Vladimir Chernavin

Fleet Admiral Vladimir Nikolayevich Chernavin (Russian: Владимир Николаевич Чернавин; born April 22, 1928) was the last Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy from 1985 to 1991 and the only Commander-in-Chief of the Commonwealth of Independent States Navy from 1991 to 1992.

Vladimir Chernavin
Born	April 22, 1928 Mykolaiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Allegiance	Soviet Union
Service/branch	Soviet Navy
Years of service	1944–1992
Rank	Admiral of the Fleet
Commands held	Northern Fleet Soviet Navy CIS Navy
Battles/wars	Cold War
Awards	Hero of the Soviet Union

Biography

Chernavin was born in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. He entered the Higher Naval School in Baku in 1944 and graduated from the Frunze Higher Naval School in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in 1951. He was the Executive Officer of a submarine in 1951 and became commander of the November class submarine K-21 in 1959. He attended the Naval Academy in 1962-65 and the General Staff Academy in 1967-69 after which he became divisional commander in 1969 and commanded the submarine flotillas of the Northern Fleet. In 1977 he was appointed Commander of the Northern Fleet and in 1981 was awarded a title of the Hero of the Soviet Union. From 1981-85 he was Chief of the Main Staff/1st Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy. He became the commander-in-chief of the Soviet Navy upon the retirement of the legendary Sergey Gorshkov. He retired in 1992. In retirement he is chairman of the Soviet submariners association. He has been a prominent attendee at Victory Day parades as recently as 2019.

Honours and awards

• Hero of the Soviet Union
• Order of Lenin (twice)
• Order of the October Revolution
• Order of the Red Banner
• Order of Aleksandr Nevsky
• Order of the Red Star (twice)
• Order of Courage
• Order of Naval Merit
• campaign and jubilee medals

References

• Vladimir Chernavin at warheroes.ru (in Russian)

Literature

• Энциклопедический словарь «История Отечества с древнейших времен до наших дней»