Vidyaevo is the name of the naval base in which the Russian submarine Northern Fleet is based. It is located in ZATO with the same name - Vidyaevo. About 45 km from the city of Murmansk. His name is due to the famous Soviet submariner of the Second World War F. A. Vidyaev.
The history of the location of the Navy base
The place where the Vidyaevo naval base is currently located dates back to the Paleolithic era (about 3, 500 BC). At this time, the first people appear here. One of the camps of ancient people was found by archaeologists in the forties of the last century at the mouth of Chan Stream. It is known that primitive tribes were engaged in the extraction of sea animals, fishing, hunting wild animals. Subsequently, Sami tribes took their place. Here they grazed and raised deer. During the development of the Arctic by the Novgorodians, these lands were transferred by Tsar Ivan the Terrible to the Pecheneg Monastery. They were recalled by Catherine II, who ranked this area, limited by the lips of Ur and Ara, to the state lands.
At the mouth of the bay, created by Ura and Ara lips, is the Heretic island. Since ancient times, it has been a place where ships of Pomors, Finns, and Swedes moored in the Motovsky Gulf moored. The Heretic in 1883 created the first Russian company engaged in the fishing of whales. The following year, a whale meat processing plant was built on Ara Bay by Prince Shuvalov. During the existence of these plants (about 7 years), more than 300 whales were caught. But the existing problems with the sale of whalers led to the fact that the plants were closed.
However, a large fish processing plant was built on the nearby Shalim island at the same time. The village under him was named Port Vladimir, named after the brother of Alexander III - Vladimir Alexandrovich, who at that time was the trustee of the Russian fleet. At a short distance from this point, on the lip of Ur, in 1864 a large Finnish village arose. Later, the village of Vidyaevo appeared on the site of this settlement, which became the center of the country's underwater Northern Fleet.
During the war there were fights. A few kilometers from Vidyaevo, the army stopped the advance of the enemy rangers. Until now, here you can find destroyed dugouts, graves of fighters, as well as see monuments to the defenders of the Fatherland.
Start of base construction
Work on creating the infrastructure of the Navy began in 1957. The construction of the first structures went along the banks of a small rivulet - Urita. This name became the first name of the garrison village. Administratively, he was a member of the Ura-lips village council of the Kola district of the Murmansk region.
In July 1958, the General Staff of the Navy of the USSR issued a directive which instructed to form a division of submarines of the Northern Fleet, determine the bay of Ur as the place of deployment. July 31, 1958 - the foundation day of Vidyaevo.
Vidyaevo Naval Base was originally conceived as the largest intralocal shelter of submarines. It should be a large warehouse and repair base. Rock cuttings began in 1960, but the shelter was put into operation only in the late nineties of the last century. The builders claim that in terms of the volume of excavated rocks, this construction can be compared with work on the subway throughout Moscow. In the constructed shelters, whose length is almost 600 m, it is possible to shelter more than one nuclear submarine.
Base formation
In June 1961, a submarine squadron was created in the new garrison. With the increase in the number of submarines based, intensive combat training of personnel begins.
In July 1964, the garrison was given the name of the war hero Fedor Vidyaev.
In 1967, anti-submarine ships were relocated to Ara Bay. In 1970, a submarine division entered the Vidyaevo naval base in the squadron. They were equipped with cruise missiles and allowed to significantly increase the combat capabilities of the base. In the eighties of the last century, the squadron included nuclear missile submarines.
Different parts of the oceans are becoming the main place where the submariners of Vidyayev have improved their martial art.
In 1991, another submarine division was introduced into the garrison, consisting of the latest submarines designed to deal with enemy submarines. In the same year, the Kursk and Voronezh nuclear missile submarines arrived in Vidyaevo.
In 1991, the naval base of Vidyaevo on the Ura-Guba acquired a special pier. The aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov moored to it. It was in Vidyaevo that the personnel of this ship underwent their first training. From here he made his first trip.
In 1994, the crew of the B-414 submarine, which was based in Vidyaevo, made a trip to the North Pole and hoisted the Russian flag and Andreevsky flag there.
Hard times
The time of change and uncertainty has not allowed to create a center of surface forces of the Northern Fleet on the basis of Vidyaevo. The contractions begin. The squadron turned into a small compound. No funds were allocated for the maintenance of ships, nor for training of crews. Ships grew into the pier. There were two times less people at the naval base in Vidyaevo than during its heyday.
Changes adversely affected the garrison. Housing began to deteriorate, communications failed. Often houses were left without heat, light and water.
But despite the negative changes, in 1995, seeing the submariners, another conquest of the North Pole was carried out, and an experiment was also carried out to deliver cargo to the Yamal Peninsula.
Vidyaevo is currently
In 1999, Vidyaevo began to feel a positive wind of change. The Kursk missile cruiser begins duty on the Mediterranean.
However, there were also tragic periods in the history of the Vidyaevo naval base. So in June 1984, a fire occurred on the K-131 submarine near the Lofoten Islands. The crew in the fight against the elements lost 13 people. But he managed to defeat the fire, secure the reactor, save the submarine.
On August 12, 2002, during the execution of the task at sea, the Kursk nuclear submarine was killed. The tragedy claimed the lives of the entire crew.
In 2001, the village of Vidyaevo acquired the status of ZATO. This event allowed to significantly change not only the face of the city of submariners, but also to create a “pearl” of the entire northern coast of Russia.
Now the naval base of Vidyaevo is a modern town. Roads are asphalted, houses painted in eye-pleasing colors. A lot of playgrounds. The apartments, according to residents, are very warm and bright. There are a modern clinic in Vidyaevo, kindergartens, a school, and an officer’s house. All are equipped with modern facilities. There is also a modern sports complex "Frigate", which has become the pride of the entire Murmansk region. In the photo of the naval base of Vidyaevo, dramatic changes are clearly visible, if we compare them with photographs of the late 90s - early 2000s.
