The Museum of Submarines in Balaklava is located in the thickness of the mountain on the right bank of the Balaklava Bay. It can be called one of the most interesting museums in the Crimea. Until 1993, this place was strictly classified and was called Facility 825 GTS. In the thickness of the rock there was a base of submarines that could be equipped with nuclear weapons.
The secret strategic Facility 825 GTS was a navigable channel cut through Mount Tavros. It could accommodate up to 9 submarines. It was intended for their shelter in case of a nuclear strike. Adjacent to the underground tunnel 825 GTS, where submarines were located, was an even more secret facility 820 RTB of the USSR Navy, where nuclear warheads were stored. They were installed on torpedoes and missiles of submarines.
In Soviet times, the entire city of Balaklava was a closed city, the main base of submarines on the Black Sea. It did not exist on geographical maps, and many locals did not even know that there was a military facility in this bay. Soviet-era photographs show that where the cozy Balaklava Embankment with restaurants is now located, a few decades ago there were piers with real submarines ready to go on a combat mission.
Construction of the 825 GTS Facility, which has now become the Balaklava Submarine Museum, began in 1953. The Cold War was already in full swing. After the Soviet nuclear bomb test in 1949, Joseph Stalin ordered the creation of strategic facilities that would allow various military equipment, from aircraft to submarines, to be equipped with nuclear warheads.
The tour of the Submarine Museum begins at the entrance to the tunnel on the Tauride Embankment of Balaklava. Mount Tavros consists of marble limestone, which is not amenable to drilling. The builders of the metro cut through the tunnel by exploding rock. These tunnels were called paterns, they were cut off from each other by sealed doors. The thickness of the door flaps exceeds 1 meter. The weight of the doors at the entrance to the nuclear warhead storage is 20 tons.
The storage of nuclear warheads and the mooring place of submarines are designed to hit a nuclear bomb with a capacity of more than 100 kilotons. The thickness of the mountain above the tunnels exceeds 100 meters. The length of the main channel where the submarines were located is 505 meters, the depth is 8 meters, and the width is from 10 to 24 meters. This made possible to place up to 9 submarines at the 825 GTS Facility.
The exposition of the Submarine Museum is very large. It is devoted to the stages of construction of the 825 GTS facility and the development of nuclear weapons of the USSR. There are models of various torpedoes, mines, missiles and other weapons that were used by the Navy in Soviet times. There is also an exhibition dedicated to the life of sailors on submarines. Models of submarines and warships are of great interest.
