First female sea captain in Azerbaijan

Shovket Salimova was the first female sea captain in Azerbaijan. The brave sailor was born on December 25, 1920, in the village of Lagich of the Ismayilli region into the family of a Baku oil worker. She was the eldest of 10 children. At school she was seriously interested in aircraft modeling and even won the All-Union competition in Moscow, but after learning about the first woman captain in the world, Anna Schetinina, she fell in love with the sea forever and entered the Nautical Academy, despite fierce competition and established tradition - only boys were taken to the naval school.

In 1939, after graduating from the Navigation Department, Shovket was sent to the Black Sea Shipping Company, where she was appointed the third assistant captain for the tanker Sergo. Soon, the 20-year-old Shovket returned to the Caspian Fleet and after some time became the captain herself.

When the Great Patriotic War broke out, a ship under the command of a brave resident of Baku carried military equipment, fuel, ammunition to Stalingrad, and from there, wounded soldiers to Baku and Krasnovodsk. German aircraft repeatedly attacked her ship, but each time Shovket was emerging victorious.

November 1, 1944, from the Soviet Information Bureau: “Sh. Salimova is the first woman captain of the Kapishsky oil fleet tanker who works selflessly. The crew of the Reni tanker she commands copes with all the tasks of fuel delivery. During the war, the patriot was awarded the Order of the Red Star for her work.”

Shovket Salimova’s awards: Order of the Red Star, the medal "For the Defense of the Caucasus", the medal "For the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."

After the war, the ships of the Baku resident cruised the waves of the Mediterranean, Red, Marmara, Aegean and other seas. But soon Salimova plunged into science. In 1950 she graduated from a biennial Party School, then she worked as a tutor and wrote a thesis work. In 1971 she was awarded the title ‘Honored Economist of the Republic of Azerbaijan’. She was also a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The first female sea captain in Azerbaijan died on July 2, 1999.