Secret Soviet Submarine Base


[Image: Via Fun Mansion].

From Fun Mansion: “Until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 Balaklava was one of the most secret towns in Russia. 10km south east of Sevastopol on the Black Sea Coast, this small town was the home to a Nuclear Submarine Base.”


[Images: All images via Fun Mansion].

“The base remained operational after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 until 1993 when the decommissioning process started and the warheads and low yield torpedos were removed. Then in 1996 the last Russian Submarine left the Base.”
Apparently, there are now guided tours.


[Image: Via Fun Mansion].

(Originally spotted at Defense Tech; this post simultaneously published on Bryan Finoki’s Subtopia; see also this LiveJournal blog – though it’s in Russian).

10 thoughts on “Secret Soviet Submarine Base”

  1. A friend of mine was involved in digging up a nearby Black Sea site built by the ancient Greeks. He visited this and talked more about it than the 3 months he spent in the ruins an ancient city. That means something, I’m just not sure what.

    Jim Rossignol

  2. In Soviet Russia, secret nuclear submarine base finds you!

    (PS – I love this blog, check it everyday. Keep it up.)

  3. Hey anonymous – Thanks. As you may have noticed, there is already a link up there that goes to that site. Seeing as I don’t read Russian, however, I have no idea if that’s the original site those photographs came from; further, seeing as neither the Fun Mansion site I openly credit, nor the Defense Tech site I openly credit, have any links to the LiveJournal site, it’s rather hard to decide who originally posted the photos.

    It’s therefore a good thing that I credit every single one of the above people in my post.

    But thanks again.

  4. Hey Digital Art – The photos are from Fun Mansion, and also appear on a Russian LiveJournal blog; if you read Russian, there might be more info there about what lenses were used, etc.

    And Moon, thanks! I actually wrote about that library at the end of a guest post on Inhabitat a while back, and I even worked at Foster and Partners back in 2002 (administrative, not design). I’m mixed about the final aesthetic of the project, but I do like the ideas behind it. On the other hand, that’s my reaction to most of Foster’s work: I usually think it’s ugly, but I love the ideas that went into it. Have you actually been there?

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