WORLD’S YOUNGEST ADMIRAI

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 7914, 4 August 1917, Page 2 (Supplement)

WORLD’S YOUNGEST ADMIRAI

Vice-Admiral A. V. Kolchak recently made so scathing a n on the condition of the Baltic p] and ha* accepted a high maud in the American the youngest admiral in tjh,, He was appointed to the comS of the Black Sea Fleet toward* end of last y ar, and later on talked of as the ntxt Aliniste r the Russian Navy. Yet he u 43. That is extraordinarily V( for an admiral; even Sir '[? Beatty, who is the second y 01 1«, British admiral, is 54, and’ Ada Halsey, late of the New Zealand i youngest, is 53. Vice-Admiral j chak entered the Russian NavyJ he was 17 years old, and h e seen 25 years’ service. Yet » one comes to look at the au dates it seems strange to realise* a man who is now ni t only an miral—and an aumiral who ha very important command—but expected to be given supreme u control in Russia, should have* entered the navy in 1801. ti years later lie was no longer equivalent of a middy, and in i he won a great deal of credit f or organisation and leadership of Arctic relief exi edition, dm which lie explored the ieo 0 f Kara Sea and a great part of Arctic Ocean. He followed this winning a series of military tions during the Russo-Japj, War, in which he shared in th e fence of Port Arthur. From looe 1912 he worked on the new to General Staff, and played an ac part in the reorganisation cl Russian Navy, though the work interrupted for a while by a command. During the two year? mediately before the war he c manded successively two torpi boats. During this war he hasi more distinctions, and in April last year was promoted to rear, n.iral, and confirm d in a high dependent command in the Only two months later lie wasu vice-admiral and appointed to Black Sea command. Fo is likeh do good service for the Allies in new position.