Background
Chernavin was born in Nikolayev, Ukraine.
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 (Street 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 1962-1965 and the General Staff Academy in 1967-1969 after which he became divisional commander in 1969 and commanded the submarine flotillas of the Northern Fleet. From 1981-1985 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. Энциклопедический словарь «История Отечества с древнейших времен до наших дней».
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.