Departures of note

During the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, Vice Admiral Georgy Abashvili served as deputy commander-in-chief to Issa Pliyev and naval commander in the proposed Group of Soviet forces in Cuba, under Operation Anadyr. According to historical records, he opposed the immediate use of force during the crisis. On the night of October 28, 1962, he delayed the execution of an order to launch missiles by six minutes, an act that prevented the start of World War III.

Abashvili was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, then part of the Russian Empire, in 1910. He graduated from the Leningrad Naval College in 1931 and joined the Soviet Baltic Fleet, serving through the Finnish campaign and World War II. In 1944, he was deputy chief of staff of the Baltic Fleet and commanded a destroyer division that played a vital role in relieving the blockade of Leningrad.

After the war, he rose to the rank of vice admiral in 1955. In 1953, he was senior officer with Soviet vessels visiting Poland, and in 1954 with those called in Finland. He retired from the navy in 1962 and died of a stroke in Leningrad in 1982.