Commodore Martin Henry St. Leger Nott, DSO, OBE was an Officer in the Royal Indian Navy.

Nott was regarded as a visionary officer who worked to build the fledgling Indian Navy in her early years after Independence.

[3] He specialised in signals and communication and spent his early years based out of Bombay at HMIS Dalhousie.

He was the only RIN officer to attend the course where he and Sir Gerald Gladstone, who rose to become the Commander-in-Chief, Far East Fleet were course-mates.

[9] With the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Nott was appointed commanding officer of the auxiliary patrol vessel HMIS Ramdas.

[10][11] On 2 February 1940, he moved to Calcutta and took command of the survey ship HMIS Investigator and was in charge of the local naval defence flotilla.

[7] In February 1941, Nott was appointed on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station Admiral Sir Ralph Leatham.

The East Indies Station was headquartered at HMS Lanka in Colombo and Nott served as the liaison officer to the C-in-C.

[15] He subsequently moved to the Royal Naval base in the Persian Gulf – HMS Seabelle.

[7] On 21 March 1944, he was appointed commanding officer of the modified Black Swan-class sloop HMIS Narbada (U40), the flagship of the Royal Indian Navy.

[18] He also directed the operations as the Senior Naval Commander of the bombarding force for Japanese positions on the Arakan coast.

[19] For his courage, tenacity and devotion to duty in operations lasting four months, frequently performed under rapidly changing conditions and with difficult lines of communication, on the Arakan Coast, Nott was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

On 15 August 1947, was constituted Commodore 2nd class and appointed Chief of Staff (COS) to the Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy.

[25] The plans paper Outline Plan for the Reorganisation and Development of the Indian Navy visualised four roles for the Navy:[26] His paper called for the building of a completely Indian-manned force consisting of two light aircraft carriers, three cruisers, eight destroyers, four submarines and "such smaller ships as were necessary for training and auxiliary purposes.

The Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Navy Rear Admiral John Talbot Savignac Hall, the officiating Chief of the Air Staff Air Vice Marshal Subroto Mukerjee, Lieutenant General Dudley Russell and Major General S. M. Shrinagesh were in attendance.