Activists say secret Soviet-era submarine base in Crimea has been reactivated

In a video posted on Telegram in early February, two floating barriers can be seen at the entrance to the natural harbor of Balaklava in Russian-controlled Crimea.

Pro-Ukrainian activists claim that the barriers, which could close the harbor to naval drones, are the latest evidence that a large submarine base, once known as Object 825 GTS, is being recommissioned.

“The [Russian] invaders are once again using an old underground submarine base, which used to function as a museum, for military purposes,” the Crimean Tatar guerrilla group Atesh recently posted on Telegram.

The group believes that the anti-drone barriers are an indication that the submarine base is being used for military purposes, as there are currently no other sensitive facilities in the bay. The port of Balaklava was demilitarized by Ukraine in 2008. From 2016, when it was still under Russian control, facilities for mooring yachts were built there.

The Balaklava submarine base was completed in 1961, when Crimea was the most important hub of the Soviet fleet.

The unique landscape of Balaklava allowed Soviet planners to dig a tunnel through a mountain some 600 meters deep into the sea, large enough to protect the people and ships inside from a direct nuclear strike.

The secret facility contained shelters for up to nine submarines and their crews, as well as a dry dock where the ships could be repaired and rooms where nuclear weapons could be stored and prepared for use.

Due to the secrecy of the Soviet base, the port of Balaklava was a “restricted” area that could only be accessed with special permission. During the Cold War, submarines only entered and left the underground base after dark.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the base fell under Ukrainian control but remained undefended. One visitor in 1994 recalled entering the once-secret site, which looked as if it had been “abandoned due to a sudden catastrophe”, adding that it “involuntarily brought Chernobyl to mind”.

The interior was severely damaged by thieves in the 1990s before the building was reopened as a museum in Ukraine in 2003.

Following Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014, the base fell under Russian control but continued to operate as a museum.

Recent reports that the base is to be reactivated for military purposes are just one of these claims. In October 2022, the Ukrainian military pointed to construction work near an entrance to the submarine base as evidence that it would be returned for military purposes. However, the museum appears to remain open to the public.

John C. K. Daly, a defense expert at the Jamestown Foundation, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that the facility, currently used by the Russian Navy, was intended for ships rather than submarines.

“Given the size limitations of the Black Sea Fleet’s Kilo-class submarines (their range is too long for the current Balaklava configuration), their current use before renovation for surface ships would be a must.”

With Russian seaports increasingly under attack from Ukrainian naval drones, it is possible that Russian warships will find shelter in parts of the base. This includes ships previously anchored at the naval base near Sevastopol, which has been repeatedly hit by Ukrainian naval drones and missiles.

Daly says the rapid development of naval drone technology in Ukraine has been “one of the most unexpected and significant developments” of the Russian invasion./REL/