Isakov, Ivan Stepanovich

Born Aug. 10 (22), 1894, in the village of Adzhikend, Azerbaijan SSR; died Oct. 11, 1967, in Moscow. Admiral of the fleet of the Soviet Union (1955), Hero of the Soviet Union (May 7, 1965), corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1958). Became a member of the CPSU in 1939.

Isakov graduated from naval cadet classes in 1917, joined the Soviet Navy in 1918, and fought in the Civil War of 1918–20, serving in the Baltic Fleet and the Caspian Military Flotilla. In 1923 he joined the Black Sea Fleet, where he commanded a destroyer and held staff positions. A graduate of higher naval command personnel training courses at the Naval Academy (1928), Isakov was chief of staff of the naval forces in the Baltic Sea (1933–35) and then was involved in instructional work. He was chief of staff and commander of the Baltic Fleet (1937–38), deputy and first deputy people’s commissar of the navy (from January 1938 to April 1946), chief of the Main Staff of the Navy (1946–47), and deputy chief commander of the navy (from 1947 to 1950). From 1947 to 1954, Isakov was managing editor of the Naval Atlas.

In retirement from 1950 to 1954, Isakov was deputy minister of the merchant marine of the USSR and held high positions in the central apparatus of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR from 1954 to 1957; he was appointed general inspector of the Ministry of Defense in 1957. A deputy to the first convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Isakov was awarded the State Prize of the USSR (1951), six Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, two Orders of Ushakov First Class, the Order of the Patriotic War First Class, the Order of the Red Star, and medals.