page_title: Georgy Stepanov
section_title: Family and early life
hierarchical_section_title: Georgy Stepanov / Family and early life
caption_attribution_description: English: Russian Battleship Slawa (1915) Français&#160;: Cuirassé russe Slava. Photo prise en 1915. Sabordé en 1917 au cours de la Bataille du détroit de Muhu
context_page_description: Georgy Andreyevich Stepanov was an officer of the Soviet Navy. He rose to the rank of vice-admiral and was commander of the Onega and White Sea Military Flotillas, as well as acting-commander of the Black Sea Fleet.
  Born into a naval dynasty, Stepanov embarked on a career in the Imperial Russian Navy, serving as a torpedo officer with the Baltic Fleet during the First World War. He continued his naval career after the Russian Revolution, siding with the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War, taking part in the Ice Cruise of the Baltic Fleet and then commanding the Onega Military Flotilla, seeing action against the White Finns.
  He then served in staff positions with the Black Sea Fleet, interspersed with courses at the Naval Academy. He graduated to a teaching post at the Academy and after serving as senior director, and department head, became head of the Academy itself. Recalled to seagoing service with the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Stepanov was appointed to command the White Sea Military Flotilla, an important task that required protecting the Arctic convoys.
context_section_description: Stepanov was born into a noble dvoryan family on 30 November [O.S. 18 November] 1890 in Kronstadt, Saint Petersburg Governorate, in the Russian Empire.  His grandfather was a retired captain 1st rank, while his father, Andrei Ivanovich Stepanov, was an officer of the Imperial Russian Navy, and served as a torpedo officer on the cruiser Rurik, and later as a senior torpedo officer aboard the battleship Andrei Pervozvanny. He reached captain 2nd rank, and was killed at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905 while commanding the transport Kamchatka. Stepanov's uncle, Konstantin Ivanovich Stepanov, was also a naval officer, rising to captain 1st rank and commanding the cruiser Admiral Makarov.
  Stepanov followed his relatives into the navy, studying at the Alexander Cadet Corps from 1905 to 1907, while also joining the Marine Corps in 1905. His naval service began in 1908, though he completed his time in the Marine Corps in 1911. From 1911 to 1912 he served on the training ship Nikolaev as a watch officer. He took specialised classes in torpedo warfare and radio telegraphy from 1912 to 1914. In 1913 he was appointed junior torpedo officer on the battleship Andrei Pervozvanny, and was serving in this post at the outbreak of the First World War. From February 1916 he was senior torpedo officer of the battleship Slava, and from March 1917 to September 1918 served as the torpedo officer at the headquarters of the Baltic Fleet's patrol division.
caption: The battleship Slava, Stepanov's ship from February 1916 to March 1917
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