6 December 2015. The Polar Sunset in Murmansk… Sunrise Won’t Be Until 12 January

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The Polar Night lasts for 41 unbroken days in Murmansk in the Far North… it started on 2 December… it’ll end on 12 January. That is, it’ll be dark for New Year’s and Christmas, and the sun will only rise again a week before Epiphany. At least, here in Upstate New York, we have light from 08.00 to 16.00 at the solstice. That ain’t much, but it’s much better than Murmansk has, which is NOTHING.

DARK! For 41 whole days… no wonder the Russians invented vodka… now, that’s an “All-Nighter”…

BMD

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Northern Fleet Chases Out American Submarine Illegally Intruding in Russian Territorial Waters

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On Saturday, a high-ranking naval source told us that Northern Fleet anti-submarine forces detected and chased an intruding US submarine from Russian territorial waters, saying, “On 7 August 2014, patrol forces of the Northern Fleet detected a foreign submarine, presumably, a US Navy Virginia-class boat, in the Barents Sea. We sent anti-submarine ships, as well as an Il-38 ASW aircraft, to the area to search for it and track it down”. Russian forces chased the submarine out of Russian waters after a 27-minute contact. Our source said, “This is far from being an isolated incident, we’ve found foreign submarines in the Barents Sea lately. NATO submarines cause serious navigational incidents many times”. In 1992, the USS Baton Rouge collided with the Northern Fleet submarine K-276 Krab in Kolsky Bay. In 1986, the submarine HMS Splendid collided with a Northern Fleet PL Project 941 Akula SSBN.

9 August 2014

Rossiya Segodnya

http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140809/191869986/Russia-Forces-US-Submarine-Out-of-Boundary-Waters.html

1 October 2013. A Photo Essay. Our Great Russian Motherland… The Kola Peninsula in Autumn

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One of the most northernmost parts of Russia is the Kola Peninsula. The ice-free port of Murmansk is here, along with the main Northern Fleet bases of Polyarny and Severomorsk. The Peninsula lies completely within Murmansk Oblast, and virtually all of the oblast’s territory is on the Peninsula. This is one of the most militarily-significant regions in Russia, the main base for Russia’s submarine strategic nuclear deterrent force is here (although Sevmash, the builder of all Russian nuclear-powered submarines, is in Severodvinsk near Arkhangelsk). Nevertheless, most of the Peninsula is wild, with the total population of 800,000 spread over an area of 144,900 square kilometres (55,946 square miles)… 40 percent of the population is in the single city of Murmansk. Most of the people live in a small area between Polyarny on the Barents Sea and Kandalaksha on the White Sea.

BMD