Mikhail Zakharov

Mikhail Nikolayevich Zakharov
Born	5 November 1912 Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died	19 February 1978(1978-02-19) (aged 65) Leningrad, Soviet Union
Buried	Serafimovskoe Cemetery
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Service/branch	Soviet Navy
Years of service	1930–1977
Rank	Admiral
Battles/wars	Second World War
Awards	Order of Lenin Order of the Patriotic War First and Second Class Order of the Red Banner – twice Order of the Red Star – three times Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" Third Class

Mikhail Nikolayevich Zakharov (Russian: Михаил Николаевич Захаров) (5 November 1912 – 19 February 1978) was an officer of the Soviet Navy. He saw action in the Second World War and rose to the rank of admiral.

Born in Saint Petersburg, in the Russian Empire in 1912, Zakharov began his naval career in 1930 with service with Coastal Defence Artillery Brigades, before moving into the political branch. He was military commissar at the Pacific Fleet's base at Nikolayevsk-on-Amur during the German invasion of the Soviet Union, and during the war served on the military councils of the Pacific Fleet, the Volga Military District and the Northern Fleet. He followed this with work as a propagandist and as a senior instructor, and later as inspector of the fleet's political administration.

Zakharov served in the political department of the Black Sea Fleet after the war, and in 1956 joined the Pacific Fleet's military council, which he served on for the next 15 years, rising through the ranks to admiral. His last posting was head of the political department of the Naval Academy, which he held until shortly before his retirement in 1977. He had served as deputy to both the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR during this time. He received a number of awards and honours over his career, and after his death in 1978 a street in Vladivostok and an Udaloy-class destroyer, Admiral Zakharov, were named in his honour.