Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev (; ) was a Russian fleet commander and

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

Education and early career

Lazarev was born in Vladimir city, a scion of the old Russian nobility from the Vladimir province. In 1800, he enrolled in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

's Naval College. Three years later he was sent to the

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Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, where he would stay for a continuous five-year navigation. From 1808 to 1813, Lazarev served in the

Baltic Fleet The Baltic Fleet () is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea. Established 18 May 1703, under Tsar Peter the Great as part of the Imperial Russian Navy, the Baltic Fleet is the oldest Russian fleet. In 1918, the fleet w ...

. He took part in the Russo-Swedish War of 1808–1809 and Patriotic War of 1812.

Career as an explorer

Lazarev first circumnavigated the

globe A globe is a spherical Earth, spherical Model#Physical model, model of Earth, of some other astronomical object, celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but, unlike maps, they do not distort the surface ...

in 1813–1816, aboard the vessel ''Suvorov''; the expedition began at Kronstadt and reached

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. During this voyage, Lazarev discovered the Suvorov Atoll. As a commander of the ship and Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen's deputy on his world cruise in 1819–1821 (Bellingshausen commanded ), Lazarev took part in the discovery of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

and numerous islands. On 28 January 1820 the expedition discovered the Antarctic mainland, approaching the Antarctic coast at the coordinates and seeing ice-fields there. In 1822–1825, Lazarev circumnavigated the globe for the third time on his

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

''Kreyser'', conducting broad research in the fields of

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

and

ethnography Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

Wartime commands

In 1826, Lazarev became commander of the ship , which would sail to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

as the flagship of the First Mediterranean Squadron under command of Admiral Login Petrovich Geiden and participated in the Battle of Navarino in 1827. Lazarev received the rank of

rear admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

for his excellence during the battle. In 1828–1829, he was in charge of the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey th ...

blockade. In 1830, Lazarev returned to Kronstadt and became a commander of naval units of the Baltic Fleet. Two years later, he was made

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

of the Black Sea Fleet. In February–June 1833, Lazarev led a Russian squadron to the

Bosporus The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ; , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental bo ...

and signed the Treaty of Hünkâr İskelesi with the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. In 1833, Lazarev was appointed Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, the Black Sea ports, and also military governor of Sevastopol and Nikolayev.

Influence and legacy

Admiral Lazarev exercised great influence both in technical matters and as a mentor to younger officers. He advocated the building of a steam-powered fleet, but Russia's technical and economic backwardness hindered his plans. He tutored a number of Russian fleet commanders, including Pavel Nakhimov (1802-1855), Vladimir Alexeyevich Kornilov (1806-1854), Vladimir Istomin (1810-1855), and Grigory Butakov (1820-1882). An

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most ...

in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, capes in the Amur Liman and on the Unimak Island, a former island in the Aral Sea, a bay and a

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

in the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

, bay and

sea A sea is a large body of salt water. There are particular seas and the sea. The sea commonly refers to the ocean, the interconnected body of seawaters that spans most of Earth. Particular seas are either marginal seas, second-order section ...

in the South Ocean, a settlement near

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

and other locations bear Lazarev's name. Russian and Soviet navies had ships named after the admiral: * , a monitor of the Imperial Russian Navy built in 1867 and lead ship of her class * A light cruiser ordered for the Imperial Russian Navy in 1914, completed and renamed after the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

of 1917 * , a built in the early 1950s * The , renamed ''Admiral Lazarev'' after the 1991

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

Lazarev is buried with his disciples Nakhimov, Kornilov and Istomin in the Admirals' Burial Vault in Sevastopol. A

minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...

3660 Lazarev, discovered by

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1978, is named after him.

Honours and awards

* Order of St. George, IV class * Order of St. Vladimir, 1st class * Order of St. Alexander Nevsky * Order of White Eagle * Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

(United Kingdom) * Military Order of St. Louis (France) Lazarev MP by Botman

References and notes

External links

A map of his Antarctic expedition (in Russian)
attention – all dates there are Julian {{DEFAULTSORT:Lazarev, Mikhail 1788 births 1851 deaths People from Vladimir, Russia 19th-century explorers from the Russian Empire Explorers of Antarctica Nobility from the Russian Empire Russian polar explorers Imperial Russian Navy admirals Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 1st class Companions of the Order of the Bath Order of Saint Louis recipients War governors of Nikolayev and Sevastopol Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)