Early years and career

Kuznetsov was born into a Serbian peasant family in the village of Medvedki, Velikoustyuzhsky Uyezd, Vologda Governorate, Russian Empire (now in Kotlassky District of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia).^[1]

In 1919, Kuznetsov joined the Northern Dvina Naval Flotilla, having added two years to his age to make himself eligible to serve. In 1920, he was stationed at Petrograd and in 1924, as a member of a naval unit, he attended the funeral ceremony of Vladimir Lenin.^[2]

That same year, he joined the Communist Party.

Upon graduation from the Frunze Higher Naval School in 1926, Kuznetsov served on the cruiser Chervona Ukraina, first as watch officer and then as First Lieutenant. In 1932, he graduated from the Naval College after studying operational tactics. Upon graduation, he was offered two options – a desk job with the general staff or a command post on a ship.

Kuznetsov successfully applied for the post of executive officer on the cruiser Krasnyi Kavkaz. Within a year, the young officer earned his next promotion. In 1934, he returned to the Chervona Ukraina, this time as her commander. Under Kuznetsov, the ship became an outstanding example of discipline and organization, quickly drawing attention to her young captain.

From 5 September 1936 to 15 August 1937, Kuznetsov served as the Soviet naval attaché and chief naval advisor to Republican Spain.^[3]: 165 During the early stages of the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939 he developed a strong dislike of fascism.^[4]

On returning home, on January 10, 1938, he was promoted to the rank of flag officer, 2nd rank, and given command of the Pacific Fleet. While in this position, he came face to face with Stalin's purge of the military. Kuznetsov himself was never implicated, but many of the officers under his command were. Kuznetsov resisted the purges at every step, and his intervention saved the lives of many Soviet officers.

On 28 April 1939, Kuznetsov, still only thirty-four, was appointed the People's Commissar (Minister) of the Navy, a post he would hold throughout the Second World War until 1946. In 1939, despite Stalin's negative attitude to the Nikolaevsky Engineering Academy, Nikolay Gerasimovich Kuznetsov ordered the return of the Naval Engineering faculty from Moscow to Leningrad, and set up the Military Engineering-Technical University to educate engineers for the construction of naval bases.^[5][6]

The Second World War

Kuznetsov played a crucial role during the first hours of the war – at this pivotal moment, his resolve and blatant disregard for orders averted the destruction of the Soviet Navy. By June 21, 1941, Kuznetzov was convinced of the inevitability of war with Nazi Germany. On the same day Semyon Timoshenko and Georgy Zhukov issued a directive prohibiting Soviet commanders from responding to "German provocations". The Navy, however, constituted a distinct ministry (narkomat), and thus Kuznetsov held a position which was technically outside the direct chain of command. He utilized this fact in a very bold move.

Shortly after midnight on the morning of June 22, Kuznetsov ordered all Soviet fleets to battle readiness. At 3:15 am that same morning, the Wehrmacht began Operation Barbarossa.^[7] The Soviet Navy was the only branch of the military in the highest state of combat readiness at the start of the initial German push.

In the following two years, Kuznetsov's primary concern was the protection of the Caucasus from a German invasion. Throughout the war, the Black Sea remained the primary theater of operations for the Soviet Navy. During the war years Kuznetsov honed Soviet methods of amphibious assault. A notable subordinate in the Black Sea and in command of the Azov Flotilla was S.G. Gorshkov who would later succeed him as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. In May 1944 he was given the rank of Admiral of the Fleet – a newly created position initially equated to that of a four-star general. In the same year, Kuznetsov was given the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. On May 31, 1945, his rank was equated to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union with a similar insignia. In August 1945, he took part in Operation August Storm in the Far East, helping to provide functions for the Soviet Navy fleet for Commander-in-Chief of USSR Forces in the Far East Marshal Aleksandr Vasilevsky.

The first fall

From 1946 to 1947 he was the Deputy Minister of the USSR Armed Forces and Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces.

In 1947 he was removed from his post on Stalin's orders and in 1948 he, as well as several other admirals were put on trial by the Naval Tribunal. Kuznetsov was demoted to vice-admiral, while the other admirals received prison sentences of varying length.

In 1951 Stalin ended Kuznetsov's pariah status, once again placing him in command of the Navy (as the Minister of the Navy of the USSR), but without restoring his military rank, which was returned to him upon Stalin's death in 1953. In the same year, he became the First Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR. In 1955, Kuznetsov was made Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces. His rank was raised to Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union and he was awarded the Marshal's Star.

The second fall and retirement

His newfound prominence brought him into direct conflict with now Defense Minister Marshal Zhukov, with whom he had clashed during the war years. On December 8, 1955, using the loss of the battleship Novorossiysk as a pretext, Zhukov removed the Admiral from his post. The commission that inspected the ship's loss was headed by Vyacheslav Malyshev and its findings were used by Zhukov to blame Kuznetsov. In February 1956 he was again demoted to the rank of vice-admiral, retired and expressly forbidden "any and all work connected with the navy."

During his retirement he wrote and published many essays and articles, as well as several longer works, including his memoirs and an officially sanctioned book, "With a Course for Victory", which dealt with the Patriotic War. His memoirs, unlike those of many other prominent leaders, were written by him personally and are noted for their style.

Kuznetsov also authored several books on the war, on Stalin's repressions, and on the navy which were published posthumously. In these he was highly critical of the Party's interference in the internal affairs of the military, and insisted that "the state must be ruled by law."

Rehabilitation and legacy

After the retirement of Zhukov in 1957, and of Khrushchev in 1964, a group of naval veterans began a campaign addressed to the Soviet leadership to restore Kuznetsov's rank, with all benefits, and to make him one of the General Inspectors of the Ministry of Defence. Invariably, these requests fell on deaf ears. Not until July 26, 1988, under Andrey Gromyko did the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR reinstate Kuznetsov to his former rank of Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union. Kuznetsov is now recognized as one of the most prominent men in the history of the Soviet and, today, of the Russian Navy. In token of this recognition, the Russian Navy's largest surface warship and service flagship, its only aircraft carrier, is named in his honor.

Death

Kuznetsov died on 6 December, 1974 in Moscow, at aged 70 and was buried with full military honors at the Novodevichy Cemetery.