Fyodor Apraksin

Fyodor Apraksin (1661–1728) was one of Russia's first admirals and a lifelong friend of Peter the Great. After his sister married Tsar Feodor III in 1681 he became a stolnik, and in 1692 he was appointed governor of Arkhangelsk. From 1697 he supervised the building of the first Russian fleet at Voronezh.

He fought at the Azov siege of 1696, became the first governor of Azov in 1700 and general-admiral in 1708. He led Russian squadrons in the Great Northern War, including an expedition into the Gulf of Bothnia in 1719. He headed the Admiralty from 1717 and commanded the Baltic Fleet from 1723, and died in Moscow in 1728.