Driving Inside the Soviets’ Secret Submarine Lair

For twenty years I have served in the submarine force, but never have I seen pictures what we all suspected. WIRED magazine has written an article about a submarine base in the Black Sea Fleet AOR (Balaklava, Ukraine). It could withstand a nuclear blast and was designed to distribute the blast energy so the submarines inside were not greatly affected.

I found it very interesting because we've never had facilities like this. Even today in Bangor, WA and Kings Bay, GA (our SSBN bases) we have no shelter for the submarines. While the EHWs exist (explosive handling wharfs) where we perform strategic ing/offloading of the Trident D-5s, they only obscure satellite views, not protect from nuclear blasts.

www.wired.com...

Enjoy the read!



--Av

So there is indeed large underground networks all over the continents it seems.. China has them too. This language is in it seems, Ukrainian, not Russian. Russian doesn't have such combination of letters. Also, it seems the Russians aren't much behind in technology, whatever is kept secret.

Wow! that is amazing! S+F for you OP. If that's a de-commisioned installation just imagine what the currently secret active instillation's of Russia, US, UK, French, China, Israel (and others) are like!

reply to post by Avardan


you can find more images here

or video
It is very cool and i would love to get to navigate through the tunnels

Wee Mad

Originally posted by Avardan
I found it very interesting because we've never had facilities like this. Even today in Bangor, WA and Kings Bay, GA (our SSBN bases) we have no shelter for the submarines.

That you know of. Let's not forget compartmentalisation. Plus, the US has enough nukes on board your sub's to level half this planet, so why even bother to build something like this when your firepower deters it already? But hey, that's just my thinking and I may be wrong.

reply to post by Imtor

Hidden inside the base of a mountain

As I have stated a hundred times, putting bases (really series of tunnels) in mountains isn't that tough. Mountains, being ...well...mountains, have stood the test of time. The soil is stable and suitable for such construction. This does not in the least prove that the planet is crawling with tunnels everywhere. Oh say, from Mt Shasta to Groom Lake...uh, I don't think so.

The US never built these underground sub bases because they are to easy to defeat.

Yes they are nuclear bomb proof but they are not safe places for subs to operate from.

The US navy developed the captor mine system to imprison the Russian subs in these bomb proof shelters.

A few captor mines laid outside of these sub pens would block the subs from leaving.
en.wikipedia.org...
www.fas.org...

Plus there was always stories that the US had nuclear tipped captor mines (5 to 10 KT)where one mine could close a complete harbor.

The US also has the ISLMM (Improved Submarine Launched Mobile Mine)

reply to post by gariac


I'm not saying there is a tunnel under every corner of the ground, just saying there are connections based on what various researchers say. It is also possible since they melt the rock, while the machines seen on pictures are the same that make subway tunnels and those who work on the subways do not use melting rock. Still, there are pictures of how they melt the soil, so making connections between tunnels isn't anything so incredible.

I only can't imagine how it would work through the ocean as the water would collapse the ceiling but the La Manche is sort of like that. so why not.

reply to post by Imtor


Melting the rock leaves you with...MELTED ROCK! It doesn't get rid of any material, and in fact makes the disposal even more complicated. Lava flows are big piles of stuff you can't hide.

As neat as it is. I say putting any soviet sub base in the black sea was a mistake on their behalf. TO deploy them you would have to sail them out of the black sea through the tiny straights outside istanbul then pilot them through the med. then past the straits of gibralter. At any point during that trip they would have to go past all of those choke points where the US could put mines devestating and bottling up the entire sub fleet trying to operate out of that base. So in some sense it's a stupid idea.

That being said. their are rumors that the us has similar bases too. we even have patents for underwater secret sub base designs that go back to the mid 50's so the tech was available then. god knows what it looks like today.

THere is a lot of speculation that in the channel out side Los Angeles where it can get very deep there are secret tunnels that link some of the channel islands to the mainland near point magu naval station. The US test some of it's secret naval technology in these waters and the seals train in these channels too to learn how to do god knows what. ( I know they use one of these islands to train basic infiltrations and assaults. ) Lockheed tested their stealth missile boat in these channels too. there are lots of UFO and USO reports in these channels too. So it's possible that we may have something similar there in terms of secret underwater tunnels to transport stuff to and fro from the mainland to these speculated or supposed secret bases, there may even be underwater docks for subs to load secret hardware or weapon systems for R&D missions. With the nuclear armory just south of there in seal beach where tugs and barges ferry weapons to waiting submarines anything could be possible. At least this would be a more ideal location even though it's probably one of the most commercially traveled sea lanes in the world. immediate access to deep waters, plenty of tankers and cargo ships to mask the sound of subs as they come and go. better than some black sea choke point infested waters for a soviet sub base.

