A 7.65-mm 1922 Browning pistol, Belgium.

A 7.65-mm 1922 Browning pistol, Belgium.

Personal weapon of the Soviet military commander N. G. Kuznetsov, an Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union.

Nikolay Gerasimovich Kuznetsov (1902-1974) [11.(24).7.1902), village of Medvedki in the Kotlassky District of the Arkhangelsk Region – 6.12.1974, Moscow]

In 1926, he graduated cum laude from the Frunze Higher Naval School.

In 1932, he graduated from the Naval College.

He served in all of the USSR sea and ocean fleets and abroad, first as chief of the watch, assistant and chief assistant commander of the cruiser Red Caucasus, and commander of the cruiser Chervona Ukraina.

In autumn 1936, he was appointed navy attaché and chief naval adviser in Spain and managed Soviet volunteer seamen.

In 1937, he was appointed deputy commander and then commander of the Pacific Fleet.

In 1939-1947 and 1951-1956, he was in command of the Soviet Navy.

Prior to WWII, he put a lot of effort in the creation of the Soviet naval school, organization, development and preparation of the Navy for the war. N. G. Kuznetsov is credited with the introduction and promotion of the system of operational readiness in the Navy, a historically significant naval reform.

During WWII and the Great Patriotic War, he served as the People’s Commissar of the Navy and, from 1944, the Commander of the Navy, member of the Supreme High Command General Headquarters, State Defense Committee, and envoy of the Supreme High Command General Headquarters at the front. His talent of a naval commander reached its plenitude in the course of joint operations with ground troops during the defense of Tallinn, Odessa, Sevastopol, Leningrad, Stalingrad and other cities and naval bases; during the elaboration of military plans by the Supreme High Command; and during the Kerch–Feodosia Amphibious Operation, Novorossiysk Defensive Operation, Kerch–Eltigen Amphibious Operation, and some other military operations. It was based on N. G. Kuznetsov’s proposals that naval aviation bombed Berlin in August 1941. He commanded naval combat actions in all strategic operations, including conjunctions between the Pacific Fleet and the Amur Fleet and ground forces in the war with Japan.

He was a deputy of the first, second, third, and fourth Supreme Councils.

N. G. Kuznetsov was given the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

He was awarded the Order of Lenin four times, the Order of Red Banner three times, the Order of Ushakov 1st class twice, the Order of the Red Star, and medals, as well as foreign orders.