Gordey Levchenko

Updated on Dec 12, 2023

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Years of service 1913-1960 Commands held Baltic Fleet		Name Gordey Levchenko Rank Admiral

Born February 1, 1897 Dubrovka, Zhitomir Oblast Ukraine ( 1897-02-01 ) Allegiance Russian Empire Soviet Union Service/branch Imperial Russian Navy Soviet Navy Battles/wars World War I, Russian Civil War, World War II Awards Order of Lenin (three times) Order of the Red Banner (four times) Order of Ushakov (twice) Order of the Red Star Died June 9, 1981, Soviet Union Battles and wars World War I, Russian Civil War, World War II Similar People Filipp Oktyabrsky, Erich von Manstein, Gheorghe Avramescu, Ivan Yefimovich Petrov, Francesco Mimbelli

Gordey Ivanovich Levchenko (Russian: Гордей Иванович Левченко, February 1, 1897 – June 9, 1981) was a Soviet naval commander and admiral from 1944.

Born at Dubrovka, Ukraine, a part of the Russian Empire, in 1897, Levchenko joined the Imperial Russian Navy in 1913 and participated in World War I.

Levchenko became a member of the Bolshevik Party in 1919. During the Civil War he participated in suppressing the mutinies at the Krasnaya Gorka fort and the Kronstadt Rebellion. He was promoted to command the Aurora in 1922, and held command of the Caspian Flotilla in 1932 - 1933. From 1933 he commanded the battleship division of the Baltic Fleet and the destroyer squadron of the Black Sea Fleet. He was arrested during a purge in late 1941 and sentenced to 10 years, but released in January 1942 and re-instated. Levchenko participated in battles of Odessa, Nikolayev and Sevastopol during World War II. From late 1942 to 1944 he was base commander in Leningrad and helped supply the city during the siege.

He was commander of the Baltic Fleet from 1946 to 1953. Levchenko was deputy of the People's Commissar of the navy from 1939 and deputy minister of the navy from 1953 to 1960.

Levchenko retired in September 1960. His memoir «Годы огневые» (The Fiery Years) appeared in the same year.

Honours and awards

Three Orders of Lenin

Order of the Red Banner, four times

Order of Ushakov, 1st class, twice

Order of the Red Star, twice

Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary since the Birth of Vladimir Il'ich Lenin"

Medal "For the Defence of Leningrad"

Medal "For the Defence of Odessa"

Medal "For the Defence of Sevastopol"

Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"

Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"

Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"

Jubilee Medal "XX Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army"

Jubilee Medal "30 Years of the Soviet Army and Navy"

Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"

Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"

Jubilee Medal "60 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"

An Udaloy class destroyer, Admiral Levchenko, is named after Gordey Ivanovich Levchenko.

References

Gordey Levchenko Wikipedia

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