Kozak Travel about the Crimean city Balaclava. Balaklava Балаклава Balıqlava part of Sevastopol Flag of Balaklava Flag Coat of arms of Balaklava Coat of arms Balaklava is located in Sevastopol BalaklavaBalaklava Location of Balaklava within Sevastopol. Coordinates: 44°30′0″N 33°36′0″ECoordinates: 44°30′0″N 33°36′0″E Country Disputed Russia, Ukraine Region Sevastopol Elevation 10 m (30 ft) Population • Total 18,649 Time zone MSK (UTC+4) Postal code 299xxx Area code(s) +380-692 Former name Cembalo (until 1475), Yamboli, Symbolon Website http://balaklava.crimea.ua/ Balaklava (Ukrainian: Балаклáва, Russian: Балаклáва, Crimean Tatar: Balıqlava, Greek: Σύμβολον ) is a former city on the Crimean Peninsula and part 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. It also is an administrative center of Balaklava Raion that used to be part of the Crimean Oblast before it was transferred to Sevastopol Municipality. Population: Balaklava has changed possession several times during its history. A settlement at its present location was originally founded under the name of Symbolon (Σύμβολον) by the Ancient Greeks, for whom it was an important commercial city. During the Middle Ages, it was controlled by the Byzantine Empire and then by the Genoese who conquered it in 1365. The Byzantines called the town Yamboli and the Genoese named it Cembalo. The Genoese built a large trading empire in both the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, buying slaves in Eastern Europe and shipping them to Egypt via the Crimea, a lucrative market hotly contested with by the Venetians. The ruins of a Genoese fortress positioned high on a clifftop above the entrance to the Balaklava Inlet are a popular tourist attraction and have recently become the stage for a Medieval festival. The fortress is a subject of Mickiewicz's penultimate poem in his 1825 cycle of Crimean Sonnets. In 1475 Cembalo City was captured by Turks and they rename it to Balyk-Yuva (Fish's Nest) which subsequently became Balaklava. During the Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774, the Russian troops conquered Crimea in 1771. Thirteen years later, Crimea was definitively annexed by the Russian Empire. After that, Crimean Tatar and Turkish population was replaced by Greeks from the Archipelago.[citation needed] In 1787 the city was visited by Catherine the Great. The town became famous for the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War thanks to the suicidal Charge of the Light Brigade, a British cavalry charge due to a misunderstanding sent up a valley strongly held on three sides by the Russians, in which about 250 men were killed or wounded, and over 400 horses lost, effectively reducing the size of the mounted brigade by two thirds and destroying some of the finest light cavalry in the world to no military purpose.[4] The British poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson immortalized the battle in verse in his Charge of the Light Brigade. The balaclava, a tight knitted garment covering the whole head and neck with holes for the eyes and mouth, also takes its name from this settlement, where soldiers first wore them. Also numerous towns founded in English-speaking countries in later parts of the 19th Century were named "Balaklava" (see Balaklava (disambiguation)). During the Second World War, Balaklava was the southernmost point in the Soviet-German lines.[citation needed] In 1954 Balaklava, together with the whole Crimea, passed from Russia to Ukraine. It became part of the independent state of Ukraine in 1991. Today there are over 50 monuments in the town dedicated to the remembrance of military valour in past wars, including the Great Patriotic War, the Crimean War and the Russian Civil War.[citation needed] In 2014, due to the 2014 Crimean crisis, Balaklava, along with the rest of the Crimea, was annexed by Russian Federation. Underground submarine base 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. 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. This process saw the removal of the warheads and low-yield torpedoes. In 1996, the last Russian submarine left the base. The base has since been opened to the public as the Naval museum complex Balaklava. Naval museum complex Balaklava (Ukrainian: Морський музейний комплекс "Балаклава", Russian: Музей холодной войны, "The Cold War Museum", designation K-825) is an underground submarine base in Balaklava, Crimea, Russia/Ukraine[1] (originally known as Object 825 GTS). It was a top-secret military facility during the Cold War, located in Balaklava Bay. Today it serves as a museum and also houses a museum about the Crimean War. The object is built accordingly to withstand a category-I nuclear explosion (protection from a direct hit by a nuclear yield of 100 kt), which includes a combined underground network of water channels with a dry dock, repair shops, warehouses for storage of torpedoes and other weapons. Additionally it could house personnel to protect them from nuclear fallout. Located in the mountain of Tavros, on both sides of which there are exits. If necessary, caisson gates could be used, which seals the entire complex. To exit to the open sea, an exit is provided on the northern side of the mountain. The holes in the rock are neatly covered with camouflage devices and networks. Object 825 GTS was intended to house, repair and maintain submarines of Projects 613 and 633. The central water channel of the facility, whose