Awarded to Admiral David Thomas Norris (1875-1937). Badge: Gold rimmed red enamel cross with crossed swords between the arms. Just inside the gold rim is a narrow black-enamelled gold-rimmed band. Central medallion is black bearing the Imperial Russian mantle topped with a crown. On the mantle are the initials of St Vladimir. Reverse: In Russian script, '22 SEPTEMBER 1782' (date of founding of order). With neck ribbon of watered silk, black with central red stripe. Parts: 1 Spare neck ribbon. 2 Spare piece of ribbon.

David Thomas Norris (1875-1937) entered the Navy in 1889. In 1893 as a midshipman in HMS 'Nile' in the Mediterranean, he was an eyewitness of the collision between HMS 'Victoria' and HMS 'Camperdown'. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1896, commander in 1907 and captain in 1914. During the First World War he commanded the armed merchant cruiser HMS 'Arlanza' in the 10th Cruiser Squadron, until she had to returned to Belfast for repairs following a mine explosion in the White Sea. Norris then served in the Air Department at the Admiralty. In 1918 he was appointed Commodore Persian Gulf and Mesopotamia, a division of the East Indies station, which involved his command of British naval forces in the Caspian Sea. In May 1919, with six armed merchant vessels, some coastal motor boats and an air unit, attacked thirty Bolshevik ships, fourteen of which were destroyed. Between 1920 and 1921 Norris headed a naval mission to Persia. During the next eight years he held several appointments afloat and ashore, including a brief period in command of the battleship HMS 'Valiant'. He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1924 and retired on his promotion to vice-admiral in 1929. He was promoted to admiral on the retired list in 1933 and died at Sherborne in Dorset in 1937.