Soviet Union Foreign Awards Georgy Andreyevich Stepanov (Russian: Георгий Андреевич Степанов) (30 November [O.S.

Born into a naval dynasty, Stepanov embarked on a career in the Imperial Russian Navy, serving as a torpedo officer with the Baltic Fleet during the First World War.

Recalled to seagoing service with the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Stepanov was appointed to command the White Sea Military Flotilla [ru], an important task that required protecting the Arctic convoys.

Recalled to Moscow he was appointed acting head of the Main Naval Staff, but came in for criticism after losses in the Black Sea, and was demoted for a period.

In 1913 he was appointed junior torpedo officer on the battleship Andrei Pervozvanny, and was serving in this post at the outbreak of the First World War.

[1] With the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Stepanov was appointed to command the White Sea Military Flotilla [ru] on 7 October 1941.

[1] He was among those involved in accusations of the "unsatisfactory organization" of the Black Sea Fleet, following the sinking of the destroyers Kharkov, Besposhchadny and Sposobny by German aircraft off the Crimean coast on 6 October 1943.

[1] On 2 March 1944 the State Defence Committee directed that Stepanov be removed from office and demoted to the rank of rear admiral.

He was restored to the rank of vice admiral on 1 June 1944, and from July 1944 served as Head of the Directorate of Naval Educational Institutions, continuing in his post after the war.

[5] On 12 January 1948 Stepanov, with fellow naval officers Nikolay Kuznetsov, Lev Galler and Vladimir Alafuzov were brought before the Court of Honour [ru] of the Ministry of the Armed Forces of the USSR, chaired by Marshal Leonid Govorov.

[2] Stepanov was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and on 10 February 1948 his rank of vice-admiral was revoked by the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union.