Zerov, Nikolai Petrovich

He was born in 1920 in the village of Pozhva, Yusvinsky District, Perm Territory, in seven hereditary riverboats. He graduated from 7 classes, Perm River School. Since 1940, he worked as a heating network technician in the management of the Kama River Shipping Company.

In November 1940 he was drafted into the army. He graduated from the Molotov Naval Aviation Technical School . Member of the Great Patriotic War since June 1941 . He fought as part of the 80th separate naval reconnaissance aviation squadron of the Black Sea Fleet Air Force, was a flight mechanic in the crews of the GST and Che-2 seaplanes. By the end of 1944, Petty Officer Zerov made 460 sorties for air reconnaissance, bombing attacks, and the search for enemy submarines. In September 1944 he participated in the landing in the port of Varna . For the excellent performance of combat missions he was awarded the Order of the Red Star . In 1947 he was demobilized.

He returned to his homeland. Again he began to work in the Kama River Shipping Company. For three years he was a mechanic-mentor. Since 1950, he worked as a mechanic on ships, first at Henri Barbus, then at Composer Scriabin. In 1961, he received at the shipyard in Wismar the latest three-deck passenger ship "William Peak". During the first navigation, the ship transported about four thousand people along long-distance routes: to Astrakhan, Rostov-on-Don, Leningrad.

The ship was the most perfect at that time, but the mechanic Zerov was constantly working on ideas about the technical improvement of the ship. Over the years of his work on "V. Pique ”, on his initiative and with participation for the first time in the Kama fleet, a hydraulic system of nozzle needles was introduced, as a result of which the engine operating mode improved and the service life of the needles was extended. The merit of the machine team, headed by N.P. Zerov, is the fulfillment of obligations to extend the life of the main engines of the vessel without their average repair. With the active participation of Zerov, employees of the Department of Automation and Telemechanics of the Perm Polytechnic Institute developed and implemented a new thruster based on semiconductors on the ship. In total, only during the years of the eighth five-year plan he made 16 rationalization proposals.

Together with the Design Bureau, on his initiative, working drawings were developed for the conversion of the boat deck, the main tourist destination. The deck was raised, over it made a solid metal awning. This made it possible to conduct film shows and other events with passengers more comfortably. The fact that this idea was carried out on all the Volga and Kama ships of the same type is evidence of how successful the mechanic’s idea of ​​remaking a boat deck is.

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 4, 1971, for outstanding achievements in fulfilling the tasks of the five-year plan for the development of river transport, Zerov Nikolai Petrovich was awarded the title Hero of Socialist Labor with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Medal "Hammer and Sickle."

Nikolai Petrovich was elected a member of the Perm Regional Committee of the CPSU , was a delegate to the XXV Congress of the CPSU. He worked as a senior mechanic at Wilhelm Peak until the last days of his life. He died on October 7, 1977.

He was awarded two Orders of Lenin , the Order of the Red Star , eight medals. In the Perm region, the N.P. Zerov Prize was established, which was awarded to the best rivermen of the Kama River Shipping Company. In his honor, the motor ship Aragva of the Kama River Shipping Company was renamed.

• Heroes of Prikamye. Bibliographic reference .. - Perm : Cannon, 2006.

Nikolai Petrovich Zerov (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ". Date of treatment July 3, 2017.