Nikolai Nebogatov

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Nikolai Ivanovich Nebogatov (Russian: Николай Иванович Небогатов,1849-1922) was a Russian Rear-Admiral.

He was in command of numerous Russian warships, such as armored cruiser Admiral Nahimov, and cruiser Minin, as the head of the Baltic gunnery school.

In 1905, as the end of the Russo-Japanese War was drawing near he was promoted to rear-admiral, receiving the famous Third Pacific Squadron as the "reinforcements" to Zinovi Rozhestvenski's Second. This squadron consisted of old battleship Nikolai I (Nebogatov's flagship), cruiser Vladimir Monomakh, and coastal-defense battleships Admiral Ushakov, Admiral Senyavin, and General-Admiral Apraksin, as well as numerous transport ships.

The two squadrons reunited at Indochina (Cam Ranh Bay, of the former Republic of South Vietnam) . In the famous Battle of Tsushima none of Nebogatov's ships shared the dreadful fate of Rozhestvenski's battleships, and with the fleet commander seriously wounded, and with most of the warships sunk or lost, Nebogatov took over command.

He led, however, the remains of the fleet to a grim end—the morning after the battle, May 28, 1905, he surrendered five of his remaining warships, battleships Nikolai I, Orel, General-Admiral Apraksin, and Admiral Senyavin to the Japanese. Only one cruiser, Izumrud, that remained with the squadron, escaped through the Japanese lines. One of Nebogatov's battleships, the Ushakov became lost during the night and was heroically sunk the next morning, outgunned and outnumbered.

After his return home from Japanese captivity, Nebogatov faced the Russian Military Court, which sentenced him to 16 years in prison. After serving only 2 years he was released by the Tsar's order, according to some, for his poor health condition. Nikolai Ivanovich Nebogatov died in 1922.