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Image Shows Chinese Submarine Entering Mysterious Cave at S. China Sea Base (thedrive.com)
96 points by Zhenya on Aug 21, 2020 | hide | past | favorite | 16 comments


Sub pens have been a thing since the middle of the previous century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_pen

I wouldn't be surprised to learn King's Bay or Kitsap also have "mysterious caves", although not-so-mysterious reinforced concrete seems cheaper and more common, and a quick google makes it seem like I'd have to do image searches on Яндекс or 百度 to find them...

(One of the sillier things about not having disbanded the cavalry until after I was born is that my country had bunkers which contained horse stalls and manure tips.)


No pens apparent from Google Maps unless the lift bays are reinforced (Faslane's isn't?), so I guess the USN is confident in their local air supremacy.


The Royal Navy apparently considered an underground base for its missile subs to be located in the Loch Glendhu area in the North West Highlands. However, the US Navy wanted its submarines to be based closer to an airport and the Royal Navy wanted to be close to the US Navy...

I'm rather glad Loch Glendhu is left unspoiled but it does mean the current infrastructure for UK nuclear submarines is rather close to Glasgow and the largest population centre in Scotland.

Source: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silent-Deep-Royal-Submarine-Service...

NB That book is worth it just for the description of the infamous Perisher course, let alone the stories about Rickover...



Very cool.

Military installations that exploit natural features are always interesting. It reminds me of some of the aircraft hangars used by the Swiss air force - carved right into the mountains.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_cavern


Having this out in the open is great.

Letting citizens of other countries near the South China Sea know about the purpose of the islands raises general awareness of the consequences of certain actions.


Island of Vis in Croatia has one, legacy of Yugoslavia, you can swim in. It's a fun experience.


There's a quite big one in Sweden also, built in the 50's that is still active. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musk%C3%B6_naval_base


Where exactly?


Got curious and went looking, this looks like the one:

Ex. Yugoslavian military shelter for submarines D117, 21480, Rogačić, Croatia

https://goo.gl/maps/imWgUufegJoe1ZsGA


That's the one. Island is relatively small and has interesting military installations on it.


Correct! I have been there.


So block the entry way and the whole facility is out of action?

Seems a significant single point of failure.


If you're in their territorial waters, you're in trouble.


Here is the VirtualGlobetrotting: Military - Bases google map [1] The map includes a lot of background information on each identified location.

1. https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1OipNxc8-CLspaQsYwF...


There was a submarine cave in the James Bond movie Die Another Day




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