Pyotr Morgunov

Pyotr Alekseyevich Morgunov (; 25 January 1902 – 29 September 1985) was an officer of the Soviet Navy. He worked in the navy's coastal defence branch and reached the rank of Lieutenant General.

Born into a working-class family in Moscow in 1902, Morgunov joined the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution and fought with the Red forces during the Russian Civil War. He specialised in artillery, undertaking studies in the theory and practice of gunnery, and served in the naval coastal defences in the Black Sea. By the early 1930s he was in command of Armoured Coastal Battery #35 on the Crimean coast, eventually rising to command the region's coastal defences prior to the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Charged with defending Sevastopol from the advancing forces, Morgunov directed the fire of coastal artillery and the building of defences as the Siege of Sevastopol began. Morgunov played an important role in the subsequent months before the city finally fell to Axis forces in 1942.

Morgunov then served as deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet for ground forces, and then chief of the Black Sea Fleet's coastal defence. He took part in the recapture of Sevastopol in 1944 in the Crimean offensive, and in May he was awarded the Order of Nakhimov, 1st degree, becoming the first of 82 people to receive this in the history of its award. Morgunov became commanding officer of the Black Sea Fleet Coastal Defences after the war, going on to be appointed head of the Coastal Artillery, Naval Infantry and Ground Units Combat Training Directorate, of the Main Combat Training Directorate, of the Naval Staff, and later head of coastal defence for the entire Soviet Navy. Retiring in 1955, he retired and wrote an account of the defence of Sevastopol before his death in 1985. Having received a number of awards over his career, Morgunov was portrayed in film in , based partly on Morgunov's book. The Ivan Gren-class landing ship Pyotr Morgunov is named in his honour.

Early years and education

Morgunov was born on 25 January 1902 in Moscow, Russian Empire, into the family of a worker at the . Morgunov also worked at the Dynamo Plant for a time, before joining the Red Army ranks after the October Revolution in 1917. He took part in the storming of the Kremlin, and went on to see action in the Russian Civil War near Oryol, and in the Crimea and around Sevastopol. He completed the Odessa Artillery Courses in 1921, and was appointed platoon commander of one of the coastal batteries. He continued to specialise in shore-based gunnery, graduating from the Higher Courses of Special Purpose Artillery in 1925, and then from the Higher Special Courses of the Naval Academy. In the early 1930s he was placed in command of Armoured Coastal Battery #35, and then assistant commandant of the Crimean fortified area in February 1937. The siege of Sevastopol began in earnest in October, after attempts by German General Erich von Manstein to capture it on the move were frustrated. Initial German attacks were from the north by the 132nd Infantry Division, with the 50th Infantry Division coming up in support, seeking to encircle and bypass the city. They were opposed by the coastal defence batteries under Morgunov, buying time for the Separate Coastal Army to reach the city. On the arrival of reinforcements in November, Morgunov became deputy commander of the Sevastopol defensive region for coastal defence under the commander of the Black Sea Fleet Filipp Oktyabrsky, and a member of the City Defence Committee. Also in 1944, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Morgunov died in Moscow on 29 September 1985 and was buried in the Kuntsevo Cemetery. He was also appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1944. She was commissioned into service in 2020.