Pavel Levitsky

Levitsky was born on October 30, 1859, at Reval as the son of the commander of the steam frigate Smelyy Pavel Pavlovich Levitsky and Nadezhda Efimovna (née Kholostova), daughter of a merchant of the first guild from Reval. In 1880, he graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps, was appointed michman in 1881, and graduated from his naval mine classes in 1884.[1][2][3] under the guidance of Alexander Stepanovich Popov.[4] Levitsky received his first command on April 23, 1885, as he headed the Plotva and from 1896 to 1898 was the senior mine officer of the Vladimir Monomakh. He then became the senior officer of the Sissoi Veliky on June 15, 1898, before being promoted to Captain 2nd rank on December 6, 1899. On February 4, 1904, he received command of the Zhemchug as part of the Second Pacific Squadron. On May 27, he participated in the Battle of Tsushima[5] and after the battle, as part of the detachment of Rear-Admiral Oskar Enkvist, took the cruiser to Manila.[6][2] For distinction in service, he was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 2nd Class with swords.[7]

On December 6, 1906, Levitsky was promoted to Captain 1st rank before becoming the Head of the Diving Training Unit on the Baltic Sea on June 17, 1907.[1][3] In 1911, he became an officer of the Diving Officer Class[8] and was promoted to Counter Admiral on March 25, 1912, for "distinction in service". During World War I, Levitsky commanded a submarine brigade on the Baltic Sea.[9] Around this time period, Levitsky's command and order was described as:

Modest, simple, friendly to everyone and everyone, Pavel Pavlovich always carefully listened to the opinions and wishes of submarine commanders, allowed him to argue with himself and never abused the power granted to him. For these qualities, he enjoyed universal respect and earned the nickname "Papa" in the brigade, which he was always proud of. To this it should be added that he never tried to avoid danger and, although this was not at all required by his position, he always personally went on dives to great depths or on trials from which the boat risked not returning.[2]

— Часовой No. 222–223, 1938, p. 16

On March 23, 1915, he was appointed to be under the Minister of the Navy, Ivan Grigorovich, supervised the construction of new submarines at the Baltic Sea on January 18, 1916[1][3] but after the October Revolution of 1917, he left for Kiev. Upon the outbreak of the Russian Civil War, he would serve at the Navy of the Ukrainian People's Republic before enlisting for the White Army. In September 1919, he left for Sevastopol where he was appointed head of the reserve officers of the Navy as well as receiving command of the ports of Yalta.[10] Once the White Army began losing on all fronts however, Levitsky would flee with Pyotr Wrangel to Athens from Constantinople and lived in exile in Greece in November 1920. He later joined the Corps of Officers of the Imperial Army and Navy and was sent to Greece as a representative of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich. He was the organizer and head of the Association of Former Russian Sailors in Estonia and was an honorary Member of the Seafarers Mutual Aid Fund. On April 24, 1930, he was promoted by Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich to Vice Admiral but Levitsky would die on July 31, 1938, at Tallinn and was buried at the Alexander Nevsky Cemetery.[6]