He was a pioneer of insubmersibility theory (the concept of counter-flooding to stabilise a damaged ship), and developer of a Cyrillic-based semaphore alphabet.

He served again in the Russo-Japanese War as vice-admiral and was assigned to the defense of Port Arthur, where he was hailed as a competent and aggressive commander.

Makarov was killed in the subsequent battle when his flagship Petropavlovsk struck a naval mine and the ship's magazine detonated.

In 1946, after the Soviet invasion of South Sakhalin, the village of Shiritoru on that island was forcibly depopulated of its Japanese inhabitants and renamed Makarov in his honor.

Stepan Makarov was born in Nikolaev (present-day Mykolayiv, Ukraine) into a family of fleet praporshchik (прапорщик по Адмиралтейству, an auxiliary officer).

Makarov was highly decorated for his service as a captain of the Russian torpedo boat tender Velikiy Knyaz Konstantin in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78.

He became a vice admiral in 1896, and began to concentrate on a design for new warships, especially icebreakers needed to establish a northern sea route between Europe and East Asia.

[4] In 1901, Makarov commanded Yermak on an Arctic expedition to survey the coasts of Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land.

Makarov also designed two icebreaking steamships to connect the Trans-Siberian Railway across Lake Baikal: the train ferry SS Baikal built in 1897 and passenger and package freight steamer SS Angara built in about 1900,[5][6] based upon his study of similar vessels on the North American Great Lakes.

Armstrong Whitworth in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, built the ships in kit form and sent them to Listvyanka on Lake Baikal for reassembly.

[6] Baikal had 15 boilers, four funnels, was 64 metres (210 ft) long and could carry 24 railway coaches and one locomotive on her middle deck.

His leadership differed greatly from any other Russian naval officer during this war, offering diversity, aggression, and an ability to "inspire confidence in his subordinates".

[7] Upon his assumption of command in early 1904, Makarov greatly increased the activity in the Russian squadrons, as well as the general defense of Port Arthur.

[10] Under Makarov's leadership, "Russian squadrons put to sea nearly every day, constantly on the move, and ensuring that it was never taken by surprise outside the protection of Port Arthur's" shore batteries.