Vladimir Chernavin

Fleet Admiral Vladimir Nikolayevich Chernavin (Владимир Николаевич Чернавин; born April 22, 1928) was the last Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy 1985-91 and the first Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy 1991-92.

Biography
Chernavin was born in Nikolayev, 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.

Honours and awards

 * Hero of the Soviet Union
 * Order of Lenin (twice)
 * Order of the October Revolution
 * Order of the Red Banner
 * Order of the Red Star (twice)
 * Order of Courage
 * Order of Naval Merit
 * Medal "In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin"

Literature

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