Michael Wynn, 7th Baron Newborough

Robert Charles Michael Vaughan Wynn, 7th Baron Newborough, DSC (24 April 1917 – 11 October 1998) was a British peer and Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve officer who played a decisive role during the St. Nazaire Raid in 1942 where he commanded a Motor Torpedo Boat. Captured after his boat had to be abandoned, he was sent to Colditz after an escape attempt. He was repatriated after feigning illness.

Early life Born the eldest son of Sir Robert Vaughan Wynn, 6th Baron Newborough, and Ruby Irene Severne, he was educated at Oundle School.

Military career British Army In 1935 Wynn was commissioned into the 9th Lancers, then joined the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards and the 16/5th Lancers. He was invalided out of the British Army in 1940. In May 1940, now a civilian, he was given command of a yacht acting as the Air Sea Rescue boat for the Naval air station at Lee-on-Solent. While British forces were being evacuated from northern France he sailed to Dunkirk, and made five successful trips before being hit by shellfire just making Ramsgate. Wynn then took command of a Norfolk fishing boat and went to beaches south of Calais where it was thought the Guards were hiding in the sand dunes. Wearing naval uniform in case he was taken for a spy he searched for but never found the Guards. The Royal Navy recognising his abilities gave him a commission in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) in July 1941.

Royal Navy Stationed at , a Coastal Forces shore base in Gosport, he was involved with a plan to attack the German battleships and . The plan involved a motor torpedo boat specially modified during construction by Vosper Thornycroft, the MTB 74, which was specially built to house torpedo tubes on its foredeck instead of midships. The mission would be to fire the modified torpedoes over the anti-submarine net in Brest harbour where they would sink to the sea-bed and explode after a time delay. The weapons were nicknamed 'Wynns weapons'. The MTB entered service in December 1941. However while this experiment was being trialled, the German ships made a daring escape from Brest to the Baltic, nicknamed the "Channel Dash". Left without a mission, MTB 74 was instead re-tasked to the St. Nazaire raid where it was proposed she could torpedo the inner caisson of the Normandy Dock or a lockgate to the Submarine Basin. Further tests were carried out prior to the raid on St Nazaire and adjustments made to the delayed-action mechanism of the torpedoes which were fired by MTB 74.

Having picked up survivors from Campbeltown and an MTB, Wynn was ordered to return to England.

Colditz Wynn now sporting a glass eye courtesy of his captors was moved to Marlag Nord POW camp near Bremen. After escaping he was sent to Colditz in January 1943 and was repatriated on medical grounds in January 1945. Hearing that Lovegrove was held in a German naval camp he volunteered to join the relieving force and met again with the man who had saved his life at St. Nazaire. His son succeeded him as the 8th Baron Newborough.