Aleksandr Orel

Aleksandr Yevstafyevich Oryol (; 25 August 1908 – 20 June 1997) was an officer of the Soviet Navy. He served during the Winter War and the Second World War and reached the rank of admiral.

Born in the Russian Empire in 1908, Oryol had started his career on the water by 1924 aboard river-going merchant vessels, before joining the Red Navy in 1929. After studies and training in naval schools, he served aboard submarines in the Black Sea and Baltic Fleets, rising to command his own submarine by 1937. He then became commander of the Baltic Fleet's 21st Submarine Division, and saw action following the outbreak of the Winter War with Finland in 1939. He was still with the Baltic Fleet when the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union began in June 1941, soon being appointed deputy commander of the Baltic Fleet's submarine brigade. After various staff and headquarters postings, in May 1943, became commander of the 1st Submarine Division, the post he would hold for the rest of the war.

After the war, Oryol was appointed as a technical expert to the Soviet representative office to the Tripartite Naval Commission. Various submarine staff and command positions followed, serving in both the Baltic and Northern Fleets. In May 1955, Oryol became a deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, and head of the Naval General Staff's submarine department, followed by commander of the Northern Fleet's submarine forces. He played an important role in the introduction of nuclear submarines into the navy. In 1959, he was appointed commander of the Baltic Fleet, and in 1967 left the Baltic Fleet to take up the position of head of the Naval Academy. He stepped down in 1974, and became a military consultant of the Group of Inspectors General before his retirement in 1987. He died in 1997, having received numerous honours and awards.

Early years and education The submarine in 1933. Oryol's first submarine posting, from December 1932 to March 1933. Oryol was born on 25 August 1908 in Saint Petersburg, in what was then the Russian Empire. He began his career as a sailor, and then a helmsman of a river steamer between 1924 and 1928, while studying at the . Graduating in 1929, he was assistant captain of the steamer III Internatsional in Omsk that year. He joined the Red Navy that year, studying at the M. V. Frunze Naval School and graduating in 1932. In December 1932, he was appointed head of the navigation department of the submarine , transferring to be navigator aboard the submarine Garibaldiets in March 1933. In July 1933, Oryol became division navigator of the Black Sea Fleet's Separate Submarine Division, based in Nikolayev, before becoming a department head aboard the submarine M-9 in November 1933. He served in this role until December 1934, subsequently taking the classes of the Kirov Submarine Training Detachment in early 1935, and then serving as executive officer on the submarine in the Baltic Fleet between June and October 1935. Oryol meanwhile remained in his post as commander of the 1st Submarine Division until the end of the war in August 1945, having taken part in a combat cruise aboard the L-21 in March 1945. In March 1951, Oryol was appointed commander of the 27th Submarine Division of the 4th Navy, one of the two halves the Baltic Fleet was for a time divided into. He left in December 1951 to study at the naval faculty of the Military Academy of the General Staff, graduating in 1953, and being appointed head of the Combat Training Directorate's second department.

In May 1955, Oryol became a deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, and head of the Naval General Staff's submarine department. He served in this role until May 1956, when he became commander of the Northern Fleet's submarine forces. He played an important role in the introduction of nuclear submarines into the navy, and was promoted to vice-admiral on 18 February 1958.

In May 1959, Oryol was appointed commander of the Baltic Fleet, a post he held until January 1967. He was promoted to admiral on 13 April 1964, and in January 1967 left the Baltic Fleet to take up the position of head of the Naval Academy. He was awarded the academic title of professor in 1970, stepping down from the position of academy head in March 1974 and becoming a military consultant of the Group of Inspectors General. He was twice a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, for its sixth and seventh convocations. Oryol stepped down from the Group of Inspectors General in November 1987, and retired from service the following month. He died in Saint Petersburg on 20 June 1997, and was buried in the city's Serafimovskoe Cemetery.

Honours and awards Over his career Oryol received a number of Soviet, Russian, and foreign awards. The Russian Federation awarded Oryol the Order of Zhukov in 1995. The Soviet government awarded him the Order of Lenin in 1954 and 1976, the Order of the October Revolution in 1972, the Order of the Red Banner four times, in 1940, 1944, 1945, and 1959, the Order of Ushakov second class in 1945, the Order of the Patriotic War first class in 1945 and 1985, the Order of the Red Banner of Labour in 1978, the Order of the Red Star in 1944, and the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" third class in 1975, as well as various medals. He also received a personalized weapon in 1958. From the German Democratic Republic he was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver in 1965, while the Polish People's Republic appointed him a Commander with star of the Order of Polonia Restituta in 1973, and a Knight of the Virtuti Militari in 1968. The People's Republic of Bulgaria awarded him the Order of 9 September 1944 first class.