Abandoned Submarine Bases
Abandoned places are cool: this is a fact. Some are creepy, others
are romantic, or even mysterious - but they're all very
cool. These spots around Europe are all well worth looking out if you are after something different.
Please note: the details of these abandoned places were accurate at the
time of reporting, however developers have a habit of purchasing
abandoned places at a cheap price and re-developing them. This may well
have occurred to any of the abandoned sites listed here since the time
this information was published.
Soviet Submarine Base, Balaklava, Ukraine
Although the Ukrainian town of Balaklava itself has functioned as an
active military port for centuries, the submarine base was not
constructed until 1957. It was during the Cold War, amidst escalating
sabre-rattling between the US and USSR, that Stalin issued the
directive to establish a fleet of nuclear submarines in the Black Sea.
The quiet, Crimean town of Balaklava was chosen as the site for the
base, as here the sea enters the land by way of a narrow strait, while
the twists and contours of the coastline served to render the submarine
base invisible from prying eyes.
Immediately the town was secured, classified, construction began on
‘Objekt 825.’ It was a project that would take four years
to complete, as more than 120,000 tons of rock were cut and
painstakingly removed to form vast, subterranean chambers open to the
water. It was claimed that the submarine base in Balaklava was
virtually indestructible – its secret docks and corridors
protected by a shell of concrete and steel, capable of surviving a
direct nuclear strike of up to 100 kilotons.
The Balaklava submarine base saw heavy use throughout the Cold War
period – working in close association with the Soviet Black Sea
Fleet stationed at Sevastopol – and not least at the time of the
Cuban Missile Crisis; the positioning of US Hercules missiles in Turkey
provoked the Soviets to respond with nuclear armament in allied Cuba,
as well as scrambling their nuclear submarines from Balaklava in
anticipation of a counterstrike against Turkey itself. Right up until
the fall of the Soviet Union, in fact, the facility at Balaklava
remained one of the USSR’s strongest deterrents to play against
its enemies in Europe.
Unlike many such facilities, the secret nuclear submarine base at
Balaklava Bay survived beyond the fall of the USSR. It remained in use
until 1993, when the decommissioning process eventually began with the
removal of vessels, their torpedoes and nuclear warheads. The last
Russian submarine sailed out of Balaklava Bay in 1996.
For a long time the complex lay abandoned; much of it was unguarded,
and it was largely forgotten by the population who gradually began to
drift back into an unrestricted Balaklava. Later, in 2000, the Russian
Federation gifted the abandoned base to the Ukrainian Navy. The museum,
officially denoted the ‘Balaklava Naval Museum Complex’,
was founded by Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence on 30th December
2002. Opened to the public on 1st June the following year, the museum
plan included portions of the 600-metre central tunnel as well as a
weapons plant, an (empty) nuclear storage arsenal and a number of
residential quarters and offices. The Complex lies on the west side of
the river that flows through the town, a series of deep caverns that
stretch for a length of over 600 metres before emerging from a second
opening on the far side of Mount Tavros.
On 17th March 2014 the Crimean Parliament declared its independence
from Ukraine, leading to the formal annexation of the peninsula to
Russia. The Ukrainian military forces stationed in Crimea were ordered
to surrender, their bases and facilities switching to the ownership of
the Russian Federation. Since then the Museum has been closed. If the
hidden bulk of the installation has been maintained to the same
standard as those areas opened to the public, then it’s difficult
not to speculate whether Russia might be tempted to put these cavernous
facilities back to use some day, if they have not done so already.
Hara Submarine Base, Estonia
The old Soviet submarine base beside the village of Hara
hasn’t been abandoned for that long, but it looks like it
hasn’t seen a soul in generations. Built between 1956 and 1958,
the base was once central to Soviet military operations in Estonia
– and continued to be a major base of operations for nearly four
decades. If the base itself looks a little non-traditional,
that’s because it is – much of it is built from stone
reclaimed by tearing down countless stone walls from nearby villages.
The remains of an old lighthouse – little more than a foundation
now – still stand out in the water, overlooking what was once a
bustling military base.
What little metal is left, is rusting away; the whole thing looks
more than a bit precarious now. Graffiti artists have taken over the
rest of the compound, and it doesn’t seem entirely possible that
there are still people living who saw it when it was a hub of Soviet
power. The Baltic states were never accepting of their Soviet
overlords; in 1989, 2 million of hem joined hands in a peaceful protest
that drew worldwide attention to the boot heel which Estonians and
their neighbors were laboring under. It was only 3 years later that the
base was abandoned, and now, it’s a dark reminder of dark times.
Sazan Island Submarine Base, Albania
Sazan is a small island off the coast of Albania. At one time, it
was the home of a Soviet submarine base staffed by a small contingent
of Whiskey-class submarines. In 1961, Albania withdrew its membership
from the Warsaw Pact and suddenly, the Soviet base on Albanian soil was
open season. Albania seized the submarines that were there, increasing
their navy considerably.
By the 1990s, the submarines were all but obsolete, though, and the
Albania military wasn’t replacing them. The base fell into
disrepair, and was all but abandoned. Now, while there are plans being
tossed around for opening the island as a tourist location, nothing
shows signs of coming to fruition – for now, the old submarine
base, along with the small town that provided living quarters for the
base’s personnel and their families, are abandoned, an eerie,
desolate sight against the beauty of the landscape.
In addition to being a submarine base, there’s also a labyrinth
of tunnels that run beneath the island. It was also home to a chemical
and biological weapons plant, and now, it’s the site of a small
outpost that’s mostly used to monitor pirate and smuggling
activity between Albania and Italy. Most recently, the abandoned base
has found something of new life as a training field for the Royal Navy.
