Serving the St. Andrew Flag

The title of this book bears a symbolic meaning. The devotion to the St. Andrew flag, the flag of the Russian Navy, a blue St. Andrew cross on a white ground, is an indissoluble tie between those whose biographies are included in the book and those whose efforts gave birth to it. The abundance of biographical data, together with photographical illustrations, provides the reader with most valuable information on the lives of high-ranking navy officers, and also leads the reader through the pages of history of the Imperial Navy of the last century.

The book - 520 pages in 24x30 cm format - includes 125 biographies: those of 6 Grand-Dukes of the Imperial Family, who were educated as naval officers, actually serving in the Navy, and those of the following high-ranking officers:

Each biography is illustrated with one photograph (or two) of the officer and, for some of them, by a picture of the warship on which he served - when space is available.

A short commentary precedes the biographies of the 6 Grand-Dukes naval officers in order to give an idea of the links between the Imperial Family and the Russian Navy. Some comments are also made as an introduction to the biographies of the officers, a large number of them bearing non-Russian family names whereas they all belonged to the gentry or the nobility of the Russian Empire.

Two appendixes are to be found at the end of the book. The first one comprises a glossary in alphabetical order for many terms - institutions, bodies, ranks, titles, designations . . . typically Russian. As much explanation as possible is given in order to inform the reader when he meets those terms in the biographies giving translations, descriptions, historical data etc. Particular attention was paid to the chapter "Imperial Russian Orders", as such distinctions awarded to deserving officers are only briefly quoted inside the biographies ; because of these awards they enjoyed a major elevation of their status within the society in which they lived. Details are given, dealing with the hierarchy, the meaning of additional elements on the badges, the basics of these Orders' statutes with their evolution within an historical background. Colored pictures illustrate the desciptions of the decorations given in the text.

In the second appendix, the names of all the ships mentioned in the biographies are gathered, in alphabetical order, and retain their Russian pronunciation and their spelling in the text through strictly established transcription rules ; for each the English translation is given, when necessary, and information about the origin of this name (illustrious persons, saints, religious feasts, geographical spots, historical events ... and even foreign names).

The book begins with a short introduction explaining how it was conceived, mainly on the basis of data obtained from the St. Petersburg Naval archives. Then, in order to justify different choices made by the author, are delineated some basic principles used in writing this work (choice of the title, making the names of ships' types uniform, julian calendar for the dates ...).

Finally, with a view to reaching as many descendants of Russian émigrés, scattered all over the world, and, also very simply, since many readers interested in the Russian Navy are English-speaking, the book is published in both languages, French and English.