January 14, 2016

The Remains of the Pavlovskoye (Па́вловское) Submarine Base

While looking for something rather unrelated I found a fantastic place on the other side of the planet to perform some Urban Exploration (Urbex).  An abandoned Soviet underground submarine base / shelter.  I have absolutely no chance of actually doing any Urbex there myself, but if you're in the area, this is something extremely rare and should be checked out.  There were three Soviet Navy underground shelters / bases constructed to shield and protect ballistic missile submarines from a first strike, and hide them from prying eyes at the same time.  I have not found a lot of information on this facility but here is what I could come up with.

But first, it seems like there is some debate regarding why the facility was shut down.  Well, it was part of the first nuclear disarmament treaty, the START I treaty, back in 1991, signed by George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev.

Here is precisely the paragraph where the Pavlovskoye Submarine Base was negotiated into closure.

U.S. STATEMENT ON UNDERGROUND STRUCTURES
July 29, 1991
Pavlovskoye Submarine Base (Date Unknown)
The U.S. side believes that construction of any additional underground structures adjacent to waters in which ballistic missile submarines operate and comparable in size and configuration to the ones located in the immediate vicinity of the Ara Inlet, the Yagelnaya Submarine Base, and the Pavlovskoye Submarine Base, would raise concerns regarding compliance with the obligation provided for in Article V, paragraph 26 of the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. For its part, the United States does not have such underground structures, does not plan to construct and
will not construct any such underground structures while the START Treaty remains in force. The U.S. side proceeds from the premise that the Soviet side will exercise similar restraint. 
UNILATERAL STATEMENT OF THE SOVIET SIDE REGARDING UNDERGROUND STRUCTURES ADJACENT TO WATERS IN WHICH BALLISTIC MISSILE SUBMARINES OPERATE
July 29, 1991
Pavlovskoye Submarine Base
Date Unknown / Source Unknown
Since the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has underground structures located in the immediate vicinity of the Ara inlet (Kola peninsula), the Yagelnaya submarine base (Kola peninsula), and the Pavlovskoye submarine base (Primorskiy kray), in connection with the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms and in order to settle the issue of these underground structures once and for all, the Soviet side states that these underground structures have no adits that make them accessible to waterborne craft of any displacement from adjacent waters and that the Soviet Union has no plans to construct and will not construct such adits as long as the Treaty remains in force. Effective verification of this shall be ensured by national technical means.
The Soviet side proceeds from the premise that the United States of America does not have and will not construct similar underground structures as long as the Treaty remains in force. 
http://www.state.gov/www/global/arms/starthtm/start/declsts.html#42
From the Annexes of the START I treaty, the Pavlovskoye naval base had five (5) Delta I ballistic missile submarines and 60 SS-N-8 SLBMs deployed between them; an additional 85 SLBMs were in storage at the base.


SUBMARINE BASE:PAVLOVSKOYE
SLBM TYPE
SS-N-6SS-N-8SS-N-18
DEPLOYED SLBMS
0600
DEPLOYED LAUNCHERS OF SLBMS
0600
NON-DEPLOYED SLBMS
551416
BALLISTIC MISSILE SUBMARINES BASED AT THIS SUBMARINE BASE:
NUMBER OF SUBMARINES/AGGREGATE NUMBER OF LAUNCHERS BY SLBM TYPE:
SUBMARINE TYPE:
DELTA I
5/60
NUMBER
STORAGE CRANES
0
MISSILE TENDERS
0
But you probably want to SEE the base, and not just hear about it.  Well, it seems that englishrussia.com has posted a series of pictures, a superset of what io9 posted, and both got the pictures from a blogger who's account is no longer in existance.  So, here they are!

































1 comment:

  1. The active navy bases are formed so that they can fight against their enemies and accomplish an operation. More military bases, more training, more tactical steps should be taken for victory.

    ReplyDelete