Gennady Lyachin

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Captain First Rank Gennady Petrovich Lyachin (Russian: Генна́дий Петро́вич Ля́чин, (January 1, 1955–August 12, 2000) was the commanding officer of the Russian submarine Kursk when the vessel suffered a series of explosions and sank on August 12, 2000.

President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation to Lyachin posthumously "For courage and heroism, during performance of sailor's duties".

Lyachin aboard the Kursk in 1998

Lyachin was born in Sarpinskiy in Volgograd Oblast. He graduated from a naval school in Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) in 1977 and served as a weapons officer aboard the diesel-electric Juliett class submarine K-58. From 1984 to 1986, now a Captain 3rd rank, he served as the executive officer of the K-77. In 1986, he started his officer's studies, and became a Captain 2nd rank.

[edit] Command history

In October 1988, Lyachin received his first command, also this a Juliett class, the K-304. He held this position until the K-304 was decommissioned after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

In April 1991, he received command of another submarine, the Project 949A Antey class (NATO reporting name Oscar-II) K-119 Voronezh. He and his newly formed crew spent the time between September 1991 and March 1993 underwent training in Obninsk.

Lyachin received the rank of Captain 1st rank in 1996 as well as command of the Voronezh's sister ship, the ill-fated K-141 Kursk, the very last Project 949A submarine to be constructed, which had been commissioned only two years earlier. When the Kursk sank on August 10, 2000, Lyachin perished along with the rest of the 111 crew members.