Nikolai Gerasimowitsch Kuznetsov

Nikolai Gerasimowitsch Kuznetsov

Nikolay Kuznetsov ( Russian Николай Герасимович Кузнецов * July 11 ^jul. / 24. July  1904 ^greg. In Medwedki in Veliky Ustyug , Governorate Vologda , † 6. December 1974 in Moscow ) was a Soviet People's Commissar for Navy and Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union .

Life

Youth, training and career as an officer

Kuznetsov volunteered for the Red Fleet's Dvina Flotilla at the age of 15 . After its dissolution, he decided to stay with the Navy and in 1926 earned his officer's diploma . Since the ships of the former tsarist fleet had either been destroyed in the civil war or scrapped in the west, the Soviet fleet was in a very poor condition in 1926. In the Baltic Sea there were three old battleships and an obsolete cruiser , in the Black Sea one cruiser and two destroyers , and no naval units were available in the Arctic Ocean and the Far East. Kuznetsov joined the Black Sea Fleet and served until 1929 on the light cruiser Tscherwona Ukraina (Red Ukraine), which was laid down in 1913 but was not put into service until 1927. He then attended the Naval Academy , while also acquiring language skills in German and French. After his return he went as first officer on the cruiser Krasnyi Kawkas (Red Caucasus), and soon afterwards returned to the Chervona Ukraina as captain . In 1935 he was able to achieve first place with his cruiser as the best-trained naval unit in the Soviet fleet . From then on, his career took off at a rapid pace. After serving as a naval attaché in Spain for a year from August 1936 , he was appointed deputy commander of the Pacific Fleet to take command of this unit four months later. In February 1939, Stalin promoted him to Deputy Commandant of the Navy and in April to the People's Commissar of the Navy (Minister of the Navy). Kuznetsov was only 37 years old at the time. This career was only possible because a disproportionate number of high-ranking naval officers fell victim to the Stalinist purges of the armed forces. Several naval commanders and all fleet chiefs lost their lives.

Building the fleet

In the course of the arming of the Soviet armed forces after Lenin's death, the land forces had absolute priority. This was also due to the limited operational possibilities of the fleet , which was divided into four largely independent operational areas due to the geographic conditions and was severely restricted in its activities due to the icing of the ports. Only after Finland had been forced to cede naval bases by force of arms was it possible to operate in the Baltic Sea in winter. The sailors of the Black Sea Fleet also stayed ashore in winter until the mid-1930s. However, Kuznetsov was able to prevail with the view that the fleet must be able to secure at least the army's sea flank, which would require a number of surface units as well as submarines . In order to compensate for the low level, Kuznetsov at least tried to raise the standard of training, which - with the exception of the submarines - was also successful. In 1941, in addition to 3 battleships, there were 7 cruisers, 59 destroyers and 228 submarines in service, with the submarines being stationed in bulk in the Baltic Sea . After the German invasion of the Soviet Union , the loss of bases in the Baltic States and Finland , as well as a German mine barrier at the entrance of the Gulf of Finland was Baltic Fleet practically paralyzed, to the lack of readily carried minesweepers and fuel at that due to the blockade of Leningrad on could not be supplemented by land. Only after the city blockade was lifted in 1944 was the fleet able to regain its freedom of action.

The Northern Fleet was only able to protect the Allied convoys to Murmansk to a very limited extent due to a lack of strength and was dependent on Allied help. In the Black Sea , the naval units were instrumental in securing supplies for the enclosed Sevastopol fortress , but after its fall in 1942 had to withdraw to smaller Caucasus ports.

post war period

In sum, the Soviet fleet under Kuznetsov had done bravely. Due to the geographical starting position (territorial fragmentation into four separate fleets), however, it was granted little success. The high expectations placed on the submarine fleet could not be fulfilled due to the natural conditions (Baltic Sea and North Sea) and effective blocking and defense measures of the war opponents - even if it was increasingly active in the Baltic Sea and off the Norwegian coast in 1945. The successes of the small forces favored before the war (speedboats) also fell far short of expectations. In order to participate in the war against Japan , the Soviet Navy received over 250 smaller ships from the USA in 1945 , mainly frigates , mine sweepers , torpedo boats and landing craft , which made it easier for the Soviet Union to capture South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands . A few months after the end of the war, Kuznetsov's career got its first kink. His energetic advocacy for the interests of the Navy and his convictions earned him hostility. He had opposed Stalin's preference for heavy cruisers and, in his presence , forbade Khrushchev to interfere in naval matters of which he was ignorant. A little later, he and three admirals were arrested and tried on the trumped-up charge of having passed on secret material to the British. Kuznetsov was downgraded three ranks (to Vice Admiral ) and dismissed. After Stalin's death, all four officers were rehabilitated and Kuznetsov was restored to rank and function. However, when he again demonstrated against drastic cuts in the shipbuilding program under Khrushchev, he was finally demoted to vice admiral and retired at the age of 51.

Kuznetsov with the aircraft carrier named after him on a 3 ruble coin from 1996

After his release, he wrote his memoirs, learned English and translated English-language naval literature into Russian . Kuznetsov was posthumously rehabilitated in 1988. The Russian Navy named its largest ship, an aircraft carrier , after him: Aircraft Carrier Fleet Admiral of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov .

plant

• Nakanune ( The Eve ) ( Russian text )
• Combat alarm in the fleets (Berlin 1974)
• Kursom k pobede (Moscow 1989)
• On course for victory (Berlin 1979)

literature

• Golovko, AG: Na kanune. Moscow 1989
• Merezkow, KA: In the service of the people. Berlin 1972
• Harold Shukman : Stalin's Generals New York 1993

Web links

Commons : Nikolai Gerassimowitsch Kuznetsov  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Nikolai Gerassimowitsch Kuznetsov in the catalog of the German National Library
• Biography of Russian war heroes
• Information page (English)