Vassili Merkoucheff

Naval School (1905), experienced the first immersion under the ice, second in command of the submarine Alligator then commander of the submarine Okoun (1912). During the war, in the Baltic Sea, he attacked a group of ships with torpedoes (1915), but one of the ships rammed the submarine, the shock was violent and Merkoucheff suffered serious spinal cord trauma. He will suffer from it all his life. The group of ships will abandon its operation. The same year he attacked the cruiser Augsburg. Transferred to the Mines and Torpedoes Division, he is second officer of the destroyer Gavriil.

During the Civil War, in Sevastopol, responsible for the second group of landing means. First commander of a division of armored boats (1919), then of a group which landed in the Odessa region, he was then assigned to command the auxiliary cruiser Tsarevich Georgii. He participated in operations against groups of Makhno and in the capture of Berdiansk. Frigate captain (1919), naval captain (1920). He was evacuated from Crimea to Kharax then returned to France.

He will be a worker despite his injuries at the Grammont factories near Lyon. A talented writer, he left numerous works, the best known of which are The Submariners (Podvodniki) for the period 1905-1914 and The Diary of a Submariner (Dnevnik Podvodnika) for the period 1914 -1915 which will be published after his death . He contributes to numerous newspapers in “Russia beyond the borders”.

Knight of the Order of Saint George and holder of the Arms of Saint George.

He rests with his wife Maria Ivanovna Merkouchova, née Vorontzova-Veliaminova, (1887-1962)