Opening the Russian Navy to blue-water operations
Though born into a German family (birth name: Adam Johann Ritter von Krusenstern) living in what is now Estonia, he is better known by his Russian name Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern.
He joined the Russian Imperial Navy in 1787.
He served in the Royal Navy for six years (1793-1799) before returning to Russia.
In 1803, he was commissioned by Tsar Alexander I to lead the first circumnavigation of the world by Russian Navy vessels.
The purpose of the voyage was to establish trade with China and Japan, facilitate trade in South America, and examine California for a possible colony.
The two ships sailed from Kronstadt (an island just west of St. Petersburg) in the Baltic in August 1803.
After rounding Cape Horn, they made calls in ports on the west coast of South America and charted portions of the California coast.
Additional calls were made in the Russian possessions in Alaska and in China and Japan.
Various islands in the Central Pacific were also charted before the ships returned via the Cape of Good Hope to Kronstadt, arriving in August 1806.
His detailed report of the voyage was translated into German, English, French, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, and Italian, and led to his honorary membership in the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Most in the maritime community today know his name from the Russian sail training vessel Kruzenshtern or from the icebreaker Ivan Kruzenshtern.
The sail training vessel sailed around the world in 2005-06 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Admiral’s voyage.
Some recall that Cape Krusenstern is located on the north side of Kotzebue Sound in Alaska.
Few, though, note that the Russian fur trading base at Fort Ross (originally Fort Rus) was established in northern California just a few years after he charted the area.
Admiral Kruzenshtern was largely responsible for opening the vision of the Russian Navy to offshore operations.