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Balaklava (Ukrainian: Балаклава, Russian: Балаклава, Crimean Tatar: Baliqlava) is a town in the Crimea, Ukraine which has an official status of a district of the city of Sevastopol. It was a city in its own right until 1957 when it was formally incorporated into the municipal borders of Sevastopol by the Soviet government.
One of the monuments is an underground, formerly classified submarine base that was operational until 1993. The base was said to be virtually indestructible and designed to survive a direct atomic impact. During that period, Balaklava was one of the most secret residential areas in the Soviet Union.
Almost the entire population of Balaklava at one time worked at the base; even family members could not visit the town of Balaklava without a good reason and proper identification. The base remained operational after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 until 1993 when the decommissioning process started.
This process saw the removal of the warheads and low-yield torpedoes. In 1996, the last Russian submarine left the base, which is now open to the public for guided tours around the canal system, the base, and a small museum, which is now housed in the old ammunition warehouse deep inside the hillside.
This nice visit of the base is possible thanks to the pictures from Russos
coordinates : 44°29'47.61"N 33°35'36.47"E
google map
pictures sources :
Russos
text source :
wikipedia
Artificial Owl recommends:
Gad, that looks like something right out of Half-Life!
I was thinking James Bond movie but Half Life fits even better.
Remember the War
1941-1945
greenegg: my first thought was the same :-) Excellent pictures (on excelent site)
This is kinda cool, kinda creepy.
I think this is one of the best things on the site.