Vitaly Fokin

Naval Career

A worker's son, Vitaliy Alekseyevich Fokin joined the Soviet Navy when he was 16 in 1922. He served as a deck officer aboard the cruiser Aurora from 1927 and commanded the destroyer Uritskiy from 1941 to 1944. In 1944, the squadron that he commanded took part in the capture of the German base in Kirkenes, Norway.
He was appointed chief of staff of the Northern Fleet in 1947, rising up the ranks to become commander of the Pacific Fleet in 1958 and then first deputy commander of the Soviet Navy between 1962 and 1964. Admiral Fokin was a moderniser and was instrumental to the development of the Soviet submarine launched ballistic missile deterrent. In the run up to the Cuban Missile Crisis, he said to his submarine commanders, "If they slap you on the left cheek, do not let them slap you on the right one."

Political career

Admiral Fokin was made a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1961 and a deputy in the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in 1962.