COMMANDERS OF THE SOVIET NAVY

  M V Ivanov              Oct - Nov 1917
* P E Dybenko             Nov 1917 - Apr 1918
  V M Altfater            May - late 1918
  F F Raskolnikov         late 1918
  V M Altfater            Dec 1918 - May 1919
  E A Berens              May 1919 - Feb 1920
  A V Nemits              Feb 1920 - Dec 1921
  E S Pantserzhanskiy     Dec 1921 - Dec 1924
  V I Zof                 Dec 1924 - Aug 1926
* R A Muklevich           Aug 1926 - Jul 1931
* V M Orlov               Jul 1931 - Jul 1937
* M V Viktorov            Aug 1937 - Jan 1938
  P A Smirnov             Jan - Aug 1938
* M P Frinovskiy          Sep 1938 - Mar 1939
  N G Kuznetsov           Apr 1939 - Jan 1947
  I S Yumashev            Jan 1947 - Jul 1951
  N G Kuznetsov           Jul 1951 - Jan 1956
  S G Gorshkov            Jan 1956 - Dec 1985
  V N Chernavin           Dec 1985 ->

Several conclusions can be drawn from the above list:-
(a)  Lenin got rid of more Commanders of the Soviet Navy than anybody else,
     even Stalin.
(b)  Stalin did, however, kill more Commanders of the Soviet Navy than anybody
     else, even Lenin (ie all those marked with an asterisk).
(c)  More Commanders of the Soviet Navy have lost their jobs in the winter than
     at any other time of the year, even summer.
(d)  Sergei Georgievich Gorshkov was the longest-serving, and thus the most
     important, Commander of the Soviet Navy.  More important, that is, than
     any of the others, even Kuznetsov.
(e)  In January 1938, Stalin must have said to himself, "I thought M V Viktorov
     was Commander of the Soviet Navy, until I discovered Smirnov."
(f)  Vladimir Nikolaevich Chernavin is the only living Commander of the Soviet
     Navy.
(g)  RJM17 has nothing better to do than draw conclusions from lists of sundry
     Russian admirals.