Admiral Isakov is one of the most famous Soviet military commanders, who made an invaluable contribution to the victory in World War II and the development of the Soviet fleet. A participant in three wars, he was repeatedly awarded state awards of the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire.
After completing the service, he was engaged in scientific activities and research in the field of shipbuilding engineering.
Admiral Isakov: biography
Ivan Stepanovich was born into an Armenian family in the territory of modern Azerbaijan. His father was a road service engineer and dreamed that one of his sons would also follow the path of an engineer. The early death of his father led to serious problems in the Isakov family. Ivan with two brothers and mother moves to Tiflis (modern Tbilisi). There, their mother’s brother Peter Lauer helps them. Ivan is a good student at school and is interested in mathematics and engineering.
After leaving school, the guy was going to go to the engineer, but his decision changed under the influence of Uncle Peter Lauer. The latter worked as an engineer, but all his life he dreamed of serving in the Navy. This attraction was transferred to Ivan, and he decides to enter the naval school. To get to such institutions was extremely difficult. The maritime service was highly respected, therefore in schools mainly came from rich and noble families. But that all changed with the outbreak of World War I. The state urgently needed well-trained personnel. In the fall of 1914, the future Admiral Isakov entered the prestigious naval school in St. Petersburg.
In studies, shows great zeal and interest. He independently studies the history of the naval forces and the foundations of engineering. Graduated from college in the spring of 1917 with honors. He is sent to serve on the Baltic Fleet. By this time, power in Russia had changed, and hostilities were no longer systematic. The fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Bakhirev defended the Baltic coast and was far from the front line.
First fight
On October 12, the German command launched an operation to break through to the East and landed a huge landing in the rear of the Russian troops. The ground forces were to support the strike force, which was moving from the sea. Against the relatively small forces defending the coast, the German command threw a real armada of three hundred warships, six airships, hundreds of aircraft and twenty-four thousand soldiers with forty guns.
The future Admiral Isakov then held the position of auditor on the destroyer Izyaslav. The first days of the confrontation were almost invisible to the ship. However, on October 16, the German battleships Koenig and Kronprinz broke into the Gulf of Riga and Izyaslav was forced to hastily retreat back. During the retreat, the destroyer touched the bottom and seriously damaged the right propeller shaft.
Under Soviet rule
Being a native of a working-class family, which was rare for the Imperial Navy, Ivan Stepanovich actively supported the Soviet regime during the Civil War. Nine days after the Battle of Moonsund, Izyaslav raises the red flag and goes over to the side of the Bolsheviks. Future Admiral Isakov took part in the famous "Ice Campaign" of the Red Army. In the most difficult winter conditions, when the ice had not yet begun to melt, parts of the former Baltic Fleet broke into Helsingfors and brought out more than two hundred ships to Kronstadt.
Training and high ranks
After the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War, Ivan Stepanovich continued his training and service in the Navy of the Soviet Union. He graduated from the Naval Academy in Moscow, where he remains to teach. In the second half of the thirties, he commanded various ships in the Baltic and Black Sea flotillas.
He studies engineering and military affairs, writes scientific articles. By the thirty-ninth year, he received the post of head of the Military Academy and the Main Directorate of the Headquarters of the Fleet.
The Great Patriotic War
He met the beginning of the war as chief of staff. He personally commanded many naval operations in the initial stages of the war. One of the most difficult periods in the life of Ivan Stepanovich occurred in 1942 - the defense of the North Caucasus Front. Suffering heavy losses, the Soviet army managed to stop the swift German offensive from the flanks. Then the command of the Wehrmacht developed a new operation to capture the Caucasus. She assumed the capture of Novorossiysk and its further use as a bridgehead for the offensive inland. The Black Sea Fleet under the command of Isakov helped defend the strategically important city on the ground units of the Red Army.
Ivan Stepanovich was at the forefront from the very beginning of the operation. He personally visited the headquarters of ground and naval units. On October 4, Isakov, together with the People’s Commissar of the Oil Industry Kaganovich and General Tyulenev, drove to Tuapse through the Goitkh Pass, where a German fighter found a car. After shelling from the air, a car with dignitaries turned over and fell into a ditch. Isakov sustained severe injuries; his leg was amputated in the hospital. Remaining disabled, Ivan Stepanovich continued to serve in the Navy and continued to be personally present at the front. According to eyewitnesses, Joseph Stalin himself repeatedly spoke about Isakov’s courage.
After the war
In 1945, Ivan Stepanovich was awarded the rank of admiral. He continues to lead the operations of the Soviet fleet and teach at the Military Academy. In 1951, Fleet Admiral Isakov became the winner of several awards for his scientific achievements.
He devotes considerable time to science and memoirs. He writes stories and essays on historical subjects, which are highly appreciated among writers. At sixty, Ivan Stepanovich became a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. By the twentieth anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Isakov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Ivan Stepanovich died on October 11, 1967 in Moscow. He was buried in the capital with military honors.
The biography of Fleet Admiral Isakov is studied at the modern Naval Academies of Russia.
Memory
On the twenty-ninth of December 1967, plant number 190 named. A. A. Zhdanov received a state order for the construction of the Admiral Isakov ship.
Two years later, on November twenty-second, the ship was launched. The unit received two boiler turbine engines, which gave out power of 90 thousand horsepower, which allowed the frigate to reach speeds of up to thirty-three knots. In addition to electronic weapons, the Admiral Isakov missile defense complex received four artillery mounts, four anti-aircraft guns, and two modern "Storm" anti-aircraft missile systems. There was also a mine-torpedo weaponry and a Ka-25PL deck carrier.
On August 16, 1970, a naval flag was hoisted on a frigate. Initially, the ship was listed in the Northern Fleet and served in Severomorsk. A year later, the crew was tasked with tracking a group of American aircraft carriers who carried out reconnaissance operations in the Norwegian Sea. A modern high-speed vessel could detect underwater, surface and airborne equipment. On 12 February, the Admiral Isakov BPC entered the Algerian port of Annaba. The crew was greeted with all due honors. After a two-day rest, the frigate went on combat duty in the Mediterranean Sea.
Accompanying Service
In the summer of 1972, the ship suffered the first serious breakdown while on duty in the Norwegian Sea.
One of the boilers failed and the frigate was left without an engine. In the field conditions round-the-clock works on eliminating the breakdown were organized, which were successfully completed in three days.
As part of the Sever-77 exercises, the frigate Admiral Isakov made a trip to the Lofoten Islands in a sea storm. After that, the ship repeatedly escorted other Soviet warships during exercises and military service. In the spring of 1981, there was an accidental collision with a British destroyer. This led to a local diplomatic scandal, which, however, was quickly resolved.
Modern equipment
In 1983, the frigate entered the port of Severomorsk, where an average repair was carried out. The ship received the most modern equipment, among which were space communications devices.
They directly contacted the satellite and allowed for the most accurate navigation in any weather conditions. The signals transmitted by the ship, it was impossible to detect any known equipment at that time. Such innovations in the future allowed Admiral Isakov to make trips to the latitudes of Gibraltar. In addition, anti-aircraft anti-aircraft missile systems and artillery guns were improved.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ship was included in the Northern Fleet. In the summer of the ninety-third year, the frigate was decommissioned. And a year later it was transferred to a private company from India for cutting into metal. Armament was transferred to other ships, some were disposed of. During transportation to the East, the ship sank.