Admiral Wilmot Stuart Nicholson CB (18 May 1872 – 9 June 1947) was a Royal Navy officer who became Chief of the Submarine Service.

[1] He was serving as a midshipman in the corvette HMS Calliope when, in "one of the most famous episodes of seamanship in the 19th century", the vessel was the only ship present to avoid being sunk or stranded in the tropical cyclone that struck Apia, Samoa in 1889 during the Samoan crisis.

[2][3] In July 1902 he was posted as first lieutenant and gunnery officer on the pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Prince George, serving in the Channel Squadron.

[6] Nicholson served in the First World War becoming commanding officer of the cruiser HMS Hogue in August 1914: in the action of 22 September 1914 two torpedoes struck Hogue while sailing in the Broad Fourteens; within five minutes, Nicholson gave the order to abandon ship, and after 10 minutes she capsized before sinking at 07:15, result in significant loss of life.

[9] Nicholson's wife, Christabel Sybil Caroline Nicholson, was arrested for possession of a paper obtained illegally from the American Embassy in 1940 during the Second World War but was found not guilty of offences under the Official Secrets Act in May 1941.