The rank of Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union (Russian: Admiral Flota Sovietskogo Soyuza, Адмирал Флота Советского Союза) was the highest naval rank of the Soviet Union. The rank of Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union was formally created in 1955 and abolished in 1991. Only three people held the rank of Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union. The equivalent military rank was Marshal of the Soviet Union.

History of the rank

According to Admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov, the first man to hold the rank Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union, it was conferred on him by Joseph Stalin in May 1944 without any formal process. "In 1944," Kuznetsov wrote, "Stalin, quite inexpectedly for me, raised in Supreme Headquarters a question about conferring on me the next military rank. At the moment we had no rank higher than Admiral. I reported that foreign Navies had a rank of Admiral of the Fleet. [So] it was decided to institute the rank of Admiral of the Fleet, with four stars on the shoulder straps. So I obtained the next rank of Admiral of the Fleet."

In 1948 the rank appears to have been abolished, and Kuznetsov reverted to the rank of Admiral. After Stalin's death in 1953, however, Kuznetsov was again described as Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union, again apparently without any formal process to create the rank. Finally the rank of Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union was formally established by the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union on March 3, 1955. It was conferred on Kuznetsov and on Admiral Ivan Isakov .

In 1956 Kuznetsov was demoted for political reasons and Isakov remained the only Admiral of the Fleet until his death in 1967. His successor, Admiral Sergei Gorshkov, then became the third and last Admiral of the Fleet. Gorshkov died in 1988 and no further appointments were made before the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

List of Admirals of the Fleet of the Soviet Union

• Nikolai Kuznetsov (1902-74): Appointed informally 1944-48 and formally 1955-56
• Ivan Isakov (1894-1967): Appointed 1955
• Sergei Gorshkov (1910-88): Appointed 1967