.

For the Zeebrugge raid on 22–23 April 1918, Sandford commanded the explosive-filled submarine C3. He drove it between the piles of the railway viaduct, placed the crew in a small boat and lit the fuse. The explosion destroyed the connection to the mole. Wounded during the escape, he received the Victoria Cross.

After recovery he returned to submarine service and commanded C30 before joining G11. He contracted typhoid and died in hospital at Eston on 23 November 1918, shortly after the Armistice. He was buried in Eston Cemetery.

Official Victoria Cross citation

For most conspicuous gallantry. This officer was in command of Submarine C.3, and most skilfully placed that vessel in between the piles of the viaduct before lighting his fuse and abandoning her. He eagerly undertook this hazardous enterprise, although well aware (as were all his crew) that if the means of rescue failed and he or any of his crew were in the water at the moment of the explosion, they would be killed outright by the force of such explosion. Yet Lieutenant Sandford disdained to use the gyro steering, which would have enabled him and his crew to abandon the submarine at a safe distance, and preferred to make sure, as far as was humanly possible, of the accomplishment of his duty.

Fourth Supplement to The London Gazette of 19 July 1918. 23 July 1918, Numb. 30807, pp. 8585-86