Novikov, Nikolai Vasilevich

Born Nov. 17 (29), 1880, in Voronezh; died Aug. 21, 1957, in Leningrad. Soviet historian; captain first rank (1940); doctor of naval sciences (1945). Of dvoriane (nobility or gentry) origin.

Novikov graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps in 1902 and the Naval Academy in 1909. He served in the Baltic Fleet and at Naval General Headquarters. During World War 1(1914–18) he was a historiographer for the Black Sea Fleet (1915–17) and chief of the historical section of the Naval General Headquarters (1917). He was made captain first rank in 1917. In 1918 he joined the Red Navy and served as chief of the historical division and editor of the naval history commission of the operations division of the headquarters of the Naval Forces of the Republic. From 1923 to 1943 he taught at the Naval Academy. From 1943 to 1948 he served as chief scientific director of the historical division of the Main Naval Headquarters and, at the same time, as scientific director of the naval group of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. He was the editor and one of the compilers of Combat Chronicle of the Russian Navy (1948). In 1948 he retired for reasons of health.

Novikov’s principal works include The Victory of Hangö (1939) and Operations on the Black Sea and Combined Actions by the Army and Navy on the Lazistan Coast (1927). He was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.