Born into the family of a shipyard worker, Yegipko and several of his brothers joined up to fight for the Soviets in the Russian Civil War.

He spent the rest of the war working with the Komsomol in Nikolaev, though he was not permitted to join their ranks after a report circulated that he washed with "perfumed" soap.

[3] Though only 16 and not subject to conscription until 22, Nikolai Yegipko volunteered in May 1919 with the 1st battery of the Nikolaev Artillery Division, part of the 14th Army, as a field telephonist.

[1][3][4] He went on to serve as a cavalry scout, and saw action against the Armed Forces of South Russia led by White General Anton Denikin.

Faced with being shot as a Red volunteer, Yegipko escaped from the hospital, and with a Serb companion, attempted to walk to safety, travelling mostly at night.

Yegipko had his leg treated by a sympathetic doctor, after which he joined the work of the local Komsomol members who were carrying out secret propaganda with the Don Cossacks.

[3] Despite working with the Komsomol he was not accepted into their ranks, as while discussing his candidacy, it was reported that Yegipko washed with "perfumed" soap, and was therefore not ready to join them.

[3] He nevertheless remained on good terms with them, and after Nikolaev fell to the Red forces, he rejoined the artillery division, alongside his brother Andrei.

[3] In 1925 Yegipko joined the Soviet Navy, initially serving with the Black Sea Fleet as an engineer aboard the cruiser Chervona Ukraina and the destroyer Shaumyan.

Frunze Higher Naval School in 1931 and from February to November that year served with the Baltic Fleet as a mine officer aboard the submarine Krasnoflotets.

[2][4] From 11 January 1936 until 20 February Shch-117 carried out an independent cruise, operating under full autonomy for 40 days in order to determine the endurance of the ship and her crew.

[1][4][5] Yegipko began studying at the Naval Academy in March 1936, but left the following year to participate in the Spanish Civil War.

[1] He received the nicknames "Matisse" and "Don Severino de Moreno" from the Republicans, and was given command of the Spanish submarine C-6, until she was damaged beyond repair in a Nationalist air raid in October 1937 while in port at Gijón.

While the C-2 was undergoing repairs in Saint-Nazaire, Yegipko received word that the French were planning to intern the submarine at the behest of the Nationalist faction.

[4] Yegipko navigated the vessel back to a Spanish port, and then transferred Republican materiel to Cartagena, successfully running the blockade of the Strait of Gibraltar, and sinking a ship on the way.

[1] From September to October 1941 he was at the disposal of the Military Council of the Baltic Fleet, before his appointment as naval attaché to the Soviet embassy in the United Kingdom.

In this capacity Yegipko was present with the escorts of Convoy PQ 17 aboard the battleship HMS Duke of York, flagship of Admiral John Tovey, in mid-1942.

[1][4] Yegipko's next posting was as head of the Higher Naval School of Submarine Navigation [ru] from March 1955, holding this position until stepping down in December 1966, having been promoted to vice-admiral on 22 February 1963.

[1][2] He had completed his memoirs before his death, they were submitted to Voenizdat, but were not published until parts appeared in 2000, and the full manuscript in 2012 under the title My Meridians (Russian: Мои меридианы).

Nikolai Yegipko's daughter Lyudmila married Vladimir Bondarev, a graduate of the Submarine Navigation school, who rose to the rank of rear-admiral.

[7] The museum contains over 2,000 artefacts, and in 2018 a permanent exhibition "The man of legend, Nikolai Pavlovich Yegipko" opened to commemorate the 115th anniversary of his birth.