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Pyotr Alekseyevich Bezobrazov
(
Russian
:
Пётр Алексе?евич Безобра?зов
; 29 January 1845 ? 17 July 1906) was an admiral in the
Imperial Russian Navy
.
Early career
[
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]
Born into an old
Bezobrazov
noble family, Pyotr began his naval service as a midshipman on the frigate
Dmitry Donskoy
from 1864 to 1866. He was promoted to
warrant officer
in 1866, to lieutenant in 1870 and to lieutenant-commander in 1880. He became
executive officer
of the frigate
Svetlana
in 1883. He became captain 2nd rank in 1885 after commanding a number of gunboats, and to
captain, 1st rank
in 1890. From 1893 to 1897, he was captain of the armoured cruiser
General-Admiral
, which visited ports in the eastern United States as part of the celebration of the
1893 Chicago World Exposition
. He was then appointed captain of the battleship
Navarin
.
[1]
Bezobrazov was promoted to rear admiral in 1897, and served as chief of staff of the naval base at
Kronstadt
in 1898, and deputy commander of the
Baltic Fleet
from 1898 to 1901. He was made deputy commander of the
Black Sea Fleet
from 1901 to 1903, and promoted to vice admiral on 1 January 1904.
[1]
Russo-Japanese War
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After the start of the
Russo-Japanese War
and the death of Vice Admiral
Stepan Makarov
, Bezobravov was appointed commander of the
First Pacific Squadron
on 8 May 1904. He arrived at
Vladivostok
on 12 June 1904 via the
Trans-Siberian Railroad
, but was unable to reach the squadron at Port Arthur due to the Japanese blockade. He assumed command of the Independent Cruiser Squadron based at Vladivostok, consisting of the armoured cruisers
Rossia
,
Rurik
, and
Gromoboi
and led the squadron on a successful attack (the "
Hitachi Maru Incident
") on 15 June 1904 on Japanese shipping in the
Korea Strait
.
[1]
For this mission, he was awarded the
Order of St Vladimir
, 2nd class with swords.
On 27 September 1904, Bezobravov was promoted to command the Baltic Fleet and to the post of acting Chief of the Naval Staff in place of Admiral
Zinovy Rozhestvensky
(a position which he held to July 1906), and returned to St Petersburg. He died in St Petersburg and his grave was at the
Novodevichy Cemetery
.
Awards
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- Order of St Vladimir
4th degree, 1890
- Order of St Vladimir
3rd degree, 1894
- Order of St Vladimir
2nd degree, with swords, 1904
- Order of St. Anne
3rd degree
- Order of St. Anne
2nd degree
- Order of St. Anne
1st degree, 1903
- Order of St. Stanislaus
3rd degree
- Order of St. Stanislaus
2nd degree
- Order of St. Stanislaus
1st degree, 1900
- Order of the Rising Sun
(Japan), 2nd class, 1901
- Order of the Crown (Romania)
, 1901
- Order of Military Merit (Bulgaria)
, 1901
References
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]
Notes
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]
- ^
a
b
c
Kowner,
Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War
, p. 69.