Admiral Wilmot Stuart Nicholson CB (18 May 1872 – 9 June 1947) was an officer who became Chief of the Submarine Service.
Nicholson joined the Royal Navy in 1891. He was serving as a midshipman in the corvette HMS Calliope when the vessel was the only one present to avoid being sunk or stranded in the tropical cyclone that struck Apia, Samoa in 1889 during the Samoan crisis.
Promoted to captain on 30 June 1909, he became commanding officer of the battleship HMS Exmouth in July 1912 and of the battleship HMS Dreadnought in December 1912.
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, resulting in significant loss of life.
After commanding the Harwich Force from 1915 to 1916, he became commanding officer of the battleship HMS Collingwood in December 1916 and of the battlecruiser HMS Furious in March 1917.
After the war Nicholson commanded the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle during her trials. He went on to be commander of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron in May 1921 and Chief of the Submarine Service in September 1923.
Both he and, more particularly, his wfe were anti-semitic, fascist zealots and admirers of Hitler. His 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. It contained details of the 'destroyer deal' and was considered to be too secret to be discussed in court. She was interned instead but, in December 1940 it was decided to prosecute her. Despite overwhelming evidence against her, the jury found her not guilty, a decision which the Solicitor General said was 'the most astounding verdict he had ever heard.