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.