Ivan Iumashev

Iumashev, Ivan Stepanovich 

Born Sept. 27 (Oct. 9), 1895, in Tbilisi; died Sept. 2, 1972, in Leningrad. Soviet naval officer. Admiral (1943). Hero of the Soviet Union (Sept. 14, 1945). Member of the CPSU from 1918.

The son of a railroad employee, Iumashev joined the navy in 1912 and served as a sailor and noncommissioned officer in the Baltic Fleet. In February 1919 he enlisted in the Soviet Navy. He served in the Civil War of 1918–20 aboard various vessels of the Volga-Caspian Flotilla. Iumashev graduated from special courses for naval commanders in 1925 and from tactical courses for ship commanders at the Naval Academy in 1932. He commanded a destroyer, a cruiser, a destroyer division, and a cruiser brigade. He was appointed chief of staff of the Black Sea Fleet in September 1937 and fleet commander in January 1938. In March 1939 he was made commander of the Pacific Fleet, which participated in the rout of Japanese imperialist forces in 1945. Iumashev became deputy minister of the armed forces of the USSR and commander in chief of the navy in January 1947. He was appointed minister of the navy in February 1950 and chief of the Naval Academy in August 1951. He retired from the navy in 1957.

Iumashev was a candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU from 1941 to 1956, and he served as a deputy to the second convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He was awarded six Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Star, and various medals.