Photo: CWO2 TONY ALLEYNE

The Northern Fleet’s three large surface vessels are based here. These are the nuclear-powered Kirov class battle cruisers: Admiral Ushakov, Admiral Nakhimov and Peter the Great. There are no permanently stationed nuclear submarines at Severomorsk.

The ship repair factory SRZ-82 is located in Safonovo, a rural town in the Severomorsk area. This factory has a number of floating docks used in the repair of nuclear submarines and surface vessels. The area’s largest floating dock is located here and the factory undertakes the repair of the largest Northern Fleet submarines, including the Typhoon class.

Shtyukozero, another rural town located about 8 kilometres north east of Severomorsk, has a large repository for missiles, including missiles with nuclear warheads. In 1984, there was a powerful explosion at Shtyukozero followed by a fire in which a large number of the missiles were completely destroyed. The fire was rapidly extinguished and did not spread to the nuclear-tipped missiles.