Only after the collapse of the USSR, the secret labyrinths under the rocks near Sevastopol became available to the common people. They look so incredible that it seems as if in front of you some kind of Hollywood scenery from a movie about Russians. Previously, to see this miracle of engineering, people stood in line for many hours in the heat and bought up all the tickets right after the ticket office opened.
So what exactly were they built for? Why because of them the whole city of Balaklava was classified? What was Stalin’s cunning plan for the construction of such catacombs?The whole reason is the Cold War. Our yesterday’s allies decided to replace the USSR, a country that defeated fascism, threatening it with a new one, with nuclear weapons.
Stalin understood the precariousness of the situation, and gave the order to throw all the forces and means not only on the creation of his own atomic arsenal, but also on the construction of special submarines capable of covert delivery and launch of warheads.In case of a nuclear strike on the Black Sea Fleet, the submarines were planned to be hidden in the thickness of the coastal cliffs near Sevastopol, in a special protected base. The secretary general signed a project for its implementation in 1953.
Balaklava Bay was the best suited for a secret hideout. Its S-shaped shape and inconspicuousness from the sea in all eras made this part of the coast an excellent springboard. The Byzantines, Genoese, Turks and then Russia fought for it.
For the embodiment of Stalin’s ambitious idea, Mount Tavros was chosen, in which Metrostroy specialists, already under Khrushchev, punched through unique labyrinths of rooms in the thickness of the granite. The object was commissioned at the height of the confrontation between the USSR and the United States, in 1961.
Its main and most amazing structure is an arched canal, into which fifteen submarines could enter. Such an unusual shape provided the damping of the blast wave. One entrance was from the side of the bay, the other – from the side of the open sea. Both, not only had a disguise, but were also closed with thick gates to contain radiation.
One of the isolation gates
Part of the canal could be drained in order to carry out maintenance and repair of submarines. But the secret dock did more than just that. The second half of the underground harbor was occupied by a nuclear arsenal, which even the repairmen and sailors from the neighboring premises did not know about.
Only officers and midshipmen were involved in assembling nuclear warheads and loading them onto submarines. All instructions were read out loud and their implementation was recorded immediately. For this, the walls of the arsenal were covered with slate in order to extinguish any echo in its corridors.
However, the unique building quickly lost its relevance. Diesel submarines were replaced by larger ones – nuclear ones, which simply did not pass into the channel under the rock. With the separation of Ukraine, the facility generally fell into disrepair, hunters for precious metals began to visit here, who stole most of the equipment.
But when the orgy of the 90s ended, the military catacombs were turned into a museum. Despite the past years and the disclosure of secrets, visitors were taken here only with a guide, which created a great stir. All comers simply could not get in. However, this year everything has changed.
Here, in the sun and among the stones, people used to have to stand in line
The Military Historical Museum of Fortifications was simply transformed after renovation and renovation. Around they installed atmospheric light, soundtrack, which sometimes goosebumps. And to increase the throughput, they began to distribute audio guides, so I got here this summer without any queues.
So if you’ve even been here in the past, I recommend visiting this underground base again.