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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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This nice visit of the base is possible thanks to the pictures from Russos
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coordinates : 44°29'47.61"N 33°35'36.47"E
google map
pictures sources :
Russos
text source :
wikipedia
Artificial Owl recommends:
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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.