The ashes of Admiral Ivan Konstantinovitch Grigorovitch were being returned to Russia at the request of his grand-daughters.

The admiral's remains will be taken from the cemetery in Menton and transferred to the Russian navy on Saturday in a military ceremony, officials in this southern French city said.

The admiral, who died in Menton in 1930 at the age of 78, was the last minister of the Imperial Russian navy. The Russian tsar was overthrown in the Bolshevik revolution of 1917.

Starting in 1911, after numerous naval expeditions in North America and several commands, Grigorovitch headed a vast construction program and is considered mainly responsible for renovating the Russian fleet, acccording to a press release from the French navy.

In 1924, an ailing Grigorovitch was forced to seek medical help abroad and chose southern France, where he lived for the remainder of his life.

"In order not to frighten the people of Menton," city officials said, the Russian military will not fire 19 cannons, as is their tradition, to announce the start of the military ceremony.

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