Zubov's invaluable contribution to oceanology and the study of the Arctic seas

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The famous Soviet oceanologist Nikolai Zubov was born 135 years ago. He was one of the founders of the study of the World Ocean in the USSR and the founder of the Department of Oceanology at Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov.

For the first time in the history of mankind, he circled the Franz Josef Land archipelago from the north, formulated the law of ice drift along isobars and raised the problem of ice forecasts in the Arctic seas. According to experts, the results of his work remain relevant in the development of the Arctic to this day. In addition, despite the severe wounds received in his youth, which undermined his health, the oceanologist took part in four wars and was in military service until he was 63 years old. About the exploits of Nikolai Zubov on the scientific and military path - in the material RT.

© Wikimedia commons

Nikolay Zubov was born on May 23, 1885 in the city of Lipkany, Bessarabian province, into an officer's family. His father was a poor cavalryman who distinguished himself during the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. In 1901, Zubov Sr. was promoted to lieutenant colonel and received the nobility.

The beginning of the battle path

Nikolai Zubov's childhood was held in Tiraspol. When the boy was ten years old, he was sent to one of the cadet corps, which released cadets for the army, but his father's nobility opened up new perspectives for him. In 1901 he entered a privileged educational institution - the Naval Cadet Corps in St. Petersburg.

In January 1904, Nikolai Zubov, at the age of 18, was early promoted to warrant officer, released from the cadet corps and sent to the 14th Baltic naval crew to undergo short courses in artillery and mine affairs.

“Strong character and strong will. Easily subordinates his comrades to his influence. Extremely truthful and reasonably frank. Kind and helpful, but maintaining his dignity. Comrade in the best sense of the word. He has excellent abilities and is quite hardworking,”Zubov's graduation testimonial reads.

Subsequently, the young midshipman received two consecutive assignments: to the battleship "Eagle" and to the destroyer "Brilliant". As part of the last team, Zubov made the transition to the Far East to participate in the Russo-Japanese War.

On May 27, 1905, the Shiny entered the Battle of Tsushima. Soon the ship got a hole and lost speed, but, despite this, his crew tried to rescue the sailors from the deceased battleship Oslyabya. The explosion of an enemy shell killed the commander of the "Shiny" Aleksandr Shamov and seriously wounded the chief of watch, midshipman Nikolai Zubov. As a result, the heavily damaged battleship was sunk, and his team (including Zubov) on board the destroyer "Bodry" arrived in China, where she was interned by local authorities.

Six months later, the cured Zubov returned to Russia, where he was awarded the Orders of St. Stanislaus, 3rd degree and St. Anna, 4th degree. In 1907 he received the rank of lieutenant, and a year later he entered the Nikolaev Naval Academy, from which he graduated from the hydrographic department.

Nikolay Zubov © Wikimedia commons

An impeccably fulfilling his duties, the young officer was promoted to senior lieutenant in 1912 and sent to the vessel "Bakan", which guarded the Russian maritime industries in the North. During the campaign, Zubov took part in a scale survey of the northern outskirts of Russia, which, according to historians, largely predetermined his subsequent interests.

The combat wounds negatively affected Zubov's health - he suffered from headaches and quickly got tired, which forced him to retire from military service in 1913.

War and Science

After his resignation, Zubov got a job in the department of commercial ports of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, where he began to create a port hydrometeorological service. In 1914 he completed an internship at the Institute of Geophysics in Bergen (Norway). Upon his return to Russia, he lectured on hydrology and tactical navigation.

But Zubov's civil service did not last long. After the outbreak of the First World War, he returned to the navy and in the fall of 1914 was appointed commander of the destroyer Obedient.

In 1915, Zubov was transferred to the position of flagship navigational officer in the headquarters of the chief of the Baltic Sea submarine division, and then to the headquarters of the fleet commander. He was quickly promoted to the rank of captain of the 2nd rank, and for his participation in the capture of an enemy steamer he was awarded the Order of St. Anne, 3rd degree. In 1916 he became the commander of the destroyer Powerful.

During the Civil War, Zubov was mobilized into the Kolchak troops and commanded an armored railway battalion. However, he did not take part in hostilities in the ranks of the White movement, he was taken prisoner by the Red Army and went over to her side.

In 1920, Zubov became the head of the training department of the headquarters of the Red Army Naval Forces Directorate. For some time he also worked in the People's Commissariat of Education and the USSR State Planning Committee, taught tactics at the Naval Academy. Subsequently, Zubov became an employee of the Floating Marine Scientific Institute (Plavmornina). In 1923 he became a member of the expedition on the research vessel "Perseus", leading the hydrological work. But in 1924 he was reminded of his White Guard past, was dismissed from service and sent to a settlement in the city of Cherdyn for four years.

