Vladimir Tributs

Who was Vladimir Tributs?

Vladimir Filippovich Tributs was a Soviet naval commander and admiral from 1943.

Tributs joined the Navy in 1918 and during the Russian Civil War participated in combat actions on the Volga and in the Caspian. Graduated and received his commission from M.V. Frunze Higher Naval School in 1926 and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1932. From 1932 to 1936 he served on ships of the Baltic Fleet and commanded the destroyer Yakov Sverdlov. From February 1938 to April 1939 Tributs served as the Chief of Staff of the Baltic Fleet and from April 1939 to 1947 he commanded it.

As war approached, Tributs observed the growing evidence of hostile German activity with apprehension; in the summer of 1940, he "advanced Baltic Fleet headquarters from its historic seat at the Kronstadt fortress in Leningrad to the port of Tallinn, two hundred miles to the west" despite his worries about security problems and the difficulty of constructing a new base. On June 19 he put the Baltic Fleet up to "Readiness No. 2" state, which meant fueling the ships and putting their crews on alert, and late on the evening of June 21 he moved to "Readiness No. 1" state, which was fully operational. On August 17, the defense of Leningrad was placed in his hands.