length is at 602 meters, could accommodate up to 7 submarines if necessary, and in all channels, up to 14 submarines of different classes. The water channels have depths up to 8 meters, with width ranging from 12 to 22 meters. The total area of all facilities in this base is around 9600 m2, while the total surface area of water is at 5200. Equipment loading in peacetime was carried out on the pier, while watching out for the movements of spy satellites of the possible military adversary. A special tunnel is used for loading equipment into the base in wartime. The entire complex also includes the repair and technical base, codenamed Object 280, designed for storing and maintaining nuclear arsenal. The temperature inside the base is kept around 15 degrees Celsius. History In the period after the Second World War, the two superpowers, the USSR and the U.S., stepped up their nuclear arsenal, threatening each other with pre-emptive strikes and retaliatory strikes. It was then when Joseph Stalin gave Lavrentiy Beria (who was responsible at that time for "nuclear projects"), a secret directive: to find a place where they could house submarines for a retaliatory nuclear strike. Several years of research pinpointed the quiet Balaklava as the location, and the city was immediately coded and got merged into the city of Sevastopol as a city district. Balaklava sits on a narrow winding inlet with a width of only 200–400 meters. The small inlet protects the city not only from storms, but also from prying eyes, as it is not visible under any angle from the open sea. Additionally, the site is close to Sevastopol, a major naval base still used by the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet. In 1957 a special construction department coded as No. 528 was created, which handled the construction of underground facilities. The construction of the underground complex lasted for 8 years, from 1953 to 1961. During construction, about 120 thousand tons of rock were removed from the Tavros mountain. To ensure secrecy supplies were transported at night on a barge in the open sea. After closing in 1993, most of the complex is unguarded. In fact, in 2000, the abandoned facility was handed over to the naval forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, during the unguarded period from 1993 to 2003, this former base suffered from plundering, with all metal structures scavenged for the metal.[2] The Sevastopol "Marine Commission" led by Vladimir Stefanovsky proposed the construction of the current museum. The museum would have themed exhibition halls, which were actually repair shops and arsenals, a submarine standing by the underground pier, a tourist center, a cinema room with a chronicle of the time of active military confrontation between the two superpowers, and finally, an underground memorial, which would have immortalized the memories of the deceased submariners who were killed without bullet wounds—in the true cold war in the depths of the ocean. The 10th anniversary of the museum was celebrated in June 2013.[3] Submarine veterans, former employees of the base as well as representatives from the authorities, armed forces and students attended the ceremony. The facility was placed under the jurisdiction of Russia and the southern area of the Military History Museum of fortification structures of the Russian Federation in 2014, after the annexation of Crimea.[1] Restoration According to press information from March 2014, Russia is considering the possibility of restoring the submarine base in Balaklava. Address[edit] The base sits at No.22 Tavricheskaya Naberezhnaya street, Balaklava district, Sevastopol, Crimea. Similar bases The underground navy base in Muskö, Sweden, designed for deployment of missile boats and small destroyers. Fallout shelters and repair shops in the Bay of Pavlovsk. Fallout shelter and submarine repair shops in Vidyaevo. The underground submarine base of the Albanian navy in the Adriatic coast, a secret military facility also built during the Cold War. This base was formerly used for basing Soviet submarines, but later went under the control of NATO in 2009. In popular culture The 2012 American action film, "Soldiers of Fortune", filmed parts of it near the base. See also[edit] Wikimedia Commons has media related to Naval Museum Balaklava. Muskö naval base Olavsvern, Norway Central Museum of Armed Forces of Ukraine Military-Historical Museum of Black Sea Fleet Russia References[edit] Jump up ^ This place is located on the Crimean Peninsula, most of which is the subject of a territorial dispute between Russia and Ukraine. According to the political division of Russia, there are federal subjects of the Russian Federation (the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol) located on the peninsula. According to the administrative-territorial division of Ukraine, there are the Ukrainian divisions (the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city with special status of Sevastopol) located on the peninsula. Jump up ^ Cherkashin, N. "Underground harbor of submarines (Russian)". Jump up ^ "Подземный музей отметил юбилей (видео)". meridian.in.ua. Retrieved 2016-11-25. Jump up ^ "Подводные лодки в степях Балаклавы". Газета.Ru. Retrieved 2016-11-25. External links[edit] Virtual panoramic tour to the museum The secret dungeon for submarines Novinsky interested submarine base in Crimea Balaklava bay - view from space visit to the base Balaklava Museum of Cold War