Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (November 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Image:Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union rank insignia.gif

The rank of Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union (Russian: Admiral Flota Sovietskogo Soyuza, Адмирал Флота Советского Союза) was the highest naval rank of the Soviet Union.

The rank was largely honorary and could be considered equivalent to Admiral of the Navy in other nations. It was formally established by the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union on March 3, 1955 and replaced a similarly named rank, Admiral of the Fleet (Адмирал флота) that was already equivalent to the Marshal of the Soviet Union since 1945. The holders were entitled to a 'big' Marshal's Star.

Upon creation, the only two Admirals of the Fleet in existence, Nikolai Kuznetsov and Ivan Isakov, were "promoted" to this rank. In 1956 Kuznetsov was demoted to Vice Admiral for political reasons and Isakov remained the only Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union until his death in 1967. His successor, Admiral Sergei Gorshkov, then became the third and last Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union. Gorshkov died in 1988 and no further appointments were made before the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

From 1962 onwards, it was one grade higher than Admiral of the Fleet which was recreated as intermediate rank, equivalent to General of the Army.