Former Top Secret Soviet Submarine Base

Balaklava, Ukraine - Nov. 2008

During the cold war, the Soviets built a secret underground submarine base in the Crimea region of Ukraine at the town of Balaklava. The base was so top secret that the entire town was off limits and the base itself was hidden from sight. It was built in a mountainside to avoid western spy planes and was designed to withstand a direct nuclear weapons blast. The subs that operated out of this facility were equipped with nuclear tipped torpedoes and other weapons.   After the Soviet Union fell, the base was de commissioned in 1993.

The entrance to the base in Balaklava harbour.	This is where the submarines would enter the mountainside.

Several thick steel & concrete doors were in place to protect the base from a nuclear attack.	Inside the base where the subs would be serviced.

The exit on the other side of the mountain.	This is an example of the radiation suits the workers had available to them in the base.

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