Pyotr Kuzmich Krenitsyn (Russian: Пётр Кузьмич Креницын) (1728 – July 4, 1770), spelt "Krenitzin" in the United States, was a Russian explorer and Captain/Lieutenant of the Imperial Russian Navy. Following Vitus Bering's 1741 tragic venture he was the first to conduct an expedition to Alaska and the Aleutians. Krenitsyn was sent, together with Mikhail Levashev, by Russian Empress Catherine II to explore the northern parts of the Pacific Ocean and particularly the area around the Bering Strait in four ships. Krenitsyn was the commander of the ship St. Catherine and Levashev commanded the ship St. Paul.[1]