After completing studies at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Volozhinsky was appointed Chief of Staff and First Deputy Commander of the Northern Fleet, spending several months in 2011 as acting commander of the fleet.

[1][3] He took the Higher Special Officer Classes [ru], graduating in 1992 and then serving as senior assistant commander of a submarine until 1995.

[1] That year he took command of the second crew of the nuclear ballistic missile submarine K-496 Borisoglebsk of the Northern Fleet.

[1][2] He held this post until 1999, and in July 2001, after graduating from the N. G. Kuznetsov Naval Academy, he was appointed chief of staff and deputy commander of the 31st Submarine Division [ru].

[2] Of these divisions, the 31st was the most significant, consisting of six Project 667BDRM Delfin-class submarines carrying 96 RSM-54 missiles with 384 nuclear warheads, comprising almost 14% of the total number of all strategic Russian warheads and 63% of Russia's naval strategic nuclear forces.

[3][6] On 11 May 2011 he hosted US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead during his visit to the Northern Fleet.

[1][7] During the visit, Volozhinsky and Roughead toured the nuclear battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy, and the submarine B-534 Nizhny Novgorod [ru].