In April 1918, he joined the Red Army sailors' detachment and took part in battles with the White Guard troops in Samara, Simbirsk and Kazan in the composition of the Volga Military Flotillas.

During the Spanish Civil War from October 1936 to 31 July 1937, Zhukov was in Spain as adviser and assistant to the naval attaché to Nikolai Kuznetsov .

In December, Zhukov was appointed deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet for land defense of its main base, Sevastopol.

In May 1943 Zhukov was transferred to command the Island Naval Base of the Baltic Fleet on Lavansaari and Seiskari in the Gulf of Finland.

In September 1948 he was transferred to serve as chief of the Odessa Higher Nautical School, his last post before he resigned due to illness in 1951.