Basistyi, Nikolai

Basistyi, Nikolai Efremovich 

Born May 10 (22), 1898, in the village of Iur’evka, in present-day Odessa Oblast. Admiral (1949). Member of the CPSU since 1919.

Basistyi was in the Black Sea Fleet from 1915. In 1918–21 he fought in the Civil War in the Volga and Caspian Flotillas. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1931 and from the General Staff Academy in 1938. From 1938 on he commanded the cruiser Chervona Ukraina, and then a unit of light forces and a cruiser brigade on the Black Sea. In 1943–44 he was chief of staff of a squadron and squadron commander of the Black Sea Fleet, and from November 1944 chief of staff and from November 1948 commander of the Black Sea Fleet. In August 1951 he became deputy commander in chief of the navy. From June 1958 he was in the group of general inspectors of the Ministry of Defense. He retired in September 1960. He served as a deputy to the third and fourth convocations of the USSR Supreme Soviet and was a candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee from 1952 to 1956. Basistyi has been awarded two Orders of Lenin, four Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of Ushakov Second Class, and the Order of Kutuzov Second Class, as well as medals.