Feliks Gromov

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Feliks Nikolayevich Gromov (August 29, 1937 – January 22, 2021) was a Russian admiral who led the Russian Navy from 1992 to 1997. Born in Vladivostok, he joined the navy in 1955 and rose through the ranks to become one of Russia’s top naval leaders. He held the rank of Admiral of the Fleet, the highest naval rank.

After graduating from the S. O. Makarov Pacific Higher Naval School in 1959, Gromov served on a destroyer and, in 1961, spent time with the strategic missile troops on an exchange program before returning to the sea in 1962. He served on the cruiser Admiral Senyavin and the destroyer Vdokhnovennyy, later commanding the cruisers Senyavin and Dmitriy Pozharsky. In 1977 he led a squadron in the Baltic Fleet, then moved to the Northern Fleet in 1982. He became deputy commander of the Northern Fleet in 1984 and its commander in 1988.

After the Soviet Union collapsed, Gromov became Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy in 1992. He was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet in 1996 and retired in 1997 at the mandatory retirement age of 60. Some observers have suggested his dismissal could have been related to a Pacific Fleet ammunition explosion that drew wide attention at the time.

Gromov died on January 22, 2021, at his dacha. He was buried at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery.