Word: nickolai
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Died. Nickolai G. Kuznetsov, 72, commander of the Soviet navy in World War II. Kuznetsov's advocacy of an aggressive "oceanic" strategy for the Soviet sea arm appealed to Stalin. He quickly rose through the ranks as senior officers were liquidated in the 1937- 38 purges, and became Navy Commissar in 1939 at the age of 37. Kuznetsov embarked on a massive cruiser and battleship building program and restored czarist-style discipline on shipboard, requiring officers to wear bone-handled swords. He mapped the naval strategy used against Finland in 1940, and later led his fleet against the Nazis...