Editing Valery Sablin (section)

== Early life and education ==
Valery Sablin was born on 1 January 1939 in [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]], the son of a naval officer, Mikhail Petrovich Sablin.{{sfn|Young|Braden|2005|pp=7, 46}} His family had a strong naval tradition; his father and maternal grandfather were naval officers, and his paternal great-grandfather had gone down with the cruiser ''[[Russian cruiser Pallada (1906)|Pallada]]'' in [[World War I]].{{sfn|Young|Braden|2005|p=8}}

During [[World War II]], Sablin's father served with the [[Northern Fleet]] and participated in the defense of [[Arctic convoys of World War II|Allied Arctic convoys]] that delivered vital supplies to the Soviet war effort.{{sfn|Young|Braden|2005|p=7}} Valery and his mother Anna spent his early childhood in [[Polyarny, Murmansk Oblast|Polyarny]], the headquarters of the Northern Fleet, located above the [[Arctic Circle]]. He recalled [[Luftwaffe|German]] bombing raids and his mother hurrying them to bomb shelters.{{sfn|Young|Braden|2005|p=7}} In the early 1950s, the family moved to [[Nizhny Novgorod|Gorky]], where Sablin's father taught military science until his retirement.{{sfn|Young|Braden|2005|p=8}}

[[File:Valery Sablin in 1956.jpg|thumb|Sablin as a cadet, 1956]]
Bored with provincial life, Sablin sought the excitement of the major cities and decided to follow his family's naval tradition.{{sfn|Young|Braden|2005|p=8}} In 1956, at age 17, he entered the prestigious [[Saint Petersburg Naval Institute|M.V. Frunze Higher Naval School]] in Leningrad.{{sfn|Young|Braden|2005|pp=13, 15}} Many of his classmates were sons of naval officers or party officials.{{sfn|Young|Braden|2005|p=13}} Sablin was an ardent believer in Communist ideals and the principles of [[Leninism]].{{sfn|Young|Braden|2005|p=16}} He excelled as a cadet, was noted for his dedication, became a company commander, and was one of the first in his class to join the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]].{{sfn|Young|Braden|2005|p=16}} His peers regarded him as the "class conscience".{{sfn|Young|Braden|2005|p=16}} He graduated with distinction in November 1960.{{sfn|Young|Braden|2005|p=17}}