Russian Civil WarSecond World War Rear Admiral Eric Gascoigne Robinson VC, OBE (16 May 1882 – 20 August 1965) was a Royal Navy officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross.

He earned his award by going ashore and single-handedly destroying a Turkish naval gun battery while a lieutenant commander with the fleet stationed off the Dardanelles during the Gallipoli campaign in the First World War.

Robinson was slightly injured in a train accident shortly after his wedding,[3] but soon recovered and was dispatched to the Mediterranean Sea at the outbreak of the First World War on board the old battleship HMS Vengeance.

[2] The exploit in his Victoria Cross nomination was the result of Robinson's close friendship and working relationship with another aggressive officer, Roger Keyes, whom he had first met in China fifteen years before.

Keyes was asked by his superior, Admiral John de Robeck, to prepare an assault on the Turkish gun battery at Orkanieh (also known as Achilles' Tomb),[4] a position between Kum Kale and Yeni Shehr on the southern shore of the Dardanelles.

His force landed undetected early in the morning of 26 February, destroyed two small artillery pieces and made fast progress towards the main battery before being pinned down by Turkish snipers in the mid-afternoon.

The white naval uniforms of the sailors proved an easy target for the Turks and casualties mounted as Turkish reinforcements were brought up to cut off the raiding party.

The open ground of the rise was covered by several Turkish snipers, but realising the importance of removing the artillery overlooking the sea passage, Robinson delegated command of the party to a junior officer and made the climb alone, dodging bullets in his white uniform until he crested the rise unhurt, emerging a few minutes later and starting back apparently unconcerned by the increasingly heavy gunfire directed at him.

Withdrawing in good order, Robinson evaded the Turkish reinforcements and then directed gunfire from the fleet onto their positions, including a force garrisoning an ancient tomb, inflicting heavy casualties.

[10] In August, Robinson was sent to Anzac Cove as a naval liaison officer and on his second day there, was badly wounded near the front line, forcing his evacuation to the UK, where King George V presented him with his medal at Buckingham Palace.

Returned to the Mediterranean in December 1915 following his recuperation, he took over the coastal monitor HMS M21, in which he shelled Turkish positions throughout Egypt and Palestine and was awarded another mention in despatches and the Egyptian Order of the Nile, 4th Class.

Robinson then served in a number of training establishments and dockyards, as well as a brief stint with the Far East Fleet, during which he received the Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure, Third Class for his services.

[16] He retired at age 51 in 1933 as a rear-admiral, but when the Second World War broke out, Robinson immediately offered his services and for three years, commanded convoys across the Atlantic Ocean.

While awaiting a new posting he learned of the death of his son, Midshipman Edward Cordeaux Robinson, in the sinking of the cruiser HMS Neptune in December 1941,[17] From June 1942 to November 1944 he served as Naval Officer in Charge at Dundee.

He died peacefully at Haslar Naval Hospital, Gosport, on 20 August 1965 and was laid to rest at St John's, the village church he had served for 20 years as warden.

Admiralty, 16th August, 1915 The following awards have been made in recognition of services during operations in the vicinity of the Dardanelles prior to 25th–26th April:- The King has been graciously pleased to approve of the grant of the Victoria Cross to Lieutenant-Commander (now Commander) Eric Gascoigne Robinson, R.N., for the conspicuous act of bravery specified below.