Birilev, Aleksei Alekseevich

Birilev, Aleksei Alekseevich

 

Born Mar. 16, 1844; died 1915. Russian admiral (1905). Birilev served in the navy from 1859. In February 1904 he was appointed commander in chief of the Kronstadt port and military governor in Kronstadt, and in May 1904 he was named commander in chief of the Baltic Fleet and chief of the Baltic Sea Defense. In May 1905 he was appointed to replace Z. P. Rozhestvenskii as commander in chief of the Pacific Ocean Fleet, but he arrived in Vladivostok after the Russian fleet was defeated near Tsushima. He was minister of the navy from June 1905 to January 1907. He carried out several measures toward improving the fleet after its defeat in the Russo-Japanese War.