James Gordon (Royal Navy officer) James Gordon (Royal Navy officer) Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Alexander Gordon, GCB (6 October 1782 – 8 January 1869) was a Royal Navy officer. As a volunteer, he fought at the Battle of Groix, at the Battle of the Glorious First of June and at the Battle of Cape St Vincent during the French Revolutionary Wars and then, as a midshipman, served under Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson at the Battle of the Nile. Gordon became commanding officer of the 28-gun frigate which took part of a hard-fought action between three British ships and the combined forces of a
Decoration for Officers of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve a pair of decorations which were instituted simultaneously, the other being the Decoration for Officers of the Royal Naval Reserve, often referred to as either the Royal Naval Reserve Officers' Decoration or the Royal Naval Reserve Decoration. The badges of these two decorations are identical and both initially hung from the same all-green ribbon, until a new ribbon was introduced for the Decoration for Officers of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1919. The decoration was also awarded by several countries in the British Empire. Until c. 1947, recipients were entitled to use the post-nominal letters VD, the same as