In 1930, Zubov became a professor and was hired by the Moscow Hydrometeorological Institute, where he created and headed the first department of oceanology in the USSR. A year later, he became Scientific Secretary of the Soviet National Committee for the Second International Polar Year.

The first Soviet expeditionary ship, the two-masted wooden schooner Perseus. RIA News

In 1932, Nikolai Zubov, on a small wooden motor boat "Nikolai Knipovich", for the first time in history, circled the Franz Josef Land archipelago from the north. And in 1935 he became the scientific director of the expedition on the icebreaking steamer "Sadko", which reached a record northern latitude in free navigation. As a result of the expedition, the vast shallow waters of Sadko and Ushakov Island were mapped, and warm waters of Atlantic origin were found in the intermediate layers.

Zubov combined practical and theoretical research. In the 1930s, he made a significant contribution to the study of sea ice, which posed a serious threat to ships on the Northern Sea Route. Several dozen works published by him were of both scientific interest and significant practical value. Therefore, in 1937, without defending a thesis, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Geographical Sciences. A year later, Zubov published his first major monograph "Sea Waters and Ice", which for many years became a textbook for oceanologists.

Science against Nazism

After the start of the Great Patriotic War, the Moscow Hydrometeorological Institute was evacuated to Central Asia. However, Zubov, who had already passed three wars, refused to leave for the rear. Despite the fact that the 56-year-old professor was not subject to mobilization by age, he was on duty on Moscow rooftops and extinguished incendiary bombs.

Due to his age, Zubov was denied conscription into the ranks of the Navy until he conveyed his request through the Hero of the Soviet Union Konstantin Badigin personally to the People's Commissar of the Navy Nikolai Kuznetsov. He knew about the merits of Zubov and ordered to appoint him to the post of chief of staff of the icebreaking detachment of the White Sea military flotilla. Later he became an officer for special assignments at the military council of the Northern Fleet.

“A tremendous amount of work has been done by Zubov in compiling ice forecasts, calculating the strength of ice, creating railway and horse-drawn crossings on the ice, and ensuring the escorting of convoys. It was Nikolai Zubov who was responsible for laying the track on the ice of the Northern Dvina when the first allied convoy with tanks and aircraft for the Red Army arrived in Arkhangelsk, Stanislav Davydov, head of the scientific and methodological department of the Victory Museum, said in an interview with RT.

In 1943, Zubov was promoted to the rank of captain of the 1st rank and was appointed scientific assistant to the chief of the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route (GUSMP). A year later, he became the director of the recently created State Oceanographic Institute (GOIN) and wrote a new monograph "Ice of the Arctic", which, according to experts, retains its scientific relevance even today.

Nikolay Zubov © Wikimedia commons / Russian Post

According to the chairman of the Moscow Club of Fleet History Konstantin Strelbitsky, the scientific knowledge of Nikolai Zubov played a significant role in the success of the Soviet troops during the hostilities in the North. For his services in the fight against Nazism, the scientist was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree and the medal "For the Defense of the Soviet Arctic."

In May 1945, Nikolai Zubov was awarded the title of Rear Admiral Engineer. After the end of the war, he combined official and scientific activities, continued to work on new books and ice forecasts for Glavsevmorput and even found time to personally participate in expeditions using aviation.

In 1948, Nikolai Zubov retired, fully devoting himself to scientific and pedagogical activities. On his initiative at the Faculty of Geography, Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov, the Department of Oceanology was organized, where he became a teacher.

In the post-war period, Professor Zubov published several monographs: "Fundamentals of the doctrine of the tides of the World Ocean", "Domestic navigators - explorers of the seas and oceans", as well as "Oceanological tables". He laid the foundations for the doctrine of the vertical circulation of waters and the origin of the cold intermediate layer in the sea, developed a method for calculating the compaction of waters when mixing them, and formulated the law of ice drift along isobars. In 1960, Zubov was awarded the title of Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the RSFSR.

Nikolai Zubov died on November 11, 1960 in Moscow. His name was given to the State Oceanographic Institute, which he headed, a promontory on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, a bay in the Mawson Sea, and a number of Soviet and Russian ships. In honor of the outstanding oceanographer, a new patrol icebreaker Nikolai Zubov was laid down in 2019 at the St. Petersburg shipyard Admiralty Shipyards.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the laying ceremony of the Nikolay Zubov ice-class patrol ship RIA Novosti © Mikhail Klimentyev

According to Stanislav Davydov, Zubov's research contributed to the development of the Northern Sea Route, so their geopolitical significance to this day is difficult to overestimate.

“Zubov made an invaluable contribution to science. People like him are the honor and pride of our Fatherland. He trained whole generations of scientists and military personnel, and his memory served as a beacon for them, Davydov summed up.