In 2013, Royal Marines ran training missions through the Cold War
relic, prepping for scenarios that involved combating pirates and
terrorist organizations.
Submarine Pen, Vis Island, Croatia
Today, Vis is a huge destination spot for tourists from around the
world, and it’s easy to see why - it’s beautiful. It is
out-of-the-way enough to make it feel like you’re somewhere truly
special, but Vis has been occupied since the founding of its first
settlement in 397 B.C. It was, of course, much, much later than that
when it became known as a hugely important, strategically crucial spot
for a military base. The first of the modern military tunnels were dug
out of the Vis hillsides in around 1944, when the location became
crucial to those that were fighting for the island’s independence
from the so-called Benign Dictator, Marshall Tito.
Abandoned in 1989, the island was shrouded in secrecy throughout its
operation as a military base. The abandoned submarine dock is perhaps
one of the most noticeable of the remnants left behind after the
demilitarization of the island, cut deep into a mountainside. After the
end of World War Two, it was one of the largest and most important of
Yugoslavia’s military bases, and it was during this period that
most of the base was built.
Leading from the submarine docks are a huge network of underground
tunnels capable of providing integral military support; popular
throughout the Cold War as well, the military presence is still felt
throughout the beautiful, incredibly picturesque island - if anything,
its surroundings make it even more surreal. Now, the 3,600-odd
residents on the island co-exist with empty barracks, disused tunnels
and empty dry docks rather than military personnel, and they’ve
made tourism their livelihood.
Keroman Submarine Pens, Lorient, France
In 1941, the Germans, then occupying France, chose to establish one
of their U-boat headquarters in Keroman, a neighborhood of Lorient. But
the submarines quickly became targets of constant bombing from Allied
air forces. The Germans decided to build five U-boat bases on France's
Atlantic Coast - at Brest, La Pallice (La Rochelle), St Nazaire, La
Rochelle and Bordeaux - and a Mediterranean base at Toulon. The largest
of these, in Keroman, would house the 2nd and the 10th U-boat flotillas
for the bulk of the Battle of the Atlantic. Karl Donitz, then supreme
commander of the U-boat Arm, moved his staff in the Kernevel villa,
just across the water from Keroman, in Larmor-Plage. The construction
required the participation of 15,000 workers. The three bases have
impressive dimensions and were constructed and subsequently coined KI,
KII, KIII. The submarine base area has changed over the years.
During the Second World War, Germany, established a similar
submarine naval base at La Pallice, the main port of La Rochelle. A
German stronghold, La Rochelle was the last French city to be liberated
at the end of the war. The base is one of five similar massive concrete
bunkers built by the Nazis on the French Atlantic coast. The base is
located a few kilometers west of La Rochelle, inside the commercial
port of La Pallice (see below).
La Pallice Submarine Pens, La Rochelle, France
Because of its western location, which saved days of sailing time,
the French port of La Rochelle enjoyed successful fishing in the western Atlantic and
trading with the New World, which served to counterbalance the
disadvantage of not being at the mouth of a river (useful for shipping
goods to and from the interior). During the Second World War, Germany
established a submarine naval base at La Pallice, the main port of La
Rochelle. A German stronghold, La Rochelle was the last French city to
be liberated at the end of the war. The base is
located a few kilometers west of La Rochelle, inside the commercial
port of La Pallice (se below).
The Allied siege of La Rochelle
took place between 12 September 1944, and 7 May 1945; the stronghold,
including the islands of Ré and Oléron, was held by
20,000 German troops under a German vice-admiral Ernst Schirlitz.
Following negotiations by the French Navy frigate captain Meyer, and
the general German capitulation on 7 May, French troops entered La
Rochelle on 8 May.
The La Pallice submarine base was used in Wolfgang Petersen's epic
movie, an excruciatingly claustrophobic account of life beneath the
waves aboard a German U-boat during WWII. The base was also used for the U-boat scenes in
Raiders of The Lost Ark - the producers of that film even borrowed Das
Boot's submarine. The base is featured in the computer game
Commandos 2: Men of Courage. Access to the base by the public is
limited, contact the local tourist information office for more
information.
Boat trips from the La Rochelle harbour to nearby islands are
popular - including trips to Ile de Ré, Ile d'Oleron and Fort
Boyard (well known among French people because of a television 'action
quiz' that is filmed there). While Ile de Ré has lovely beaches
it is also necessary to use a toll bridge to get to the island. The
island is a very popular holiday destination on this sunny coast of
western France. It principally attracts families looking to relax in a
peaceful environment where the children will enjoy themselves and there
are picturesque villages for the adults to explore. Ile-de-Ré
has lovely beaches, especially along the southern and western coast.
St Nazaire Submarine Pens, St Nazaire, France
The former submarine base, built by the Germans in WW2, has become an integral part of our landscape. After extensive redevelopment, the base is now a unique cultural and tourism site. Saint-Nazaire’s submarine base is one of five bases that the Nazis constructed along the Atlantic front during World War Two. This 301m-long strategic base was built in just 16 months in 1941-42, using nearly 500,000m3 of concrete. With a roof up to 9.6m thick, it housed the fearsome U-Boats plus hundreds of men, their offices and workshops until May 1945. The submarine base was built on the site of the original transatlantic port, from where ships used to sail towards America.
Over the last twenty years, thanks to large-scale works, this submarine base has become an integral part of our landscape. Saint-Nazaire has come back to its original port, turning it into a tourist attraction and cultural centre. As a result, you can come here to visit Escal’Atlantic – a museum dedicated to legendary ocean liners – you can listen to concerts at the VIP, or even enjoy a contemporary-art exhibition in LiFE. The submarine pens are also home to the Tourist Office.
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