serviceyears branch commands native_name_lang death_date death_place birth_place allegiance image_size battles native_name birth_date rank image article_title name
1902 -- 1918 russian empire soviet union soviet navy rus 20 april 1919 moscow warsaw russian empire soviet union 180 world war i , russian civil war Василий Михайлович Альтфатер 16 december 1883 rear admiral altfater vm.jpg vasili altfater
 vasili altfater
vasili altfater

vasili mikhailovich altfater -lrb- -rrb- -lrb- 16 december 1883 -- april 20 , 1919 -rrb- was a russian-soviet naval officer , the first commander-in-chief of the soviet navy .
altfrater was born in warsaw the son of an artillery officer , general mikhail altfater who was from a noble baltic german family .
altfater graduated from marine cadet corps -lrb- 1902 -rrb- and naval academy 's department of hydrography -lrb- 1908 -rrb- .
during the russo-japanese war , altfater participated in the defense of port arthur -lrb- lüshunkou -rrb- and rescue of the crew of the battleship `` petropavlovsk '' .
later on , altfater served as the squadron navigating officer of the 1st destroyer division of the baltic fleet -lrb- 1909 -- 1910 -rrb- .
during world war i , altfater was a spokesperson for the imperial russian navy , then head of the military administration under the commander-in-chief of the northern fleet .
in october 1917 , altfater was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral .
after the october revolution , he joined the soviets .
in february 1918 , altfater was appointed assistant to the head of the naval headquarters .
he participated in peace negotiations in brest-litovsk .
in april , altfater became a board member at the people 's commissariat of naval affairs .
in october , he became a member of the revolutionary military council -lrb- Реввоенсовет , `` revvoyensovet '' -rrb- and appointed commander-in-chief of the soviet naval forces .
altfater died of a heart attack in moscow on april 20 , 1919 .
on receiving the news about his death , leon trotsky said that `` the red fleet lost a tireless , competent , energetic and honest worker '' .
he is buried in the novodevichy cemetery , moscow .
