Smirnov, Mikhail Ivanovich (Rear Admiral)

Mikhail Smirnov was born on June 18, 1880. He studied at the Naval Cadet Corps , graduated in 1899, 7th out of 66 in academic performance ^[1] .

In 1900, Mikhail Ivanovich became the junior flag officer of the headquarters of the head of the Pacific Squadron .

In 1906 he became an officer of the Main Naval Staff , serving there until 1909 inclusive. During this period, he worked closely with A. V. Kolchak .

In the years 1910-1911. Mikhail Ivanovich served as a senior officer on the battleship " Glory ", then in 1911-1912. senior officer at Panteleimon . In 1914 he graduated from the Nikolaev Naval Academy and took command of the "Hardy" destroyer . In the fall of 1914, together with M.A. Kedrov, he was sent to the British fleet, for communication between the allies, at the beginning of 1915 he was on the Mediterranean Sea . In 1915-1916 he commanded the destroyer "Kazan".

In 1916 he was promoted to captain of the 1st rank, served as flag captain of Admiral Kolchak A.V. From April 8 to July 1917, he was chief of staff of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Empire . Left the post with the departure of Kolchak.

In 1917-1918 - Head of the Maritime Department of the Russian Procurement Committee in the United States, with secondment to the Russian Embassy in Washington . Since November 20, 1918 - Manager of the Ministry of the Sea in the Russian government . Then made by A.V. Kolchak, Supreme Commander of the Russian army in the rank of rear admiral . He commanded the river flotilla on the Kama.

D.N. Fedotov-White , who served with Smirnov on Kama, recalls the following incident in his memoirs:

It was a wonderful summer evening, the picturesque banks of the Kama were buried in verdure. The admiral and I sat in a glazed cabin, having tea, and looked at the landscape passing by. Suddenly, on a hill on the right, two versts inland, I noticed a double flash. The experience of war on the rivers told me that a two-gun battery opened fire on us, which I informed Smirnov about. - You have misunderstood it. They could not reach the river so quickly, even assuming that the army's information about their own situation was extremely optimistic. And, before he could finish this, the shell hit the stern of the tugboat, and a deafening explosion was heard. Smirnov did not even blink an eye. “How much sugar do you have, one or two?” He asked at ease. At this moment, the second shell disabled our radio. The messenger burst into the wheelhouse with life jackets in his hands and cried out loudly: “We are dead!” Must be saved! Grab your vests! Smirnov threw his vests under the table and ordered the messenger to go to hell. Fortunately, the river in this place was making a turn, and the trees seemed to hide us from view, because the shells began to fall past the target.

- D.N. Fedotov-White. Outlived. War and revolution in Russia. Translation from English A. Dementiev. M., Edition of the bookstore Tsiolkovsky, 2018

He lived in exile in England. Dedicated to the "Grenadier" box in London, in 1926-1928 he was a member of the "Circle of Russian Masons" in London ^[2] .

In 1930, he published a small book in Paris, “Admiral Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak (Brief Biographical Sketch)” (reprinted in Moscow in 1992).

He died in London in the autumn of 1940.

• Order of St. Anne , 3rd art.
• Order of St. Vladimir 4th art. with swords and bow (03.16.1915)
• Order of St. Anne , 2nd art. (8.6.1915)
• Order of St. Stanislav , 2nd art. (31/3/1916)
• Order of St. Vladimir 3rd art. (02/06/1917)
• St. George's Weapon (1916)
• Order of St. George 4th Art.

Commanding the River Battle Flotilla, consisting of 5 warships and covering the crossing of our troops across the river Belaya and Kama at Drunken Bor, Nikolo-Berezovka from May 28 to June 2, 1919 and ensuring the evacuation of Sarapul and fighting with enemy artillery and infantry located on the shore and aiming to cut off the flotilla from our forces, he Rear Admiral Mikhail Smirnov, through skillful and energetic action, broke through the enemy’s blockade, which ensured both the crossing itself and the freedom of further actions of our ground forces

- http://george-orden.narod.ru/Stat/stat12.html

• Tsushima: (Battle of the Korean Channel on May 14 and 15, 1905) St. Petersburg, 1913.
• Smirnov M.I. Admiral Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak (short biographical sketch). Paris, 1930.
• Admiral Kolchak. MI Smirnov. The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 11, No. 32 (Jan., 1933), pp. 373-387.