Lev Mikhailovich Zhiltsov (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Лев Михайлович Жильцов; 2 February 1928 – 27 February 1996) was a

Soviet Navy The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

commander and

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 ...

of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. Zhiltsov entered the Naval preparatory school in Leningrad in 1942 and the Caspian Higher Naval School in 1945, the date from which his naval service officially began. In 1949, he graduated, was commissioned an officer, and assigned to serve on the submarine M-113 of the Black Sea Fleet. In 1951, Zhiltsov attended Advanced Naval Submarine Navigation courses in Leningrad, which he completed with distinction in 1952. In 1954, he was assigned as second in command to the first Soviet

nuclear submarine A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed. Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion ...

. In June 1959, he was awarded the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

for his active participation in the construction of the lead Soviet nuclear-powered submarine and given command of that submarine, the submarine ''Leninsky Komsomol'' in the rank of

Captain 2nd Rank Captain 2nd rank () is a rank used by the Russian Navy and a number of List of communist states#Former communist states, former communist states. The rank is the middle rank in the staff officer's career group. The rank is equivalent to lieutenant c ...

. In 1962, he twice took his submarine to the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

and on 20 July 1962 Zhiltsov was awarded the title of

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

for this exploit. In 1966, he graduated from the Naval Academy in Leningrad, after which he became commander of the Baltic Fleet submarine division and held various other command positions in the Baltic and Northern Fleets. He was promoted to

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 ...

in 1975 and retired from active duty in 1977. While retired, he served on the Navy Acceptance Commission for new ships before he died in 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhiltsov, Lev 1928 births 1996 deaths Soviet submarine commanders Heroes of the Soviet Union Soviet admirals Recipients of the Order of Lenin Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery Kirov Caspian Higher Naval School alumni