The fate of Ivan Grigorovich - a naval commander, statesman and minister of the sea in the last government of the Russian Empire - was rough. After his death, he was undeservedly forgotten, almost not remembered all the Soviet years.
Ivan Konstantinovich became minister of the sea at the age of 57. By that time, he was strongly "salted" - after sailing according to the qualification score for 10 years, necessary to obtain the rank, he added to them the subsequent service on ships. Grigorovich also had diplomatic training, having spent almost two years as a naval agent in England. In Russo-Japanese he commanded the battleship Tsesarevich, then became the head of Port Arthur port during the defense of the fortress. After the war, for two years at the head of the port in Libau, the second most important port in the Baltic after Kronstadt, he proved himself to be a good business manager. So there was no lack of versatile experience.
On March 19, 1911, Grigorovich, who had become vice admiral by that time, was appointed minister of the sea and promoted to full admiral. And already in April, he submitted to the highest name two documents, most important in their subsequent significance: "The Law on the Imperial Russian Fleet" and "The Program for Strengthening the Baltic Fleet's Shipbuilding for 1911-1915".
It should be noted that for the first time in the history of our country, the law regulated the development of the Navy for the long term. Thus, it was argued that the fleet is being built not only by the naval minister (today the Navy General Committee), but by the whole country under the leadership, responsibility and control of the first person of the state. Subsequently, no such laws were adopted.
Under Grigorovich, the "brain" of the navy was improved - all governing bodies were streamlined. But the main thing is that the minister made every effort to develop the domestic shipbuilding industry. The fact that they were not in vain is evidenced by the best battleships of the Gangut class at that time, the Novik destroyers, the Bars submarines and the world's first underwater minelayer Crab. The First Imperialist was not allowed to fully complete the construction of all series, which confirms the truth: the fleet is built in peacetime for further use.
The course towards the development of shipbuilding has justified itself one hundred percent: the combat units built on the eve and during that war constituted the main force of the fleets in the Great Patriotic War. The quality of the battleship "Gangut" ("October Revolution"), on which I happened to practice in 1955, I can personally attest. As veterans said, only one of his main caliber shells of 305 millimeters, weighing more than 400 kilograms, thwarted the psychic attack of the Germans near Leningrad.
By order of the Minister of War of the Provisional Government Alexander Guchkov of March 31, 1917, Grigorovich was removed from office and dismissed. And from June 1919 he became an archival worker. By that time, he wrote "Memoirs of a Former Naval Minister", in which he captured the events before February 1917, without touching on political issues.
From the end of 1923, Ivan Konstantinovich sought to travel abroad for treatment and a year later went to the Cote d'Azur in the town of Menton, where he lived modestly, refusing the help of the governments of England and France. He died there in 1930. Only in 2005, the urn with his ashes was taken to St. Petersburg and buried in the family crypt at the Nikolskoye cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
Today, as a tribute to the memory of the outstanding personality of Ivan Grigorovich, the lead frigate of the far sea zone of Project 11356 is named in his honor. In fact, this is the last naval minister in Russian history, except for the two-year (1951-1953) tenure in a similarly named post of Nikolai Kuznetsov. And whether the Navy will revive in full force without its own ministry is a question.
