Khronopulo became chief of staff of the 8th Operational Squadron of the fleet in the Indian Ocean in 1977, and in 1979 was promoted to "kontr-admiral" and appointed squadron commander. He was made First Deputy Commander of the Black Sea Fleet and head of the Sevastopol garrison in 1982 with the rank of "vitse-admiral", and became its commander on 26 July 1985. He was promoted to admiral in 1986, and in September of that year led the operation to rescue survivors of the passenger ship "Admiral Nakhimov". He supervised the attempt to push the American cruiser "Yorktown" and destroyer "Caron" out of Soviet territorial waters on 12 February 1988, which became known as the Black Sea bumping incident. In August 1989 he welcomed Deputy Commander in Chief, United States Naval Forces Europe Vice Admiral Paul Ilg to Sevastopol when cruiser "Thomas S. Gates" and frigate "Kauffman" visited the naval base in the first United States Navy visit to the Soviet Union since 1975. Khronopulo held the position until he was relieved of it in October 1991 after being accused of supporting the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt. He was forced to retire on 17 March 1992.