Rear Admiral M. I. Smirnov (1880–1940) as an Associate of Admiral A. V. Kolchak

The article is devoted to the biography of Rear Admiral M. I. Smirnov, Naval Minister of the Russian Government Admiral A. V. Kolchak, classmate and colleague of A. V. Kolchak in the Baltic, the Black Sea and White Siberia. The author examines the main stages of M. I. Smirnov’s combat work as a naval officer, his joint service with A. V. Kolchak and his some military theoretical works of the pre-revolutionary period. Conclusions are drawn about M. I. Smirnov’s acquaintance with the famous memoirist captain of the 2nd rank G. K. Graf, about M. I. Smirnov’s participation in the formation of the Kolchakov combat school, about M. I. Sminov’s skillful command of the ships of the River Battle Flotilla on the Kama during the Civil War, as well as about the origin of the unrealized plan of the breakthrough of the RBF ships from the Chusovaya River Kama to the Volga at the junction with the Armed Forces of Lieutenant General A. I. Denikin in June 1919.