Konstantin Kuznetsov

Konstantin Matveyevich Kuznetsov (; – 21 July 1977) was an officer of the Soviet Navy. He reached the rank of rear-admiral and saw service in the Russian Civil War, the Winter War, and the Second World War.

Born in 1902, Kuznetsov joined the Bolshevik forces during the Russian Civil War, initially fighting with the Red Army, and then from 1922 with the Red Navy. After a brief period in the Arctic, he undertook his early service and training with the Black Sea Fleet, where he served on submarines. Transferring to the Pacific Fleet in the early 1930s, he was given his own commands, eventually rising to staff positions. He was arrested for a time and dismissed from the navy during the Great Purge, but was reinstated and after service with the Baltic Fleet, was appointed deputy head of the submarine department of the navy's combat training department, and was serving in this role at the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941.

On the outbreak of war, Kuznetsov visited the submarines at the naval bases to direct operations. He wrote instructions on submarine tactics for distribution to commanders in the field, and studied methods of anti-submarine defence. In 1943, he was appointed deputy head of the navy's submarine navigation department. He went on to command a number of naval bases, first the Osinovetskaya naval base of the , then the , and finally the . He received numerous awards for his wartime service, and entered a mostly academic life after the war, serving as head of the Leningrad Naval Preparatory School, the M. V. Frunze Higher Naval School, a deputy head of the Naval Academy, and head of the Higher Naval School of Submarine Navigation.

Early years and education

Kuznetsov was born on in Saint Petersburg, in the Russian Empire. He joined up for service in the Red Army in 1921, and saw action in the Russian Civil War as part of the Forces of Special Purpose. He switched branches in March 1922, joining the Red Navy and being sent to the Arkhangelsk naval detachment. He was soon redeployed to the Black Sea, as a sailor in the Black Sea Fleet's 1st Integrated School in June 1922, and from March 1923, serving as a mine specialist aboard the Black Sea Fleet minelayer 1 Maya. He enrolled as a cadet in the 1st Integrated School in October 1923, joining the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) that year. In March 1924, he was appointed senior mine specialist aboard the 1 Maya.

Kuznetsov returned to his hometown, now renamed Leningrad, in July 1924, and enrolled as a cadet in the M. V. Frunze Naval School. After graduating from its courses, he returned to the Black Sea Fleet and was appointed acting navigator aboard the submarine Marxist in October 1927. He took the Black Sea Fleet's special command classes from October 1929 to October 1930, being appointed senior assistant commander of the submarine in May 1930, and then her commander from May 1931. He returned to the Black Sea Fleet as commander of a training detachment of submarines, before in August 1939, joining the Baltic Fleet as acting-commander of its 1st Submarine Brigade. He was confirmed as its commander on 2 February 1940, and went on to see action in the Winter War in this role. He died on 21 July 1977 and was buried in Leningrad's Serafimovskoe Cemetery.