Severomorsk



Severomorsk (Северомо́рск) is a closed town in Murmansk Oblast, Russia, several miles northeast of Murmansk along the Kola Bay. Population:

History
It was founded in the second half of the 19th century as the settlement of Vayenga (Ваенга). The colony of Vayenga was one of the twenty-one included into Alexandrovskaya Volost of Alexandrovsky Uyezd of Arkhangelsk Governorate upon its establishment on July 1, 1920.

On April 18, 1951, it was elevated in status to that of a town under oblast jurisdiction and given its present name. On April 26, 1951, by the Decision of Murmansk Oblast Executive Committee, several inhabited localities of Polyarny District were passed into its jurisdiction.

By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR of July 9, 1960, Polyarny District was abolished and the town of Polyarny was administratively subordinated to Severomorsk. At the same time, the territory of Teribersky District was also merged with the territory of Severomorsk, to which the district's subdivisions were subordinated. Teribersky District was nominally retained as an administrative division and renamed Severomorsky.

When Saamsky District was abolished on January 26, 1963, Gremikha, its administrative center, was similarly subordinated to Severomorsk.

By the June 17, 1983 Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR Decree, the town of Polyarny was elevated in status to that of a town under oblast jurisdiction, and consequently by the August 10, 1983 Decision of the Murmansk Oblast Executive Committee, several inhabited localities previously subordinated to Severomorsk were transferred to it.

Administrative and municipal status
Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with two urban-type settlements and two rural localities, incorporated as the closed administrative-territorial formation of Severomorsk—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the closed administrative-territorial formation of Severomorsk is incorporated as Severomorsk Urban Okrug.

Military
This is the main administrative base of the Russian Northern Fleet. Severomorsk has the largest drydock on the Kola Peninsula.

On May 13, 1984, on the outskirts of Severomorsk, there was a major fire at a stockpile of naval missiles. The fire lasted five days, was accompanied by violent explosions, killed 200-300 people, and destroyed at least one third of the Northern Fleet's stockpile of surface-to-air missiles.