Rudnev, Vsevolod

Born Aug. 19 (31), 1855, in Venev District, now in Tula Oblast; died July 7 (20), 1913, in the village of Myshenki, now in Zaokskoe Raion, Tula Oblast; buried in the village of Savino, Zaokskoe Raion, Tula Oblast. Hero of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05; rear admiral (1905); aide-de-camp to the tsar (1904). Son of a naval officer.

Rudnev graduated from the Naval School in 1873 and a naval infantry school in 1876. In 1900 he became assistant commander of the naval port of Port Arthur, and in 1903, commander of the cruiser Variag. On Jan. 27 (Feb. 9), 1904, Rudnev directed the cruiser’s heroic battle against a Japanese squadron near Chemulpo (Inchon), Korea. In April 1904 he became commander of the battleship Andrei Pervozvannyi and the Fourteenth Naval Depot. In 1905 he was forced into retirement because he did not prevent his seamen from participating in political meetings. From 1908 to 1912, Rudnev published his memoirs in the journal Russkaia Starina and various articles in Morskoi Sbornik.