His brothers and sisters were: Nikolay, Alexander (lieutenant, heavily wounded on August 24, 1854, during the siege of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, perishing on the 10th of September of the same year), Yekaterina, Dmitri (rear-admiral, the last governor of Alaska), Pyotr and Georgy.
Entering the Naval Cadet Corps in Saint Petersburg on March 16, 1838, he was promoted to the rank of reefer in January 1840.
In 1847-1848 he participated in landing operations near Abkhazia, April 11, 1848, as well as being promoted to the rank of lieutenant for military actions against the mountaineers during Caucasian War.
During the Crimean War, Maksutov served as flag-officer by rear-admiral Fyodor Mikhailovich Novosilsky and participated in the Battle of Sinop on board Paris, a battleship.
For enduring 349 days of the siege of Sevastopol (1854), he was awarded with an Order of St. Vladimir of 4th degree with ribbon, as well as being promoted to the rank of captain-lieutenant.