The Chancellery of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. The Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, is saddened to announce the death on 18 March 2023 of Admiral of the Fleet Vladimir Nikolaevich Chernavin, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy of the USSR from 1985 to 1992, Hero of the Soviet Union (1981), Knight of the Imperial Military Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker First Class (2003), of the Imperial Order of St. Anna First Class (2008), and of the Imperial Order of St. Vladimir Second Class (2018). He was 95 years old.

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Vladimir Nikolaevich Chernavin was born in the city of Nikolaev on 22 April 1928. During the Second World War, from 1942 to 1944, he was a student in Simbirsk in the Mechanical Technical College. From 1944 to 1947 he studied in the Baku Higher Naval School and completed the Frunze Higher Naval School in Leningrad in 1951. From 1953 to 1954, he studied at the Higher Special Officers’ Courses for Diving and Anti-Submarine Warfare (the former Libau Dive Training Squadron). He then served in several command positions in submarines.

From 1962 to 1965 he studied at the Naval Academy. As the captain of the submarine K-21, V. N. Chernavin was the first ever to command a Russian submarine on a continuous deployment of 50 days, and he perfected a method for under-ice navigation and surfacing in Arctic ice. In 1966, V. N. Chernavin commanded a flotilla of two nuclear submarines, K-116 and K-133, that were transferred from the Northern to the Pacific fleets: for the first time in history, submarines of the Soviet fleet traveled for a month and a half over 25,000 miles all while submerged. From 1967 to 1969, he was a student at the Military Academy of the General Staff. He was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1970. In 1971, he was given the command of the submarine K-408 as it was transferred from the Northern to the Pacific Fleet, sailing around Cape Horn.

In February 1972, V. N. Chernavin was made the Chief-of-Staff and Deputy Commander of the Third Submarine Flotilla of the Northern Fleet, and a member of the fleet’s Military Council. In this same year, he was the senior officer on the ballistic missile submarine K-245 during a deployment to the polar icecap, and in the following year was given the command of the Third Submarine Flotilla of the Northern Fleet and made a member of the Military Council of the Fleet.

From 1974 to 1977, V. N. Chernavin occupied the post of Chief-of-Staff and First Deputy Commander of the Northern Fleet. He was promoted to Vice-Admiral in 1975. From 1977 to 1981 he was Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Fleet and was promoted (in 1978) to Admiral. From 1981 to 1985 he was the Chief-of-Staff of the Soviet Navy and First Deputy Commander of the entire Soviet Fleet. He was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet in 1983.

From 1985 to 1992, he served as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy of the USSR and Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR. He was a Deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR at the 10^th and 11^th Party Congresses. From February to August 1992 he served as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy of the Combined Forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). And from August 1992 until his retirement in 1993 he was seconded to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

From 1993 to 1994, V. N. Chernavin served as the Director of the Russian State Maritime Historical and Cultural Center of the Government of the Russian Federation (now called the Russian Military Center of the Government of the Russian Federation, or Rosvoentsentr). From 2008 to 2021 he served as Inspector General of the General Inspector General Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, and from 2011 to 2021 as the Chief Analyst of the Office of Inspectors General of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. From 1992, he served as President (then Honorary President) of the Union of Sailors and Submariners of the Russian Navy.

V. N. Chernavin deeply respected the Russian Imperial House, and met many times with the Head of the Imperial House, H.I.H. The Grand Duchess Maria of Russia and members of her family, attending church services, memorial events, and feast days of the Imperial chivalric orders of the Romanoff dynasty.

The Imperial Family greatly appreciated the services that Admiral of the Fleet V. N. Chernavin performed for the country. In recognition of his lifetime of service, Grand Duchess Maria of Russia awarded Admiral of the Fleet Chernavin the Imperial Orders of St. Nicholas (First Class), St. Anna (First Class) and St. Vladimir (Second Class), as well as the Imperial Commemorative Medal “The 400^th Anniversary of the House of Romanoff, 1613-2013.”

The Head of the Imperial House of Russia, her son and heir, Tsesarevich and Grand Duke George of Russia, and his spouse, Princess Victoria Romanovna, convey their deepest condolences to Admiral of the Fleet Chernavin’s family, many friends, and colleagues.

May the Lord grant eternal rest to His newly-reposed servant Vladimir in His Kingdom.