Underground Submarine base of Balaklava

[A.V.]

This is a general view of Balaklava Bay, the Black Sea. Under this mountain in the middle there is an armoury, a channel, and a service, repair and equipment base for submarines. It had been built since 1957 until 1961 by military men, who were later accompanied by specialists in underground construction. It is also an anti-radiation shelter for 3000 people. The maximum width of the rocky ground is 126 meters. The channel has a length of 505 meters, a width of 6-8.5 meters and a depth of 6-8.5 meters.The base became abandoned in 1995 and in 2003 they opened a museum there, where they show the armoury and the channel, but the access to mines, torpedoes and the service, repair and equipment base remain closed for regular viewers.

An entry portal connecting the channel and the bay.

A portal in the bay.

Next to the yellow thing there is an entrance to the armoury, the administration.

Many years ago, submarines went from there to be on duty.

The channel starts here.

In this picture you see an entrance portal for submarines, an entrance to the base and mines and torpedoes compartment.

When a submarine was about to enter, the floating bridge would turn sideways.​

 

[A.V.]

This gun has nothing to do with the base. It belongs to the exposition of the armed forces of Ukraine.

The entrance portal. On the right you can see the entrance to the base and the mines and torpedoes compartment.

This is a 120-ton floating dam.

The armoury. Here they used to store nuclear weapons. The doors in the foreground have a weight of 16 tons each.

One of the armoury's compartments.

In the background there is a storage, on the right you see an exit, on the left – the tunnel to the channel. This trolley was used for carrying ammunition, repair packings and even nuclear bombs.

Here they would assemble nuclear (and other) torpedoes or rockets.

In this compartment they stored regular weaponry.

 

[A.V.]

Here they stored nuclear weapons.

They used this passage for transporting weapons to load them on the submarine. One of the functions of this bending was to take up shock waves.

This protection door has the same function as the bending.

The channel. On the right you see what used to be a dry dock.

The passage connecting the channel and the bay.

This is a tambour between the protection door and the floating dam. On each of the two sides there are door operators.

 

[Zebra]

Awesome photos .

 

[SPIEZ]

Wonder what would have happened if the erstwhile USSR had not fallen.

 

[Dovah]

Respect for the Russians.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Must not be far from the site where the Charge of the Light Brigade took place?

 

[Bhadra]

Very solidly and perfectly designed. Perhaps to withstand hundreds of PSI....