His early years were spent on cruisers in the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant, specialising in navigation, and serving during the First World War.

He remained in the navy after the Russian Revolution, carrying out studies and teaching duties at the Naval Academy.

He combined this with senior strategic positions with in the navy's central command structure, as well as active service as with the Black Sea coast guard forces.

Caught up in the periodic repressions of the time, he was subsequently reinstated and returned to the Navy Academy, where he rose to senior academic positions during the Second World War.

In August 1916 Vasilyev returned to the Pamiat Merkuria as a senior navigator, a post he held until January 1917, when he became flag-navigator of a cruiser brigade.

[2] He held this position during the February Revolution in 1917, until January 1918, with a brief period as commander of an Elpidifor-class gunboat [ru] between March and April 1917.

He was promoted to rear-admiral on 4 June 1940, received his Candidate of Military Science in 1943, and became a senior head of the department in May 1945.