Murmansk

Murmansk - darkometer rating : 5 - A city in the Arctic north-west of Russia , close to the Barents Sea and the easternmost part of Norway . Its strategic position made it one of the key naval ports of the Soviet Union, both during WWII , when it served as a lifeline to the Western Allies for supplies, and especially during the Cold War , when it became the base for the USSR 's Northern Fleet nuclear submarines. It is precisely for these two periods of history that the city is also of interest to the dark tourist. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: Despite a shrinking population since the demise of the Soviet Union , Murmansk is still the largest city north of the Arctic Circle … at currently a bit over 300,000 inhabitants – down from over half a million in Soviet times. It's quite a young city, founded in only 1915/16 as the terminus of a new train line and as a shipping port. It owes its existence primarily to its location on a fjord on the Kola peninsula which is kept ice-free year-round by the last remnants of the Gulf Stream. Given that virtually all of Russia's northern coast is otherwise in the near permanent grip of Arctic ice, the strategic importance of Murmansk's harbour can hardly be overstated. This became very clear in WWII , when Nazi Germany , which had already conquered neighbouring Norway , aspired to capture this crucial port as well. Their 1941 "Operation Silver Fox", however, failed in the end. In fact, while the fronts further south were overrun by the German attackers, the Arctic one just west of Murmansk was successfully defended.