Vasilii Altfater

Born 1883 in Warsaw; died Apr. 20, 1919, in Moscow. Soviet Navy figure.

The son of a nobleman, Al’tfater graduated from the Naval School in 1902 and from the Naval Academy in 1908. He took part in the Russo-Japanese War and then served in the Baltic Fleet and on the Naval General Staff. During World War I he was spokesman for the navy and then chief of naval operations under the commander in chief of the northern front. He was made rear admiral in 1917.

After the Great October Revolution he went over to the side of the Soviets. From 1918 he was assistant chief of staff of the navy and took part in the peace negotiations in Brest. From April 1918 he was a member of the board of the People’s Commissariat for Naval Affairs, and from October 1918 he was a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the republic. The first commander in chief of the naval forces of the republic, he played a prominent role in the creation of the Soviet Navy and in the defense of Petrograd.