Around this time, he attempted to enter the Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology as he earned a living from translations and tutoring but was expelled when he tried to pass the exam for a friend.

On 1 April 1885 he served as the senior officer aboard the Bulgarian yacht Alexander the First but returned to Russian service on 14 October 1885.

[2] From 18 January to 18 April 1886 he served as a miner officer aboard the Zabiyaka but was then transferred to the Russian Siberian Flotilla on 16 March 1887, and commanded destroyer no.

He was temporarily transferred back to the Black Sea Fleet on 11 September 1890, with no post but then returned to the Siberian Flotilla on 24 November 1890.

[2] On 1 January 1893 he was promoted to Captain 2nd Rank, and on 30 June that year he was a member of the Provisional Naval Court.

[2] A recollection of the events at the Dmitrii Donskoi by A. S. Novikov-Priboy documents the following: The senior officer was on deck when one of the sailors flew up to him and, choking on words, reported: - Your Excellency ... the commander asks you.

Lieutenant Durnovo, leaning against the wall, sat motionless, bent over, as if thinking about something, but his skull was blown off with his cap and his brain was terribly pink.

Above these dead men, gritting his teeth in pain, towered only Commander Lebedev, barely holding on to the handles of the steering wheel.

Seeing the senior officer, he raised his eyebrows in surprise and said with blue lips: - I'm surrendering command ... - I will now order that you, Ivan Nikolaevich, be transferred to the dressing station.