In the temporarily occupied Crimea, in the city of Balaklava, there is a mysterious underground submarine base designated "Object 825," which occasionally attracts attention for several reasons.
The first reason is that the Russian occupiers have established their own "Cold War Museum" at this base, with a prominent exhibit being the diesel-electric submarine S-49 of project 633, which once belonged to the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The second reason is that there are periodic reports indicating that the Russians are conducting activities of a military nature at "Object 825," and our media is currently reporting on this.
In this particular case, the source was a report from the "Atesh Movement," stating that the Russians are reinforcing engineering barriers in Balaklava Bay in preparation for a possible attack by Ukrainian naval drones and hypothetical sabotage groups.
Moreover, this report included a message with quite ambiguous wording, which is better quoted in full: "In addition, the occupiers are once again using the old submarine base, which previously functioned as a museum, for military purposes. This structure, known as 'Object 825,' is located in Balaklava and represents an underground complex capable of accommodating submarines and providing repair and maintenance services."
The phrasing is indeed unambiguous, and at first glance, one might think that the Russians are genuinely preparing to reactivate this complex to station their project 636.6 submarines equipped with Kalibr cruise missiles there, just as "Object 825" was used during the "Cold War."
0However, it is essential to note the following. Initially, it would not be entirely accurate to say that the Russians have exclusively used "Object 825" in Balaklava for "civilian" purposes up to this point. For example, it is known that in 2022, a station for patrol ships of the Russian FSB's Coast Guard was located in Balaklava Bay, which is also part of the overall defense system of the Russian occupiers in Crimea.
This means that, in this case, the Russians always have a reason to be concerned about the reliability of the defense system in Balaklava Bay, but the reason is more related to the type of ships or other vessels that may be stationed there. Rather, it is because this facility has already come under the "careful supervision" of the FSB.
Furthermore, in the fall of 2022, there were also reports about the unclear nature of the activities of the Russians in Balaklava Bay. As we can now understand retrospectively, it was more about modernizing the docking infrastructure for surface patrol ships, although at that time it seemed that the Russians genuinely wanted to reactivate the base for their submarines.
However, the main point to consider here is that we are indeed talking about an underground base, the primary structures of which were carved out of rock and designed for significantly smaller dimensions of submarines than those currently at the disposal of the Russians.
1As we can see in the photos, the aforementioned museum submarine S-49 fits perfectly within the dimensions of the "Object 825" base. However, it should be noted that the S-49 has a hull length of 76.7 meters, a width of 6.7 meters, and an average draft of 5 meters.
In turn, the carriers of the "Kalibrs" are the project 636.6 "Varshavyanka" submarines, which, with a hull length of 73.8 meters, have a width of 9.9 meters and an average draft of 6.2 meters. Thus, there is a concrete risk that the "Varshavyanka" may simply not "fit" within the dimensions of the "Object 825" structures without additional work on the rocky part of this facility.
In this context, it appears more likely and practical for the Russians to keep their "Kalibr" carriers at a remote base in Novorossiysk, where at least no additional infrastructure work is needed.
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