Once while taking a ferry to catalina island about 23 miles off shore of Los Angeles I saw something awesome. We were about a quarter mile from pulling into catalinas small harbor for it's main city/town called avalon. About an 8th of a mile to our stern right in the wake of our ferry traveling in the same direction and path as us a Los Angeles Class Nuclear Attack Sub (I think it was the USS Honolulu) surfaced. we had unknowingly sailed right over it. it waited for us to pass and then surfaced. Followed us into the harbor and it anchored (or whatever a Sub does when it wants to pull into port over night ) about a quarter mile out and just hung out for the weekend. some sailors took a rubber zodiac looking thing and went to the bars for shore leave that night. everybody in town could see this thing and dads with their kids were asking if they could get a tour of the sub to the sailors on shore leave. of course they were all told no. but still it's a good example of how you never know whats underneath you in the water.

reply to post by BASSPLYR


San Nicolas island is a destination for civilian divers when the Navy isn't sending missiles at it.
diver.net...

Underwater tunnels are certainly possible, but again, why bother if the island itself is open to civilians at times. And when the Navy needs the island, they make it very public that they are going there. There are announcements over marine radio. If they are sending a missile, there is a notam.

It is easy to start rumors about secret facilities because when they can't be found, one just claims "That is because it is secret." ;-)

reply to post by Avardan


Thanks for sharing! S&F.

What an awesome facility. Quite impressive the size and functionality it was used for during the Cold War. I'm not surprised there was an entire section that most personnel didn't even know existed.

Who knows if US has a similar facility? They may have one that is still shrouded in secrecy.

I'm not saying that there is a secret facility there I'm just saying it's possible. that a lot of secret military activity and testing occurs in those waters.

I am familiar with the waters, as I love to fish around the channel islands, but there could be tunnels under the sea bed going to and fro. I'm not talking about some crazy john lear type story. just that we have the technology, and the need. it's been claimed that more is going on around those waters than is commonly known. thats all. probably unmanned submersible drone tech being tested. but attack subs do cruise around those waters. like I said it's deep and there are naval bases all over including a nuclear armory for the navy. Barges go out all the time from the seal beach armory to reload subs and navy vessels. who knows whats going on.

Like I said it's one of the heaviest travelled sea lanes around. which is both a good and bad thing if you are trying to be secretive. Plenty of places for subs to hide. plenty of phony fiberoptic cables that can be used for navy training, to hide amongst the legit fiberoptic cables. plenty of oil rigs out there to train seals in Mk5 diving hardsuits to go down up to 1000feet to practice tapping fiberoptic lines. Plenty of navy R&D has happened in those waters too.

It's not too much of a stretch to put a undersea sub dock around one of the channel islands.

Lots of san nicholas island is also off limits to civilians due to unexploded ordinance. can be plenty of ways to hide an installation.

just that we have the technology, and the need.

reply to post by BASSPLYR


I don't see how we "need" an undersea route to the Channel Islands. It is not like we need to protect them from the commies. ;-)

Lots of san nicholas island is also off limits to civilians due to unexploded ordinance. can be plenty of ways to hide an installation.

Except that San Nic can be seen from google earth. So now we are stuck with the super duper camo theories, holograms, etc. There is no end to what can be dreamed up, but that doesn't have any actual relevance to what is actually happening.

Thanks to elephant seals, the channel islands are watched like hawks by the feds and civilians.
www.nmfs.noaa.gov...
The Navy has special permission to move the seals, which can't be easy, to do missile tests.

No No You misunderstand. I'm not talking about above ground installations. I'm talking purely subterranean. Like I said I don't entirely beleive the theory, just saying that it's been brought up before, it's not too crazy, the navy does test in those waters. Nuclear subs do patrol those waters for whatever reason. Just saying.

I too don't subscribe to the super dooper hologram theories.

Although to add. we do have a need though to lace the area around the channel islands with sosus and other types of detection equipment. back in the day russian spy boats were an actual issue with the los angeles coast line and harbor. We probably keep a close eye out for interlopers even today.


Further edit about the elephant seals. The navy subs had a heck of a time dealing with seals and walruses during the cold war. turns out the active sonar pings which sound like a octave sweep, to the seals sounds just like their mating call. they would hear the subs active sonar ping and then go into concert replying totally screwing up the subs sonar. it was an issue. they have since solved it but still if they are testing stuff in those waters then the seals could pose a problem. Either way i gotta admit the channel islands are a awesome place for both civilians and the military. heck just a few days ago some fisherman on a half day charter just caught a 15lb King salmon a mile off redondo beach! pretty cool imho