MOSCOW, Jan 25 – Russian officials said the site of Russia’s main naval base was forced to switch to emergency generators after aging power lines collapsed during severe winter weather, knocking out power and some heating.
The closed town of Severomorsk is the headquarters of Russia’s Northern Fleet in the Kola Bay of the Barents Sea and is home to Russia’s most important naval command. It controls Russia’s largest fleet of ballistic missile submarines as well as a vast fleet of nuclear warheads, missiles and repair shops.
Murmansk Region Governor Andrei Chibis said on Friday night that power supplies were cut off in the cities of Murmansk and Severomorsk due to the tower collapse. Local officials said some houses in Severomorsk were still without power and heat on Sunday.
According to local media reports, on January 23, five iron towers collapsed about 7 kilometers (4 miles) from Murmansk, two of which were nearly 60 years old. According to the Severomorsk Online news website, two of them date from 1966, two from 1982 and one from 1988.
Northern Fleet ships docked in Severomorsk have switched to autonomous power mode to free up capacity, Commander of Severomorsk Vladimir Evmenkov said.
Russia’s so-called “closed towns” are typically located around major defense or nuclear installations and have much tighter controls than most other places. Access is controlled and special permission is required to access.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
