The US Navy wants to lease an abandoned Norwegian cave base on the edge of the Barents Sea to run submarine patrols on Russia’s doorstep, according to a recent report.
Norwegian public broadcasting outlet NRK reported on October 10 that Oslo and Washington could ink a deal for the US Navy to use the Olavsvern naval base, located near the northerly city of Tromsø, before the week is out.
The Norwegians started building the base in the Balsfjorden inlet in the 1960s, but it wasn’t completed until after the Cold War was over, and was subsequently sold to one private owner after another. However, with the United States once again looking to turn up the heat on Moscow, Washington has shown interest in putting the base to use.
Norwegian Minister of Defense Frank Bakke-Jensen told NRK the Norwegian Armed Forces have also considered using Olavsvern for storage.
At present, the Navy is forced to bring aboard supplies and personnel by small watercraft in the nearby Malangen fjord. The US Navy’s secretive USS Seawolf nuclear attack submarine was spotted in August paying a visit to the fjord. Observers were puzzled by the sub’s appearance, as it was far from its normal base in the Pacific and is believed to contain a slew of sensitive monitoring equipment, but many concluded it was intended as a public signal to Russia.
Norway isn’t the only country with naval bases nestled inside mountains like some kind of James Bond villain hideout: China’s Yulin Naval Base sits on southern Hainan Island, opening up to the South China Sea, and Sweden built a base for submarines and destroyers at Muskö, on the Baltic Sea, that it recently reactivated. The Soviet Union had a cave base, too: the Balaklava facility in Crimea, which is now a museum.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
0.00 (0%) 0 votes
