People's Commissariat for Water Transport

People's Commissariat for Water Transport

Народный комиссариат водного транспорта Narodny Komissariat Vodnogo Transporta
Soviet state and civil ensign (1936–1955)
People's Commissariat overview
Formed	January 30, 1931
Preceding People's Commissariat	People's Commissariat of Transportation
Dissolved	April 9, 1939
Superseding agencies	People's Commissariat of the Maritime Fleet People's Commissariat of the River Fleet
Jurisdiction	Council of People's Commissars

The People's Commissariat for Water Transport (Russian: Народный комиссариат водного транспорта, romanized: Narodny Komissariat Vodnogo Transporta), usually abbreviated Наркомводтранс (Narkomvodtrans)[1][2] or Наркомвод (Narkomvod)[3] and also sometimes NKVT,[4] was the Soviet People's Commissariat for Water Transportation. It was responsible, amongst other things, for running the Soviet merchant maritime fleet.[3]

History

Narkomvod was established on January 30, 1931,[1][2] in the middle of a re-evaluation of Soviet policy about the railways and the splitting off the People's Commissariat of Transportation and as part of an overall government reorganization. The first people's commissar for Narkomvod was Nikolay Mikhaylovich Ianson, who had formerly been a people's commissar in the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic.[2]

By April 1931, Narkomvod had five directorates, for operations in the Baltic, Northern, Black, Azov, and Caspian Seas. Ianson resigned on March 13, 1934, in order to become the deputy chief of Glavsevmorput. He was replaced by Nikolay Pakhomov.[5]

On April 9, 1939, the People's Commissariat was abolished and split into the People's Commissariat of the River Fleet and the People's Commissariat of the Maritime Fleet.[6]

Commissars

The head of the People's Commissariat was a People's Commissar. The following People's Commissars of Water Transport were appointed:

• 1931–1934 Nikolay Mikhaylovich Ianson (Nikolai Janson, Nikolay Yanson), demoted on March 13, 1934, arrested in 1937, tried and executed shortly thereafter.[7]
• 1934–1938 Nikolay Ivanovich Pakhomov, fired on April 8, 1938, arrested on the next day, tried and executed shortly thereafter.[8]
• 1938–1939 Nikolay Ivanovich Yezhov, also serving as the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs until December 9, 1938. On 9 April 1939 the People's Commissariat for Water Transport was abolished. Yezhov was arrested the following day, then tried and executed within a year of his arrest.[9]

References

Cross-reference

1. Bollinger 2003, p. 22.
2. Rees 1995, p. 39.
3. Armstrong 2011, p. 19.
4. "Axis History Forum". w9816. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
5. Bollinger 2003, p. 23.
6. Награды ведомств водного транспорта СССР (in Russian). История наградной фалеристики россии. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
7. Янсон Николай Михайлович (in Russian). ХРОНОС. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
8. Пахомов Николай Иванович (in Russian). ХРОНОС. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
9. Ежов Николай Иванович (in Russian). ХРОНОС. Retrieved 16 May 2012.

Sources used

• Armstrong, Terence (2011). The Northern Sea Route: Soviet Exploitation of the North East Passage. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521232630.
• Bollinger, Martin J. (2003). Stalin's Slave Ships: Kolyma, the Gulag Fleet, and the Role of the West. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780275981006.
• Rees, E. A. (1995). "The Transport Crisis, 1931". Stalinism and Soviet Rail Transport, 1928–1941. Studies in Soviet history and society. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780312123819.

Further reading

• Rees, E. A. (1997). "The People's Commissariat of Water Transport". In Rees, E. A. (ed.). Decision-Making in the Stalinist Command Economy, 1932–1937. Studies in Russian and East European History and Society. New York: St Martin's Press. ISBN 9780312165642.