This is a discussion on Musko underground naval base in Sweden within the Military Photos & Videos forum, part of the Global Defense & Military category; Photo-report (8 photos)
Can anyone identify surface ships depicted here?
I heard a rumor that there is a similar base ...
Photo-report (8 photos)
Can anyone identify surface ships depicted here?
I heard a rumor that there is a similar base in Cuba that the Soviet subs used in the cold War era. In the Crimea, Balaklava has also similar accomodation for submarines- now it's open to tourists!
Thanks, I just didn't have time to look them up. Those are rather small ships- does Sweden have bigger ships?
The three or four minelayer, tender and command ships (usually between 2,000 and 3,800 tons) are the big fishes in the Swedish Navy iirc. HMS Visborg (M03 in the pics) is among those, and at around 2,700 tons. The biggest ship in the Swedish Navy is the submarine rescue vessel HMS Belos at 6,150 tons.
For combat ships, there are only the three different "corvette" classes (Göteborg, Stockholm, Visby), all somewhere between 400 and 600 tons roughly.
Thanks, I just didn't have time to look them up. Those are rather small ships- does Sweden have bigger ships?
Swedish Navy has three bigger ships. A214 HMS Belos at 6150 tons (submarine rescue vessel), M04 HMS Carlskrona at 3800 tons (decision is made for this ship to be SwNs next SIGINT-vessel) and A265 HMS Visborg at 2590 tons (command and support).
As for the rest, they are small. Deplacement around 200-650 tons and 1300-1500 tons for the subs.
In another post, I said the cold war is back, I hope we get a chance to see these bases before they are classified again.
I wonder if there are any bases like this built for bigger ships like frigates and destroyers. It would be amazing to see a bunker for an aircraft carrier - of course it would require a big cliff next to the sea and some big doors
In another post, I said the cold war is back, I hope we get a chance to see these bases before they are classified again.
About the only other active fleet bunker you can visit is the one at Brest. Surface bunker submarine pen with space for 25 submarines, 10 of them in drydocks, the other 15 wet. Used for a variety of French Navy guard and patrol boats and such now.
I wonder if there are any bases like this built for bigger ships like frigates and destroyers. It would be amazing to see a bunker for an aircraft carrier - of course it would require a big cliff next to the sea and some big doors
I did not know about Brest, do you have any photo links?
( I am assuming it is much bigger than the Swedish one with space for 25 submarines)
Muskö were built for frigates and destroyers, its just that the swedish navy does´nt have those kind of ships today (the largest dock is 350 metres long).
I would assume Muskö is much bigger then the Brest submarine pen. It´s not just the docks that are underground, the whole navalbase is built under a mountain. There are repairfactories, hospitals, diningrooms, barracks etc, all under the mountain. Thousands of soldiers would serve there in wartime and the hospital alone has over 1000 beds IIRC. As a comparison, when building the famous underground facilities in Cheyenne Mountains they had to remove 350.000 m3 of stone, in Muskö they had to blow away 1.500.000 m3 of stone (even more if you counting the underground road that leads to Muskö under the seabed).
I thought Brest just was concrete bunkers for the sub pens built by the germans during WW2. Nothing underground about it.
In Norway you have a miniature Muskö outside of Bergen that is still active, it can also hold destroyers.
