Mark Lambert Bristol was an important person in the United States Navy. He was born on April 17, 1868, in Glassboro, New Jersey. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1887. During the Spanish–American War, he served on the battleship USS Texas and took part in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba. In World War I, he commanded the battleship USS Oklahoma.
After the war, from 1919 to 1927, Bristol worked as the US High Commissioner in Turkey. He collected important documents and correspondence about that time, especially about the relations between Turkey and Armenia. Unfortunately, Bristol held prejudiced views; he was against Armenians, Greeks, and Jewish people.
In 1927, he took charge of the Asiatic Fleet and helped establish the American Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1920. He also set up a nursing school named Admiral Bristol Nursing School in his honor.
Bristol later served as the chairman of the General Board of the United States Navy from 1930 to 1932. He passed away on May 13, 1939. After his death, the American Hospital in Turkey was renamed the Admiral Bristol American Hospital in 1945.
To remember his contributions, two ships have been named USS Bristol in his honor.