Oskar Victorovich Stark

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Oskar Victorovich Stark (Russian: Оскар Викторович Старк) (16 August 1846 — 13 November 1928) was an admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy and a noted explorer of Peter the Great Bay and the Far Eastern seas (the strait in Peter the Great Bay and the bay in the Tatar Strait are named after Stark).

Stark was also the commander of the Port Arthur Squadron of the Imperial Russian Navy in 1904. Port Arthur was the centre for the Tsar's naval operations in and around the Russian Maritime Province. Rising tensions between Japan and Russia over Manchuria and Korea lead to the Russo-Japanese War, which began with Japan launching a sneak attack on the Russian fleet anchored at Port Arthur (Battle of Port Arthur). At the time of the attack, Stark was holding a birthday party for his wife on the deck of his main battleship, the Petropavlovsk, and the crowd attending the party mistakenly thought the exploding Japanese ordnance was fired in honour of the birthday. Here is a quote from commentary on the beginning of the battle:

"The band was playing loudly, and the most honorary guest, Admiral Alexeev, the viceroy, glided along the parquet with the heroine of the day with surprising grace for his rather obese figure. When the dance reached its apogee, and the viceroy stood on his knee to circle the lady, the windowpanes suddenly shook from the thunder of the cannonade. Everyone applauded surprised by such a timely salute, and the overall excitement increased. The ball continued to the accompaniment of the orchestra and artillery fire."

The Japanese attack was more or less successful, and Stark (despite wanting to engage the Japanese and being over-ruled by the viceroy) was subsequently sacked by the Tsar from his post. The Japanese went on to win the war, destroying first the Russian Maritime fleet, and then the Russian Baltic fleet in the Battle of Tsushima.

[edit] Postscript

Stark's grandson is now a maritime academic in Moscow, suggesting Stark's decedents must have moved back to Russia at some stage after Stark's death.