Yevgeny Nikonov

Nikonov was born on 18 December 1920 into an ethnically Russian peasant family in the village of Vasilyevka in what is now Stavropolsky District of Samara Oblast.

On 19 April 1943 Baltic Fleet commander Vice–Admiral Vladimir Tributs ordered that Torpedo Electrician Yevgeny Nikonov forever be listed as a member of the Minsk's active crew.

(This tradition continues today; although the Minsk was long ago scrapped, Yevgeny Nikonov is always listed on the active personnel roster of a Baltic Fleet training unit.

Some commenters have suggested that the chronology of events is hard to fit into the Soviet/Russian account, and that, although Nikonov was a real person, the story of his martyrdom was constructed for propaganda purposes, although there is no definite evidence of this either.

Soon after, Nikonov's remains were ceremoniously reinterred in a picturesque location in Tallinn park, on the hill of Maarjamäe[citation needed], and a monument was erected.

(The statue, now missing its head, is at the outdoor exhibition of Soviet monuments at Maarjamäe Palace of the Estonian History Museum.)