page_title: Nikolai Yegipko
section_title: Spanish Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: Nikolai Yegipko / Spanish Civil War
caption_attribution_description: Español: Pruebas de mar del crucero Almirante Cervera, aún sin su armamento.English: en:Spanish cruiser Almirante Cervera in her shakedown, without weapons
context_page_description: Nikolai Pavlovich Yegipko was an officer of the Soviet Navy and a Hero of the Soviet Union. He saw action during the Russian Civil War, the Spanish Civil War, and the Second World War, and rose to the rank of vice-admiral.
  Born into the family of a shipyard worker, Yegipko and several of his brothers joined up to fight for the Soviets in the Russian Civil War. He served initially as a field telephonist, though he was wounded, twice captured by White forces, and twice escaped. He spent the rest of the war working with the Komsomol in Nikolaev, though he was not permitted to join their ranks after a report circulated that he washed with "perfumed" soap. With the Soviet victory in the civil war, Yegipko was demobilised and returned to shipyard work. He reenlisted in the armed forces in 1925, serving on ships of the Black Sea Fleet, and then on submarines in the Baltic and Pacific Fleets. In 1936 he commanded the submarine Shch-117 on a record-breaking voyage of endurance, for which he and his entire crew received honours. He then went to Spain to support the Republican faction in the Spanish Civil War.
context_section_description: Yegipko began studying at the Naval Academy in March 1936, but left the following year to participate in the Spanish Civil War. In May 1937 Yegipko arrived in Spain as part of the Soviet support for the Republican faction in the Spanish Civil War. He received the nicknames "Matisse" and "Don Severino de Moreno" from the Republicans, and was given command of the Spanish submarine C-6, until she was damaged beyond repair in a Nationalist air raid in October 1937 while in port at Gijón. The city fell to the Nationalists soon afterwards, and Yegipko and his crew evacuated the city in a British transport ship. The ship was intercepted and captured at sea by the Nationalist cruiser Almirante Cervera, but a patrolling British warship intervened and forced the Nationalists to release their prize.
  Yegipko then took command of the C-2. While the C-2 was undergoing repairs in Saint-Nazaire, Yegipko received word that the French were planning to intern the submarine at the behest of the Nationalist faction. Yegipko navigated the vessel back to a Spanish port, and then transferred Republican materiel to Cartagena, successfully running the blockade of the Strait of Gibraltar, and sinking a ship on the way. For "courage and heroism in the performance of his military and international duty", Yegipko was, by order of the Supreme Soviet, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on 22 February 1939.
caption: The Nationalist cruiser Almirante Cervera, Yegipko's nemesis during the first part of his Spanish service.
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