Gordon Noll was born in 1918, the son of Maurice George Noll (a mining engineer) and Gwendoline Edith Noll (née Walker) who were married in Malta in 1915.  He  joined the Royal Navy as a Special Entry Cadet on 1 January 1936.  He was promoted to Midshipman on 1 January 1937 and was appointed to the battleship HMS MALAYA on 25 May 1937.   Promotion to Acting Sub Lieutenant followed on 1 January 1939 and, on 31 July 1939 he was appointed to the destroyer HMS VESPER.  He was Mentioned in Despatches in January 1940 for his services in VESPER (London Gazette 1 January 1940).

Gordon Noll was appointed to HMS DOLPHIN ‘for Submarines’ on 4 March 1940 and then joined the submarine base HMS ELFIN at Blyth on 20 April 1940.  He was promoted to Lieutenant on 1 June 1940 and joined Submarine Depot Ship HMS CYCLOPS at the Holy Loch on 10 July 1940.

He was next appointed to HMS DOLPHIN on 15 September 1940 ‘for Submarine HMS  USK as 3rd Hand Standing By whilst Completing’ at Vickers at Barrow.  After completion USK left Barrow for trials and work up on 10 October 1940.  It was a very short appointment as he returned to HMS DOLPHIN on 19 November 1940.  A return to HMS CYCLOPS, this time as First Lieutenant of HMS H50, came on 1 February 1941, followed by First Lieutenant of HMS H33 in May 1941.

Gordon Noll was married, on 3 May 1941, to Miss Daisy “Diana” Constance Joan Martin in the Parish Church at Plymstock in Devon.  He next joined the Submarine Depot Ship HMS FORTH ‘for Submarine HMS TRIBUNE as First Lieutenant’ on 5 July 1941 – joining when the Submarine was in the Graving Dock at Blyth prior to conducting several weeks of training for new submariners in the North Sea off Blyth.  He left TRIBUNE as it went into a refit with an appointment as First Lieutenant of HMS P511 to date November 1941. P511 was the former US Navy submarine R1 which was transferred to the Royal Navy at New London, Connecticut on 4 November 1941.  After crossing the Atlantic, P511 was employed in a training role in the Clyde areas.

On 27 February 1942 Gordon Noll was appointed to HMS DOLPHIN ‘for Submarine HMS P46 as First Lieutenant -Standing By whilst completing’ at the Vickers Shipyard in Barrow.  After the submarine commissioned he was onboard for one war patrol in Norwegian water and two Mediterranean War Patrols.  Gordon Noll took his Commanding Officers Qualifying Course from 28 September 1942.  He then served in command of HMS H34 from 10 November 1942 to 1 February 1943 and was then appointed to ‘Submarine HMS UNTAMED – Standing By whilst completing’ at the Vickers Shipyard at Walker on Tyne.  The submarine was commissioned on 12 April 1943.

On 30 May 1943 UNTAMED was exercising with ships of the 8th Escort Group off Campbeltown but failed to return to harbour and was lost with all hands.  After the submarine had been located and salvaged the cause of her loss was established as flooding through a incorrectly operated sluice valve.  Gordon Noll is buried in the Dunoon Cemetery, South Coll Grave No. 26 50.

Gordon Noll’s wife later married a Squadron Leader Mayes in Beirut in the Lebanon in the early 1950s and, at the age of 100, she cut the first sod for the new Submariner Memorial at the National Arboretum in 2021, subsequently attending the unveiling in May the following year. She died at the age of 103 in July 2024.