
Image Shows Chinese Submarine Entering Mysterious Cave at S. China Sea Base - Zhenya
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/35837/image-shows-chinese-submarine-entering-mysterious-cave-facility-at-south-china-sea-base?
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082349872349872
Sub pens have been a thing since the middle of the previous century.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_pen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_pen)

I wouldn't be surprised to learn King's Bay or Kitsap also have "mysterious
caves", although not-so-mysterious reinforced concrete seems cheaper and more
common, and a quick google makes it seem like I'd have to do image searches on
Яндекс or 百度 to find them...

(One of the sillier things about not having disbanded the cavalry until after
I was born is that my country had bunkers which contained horse stalls and
manure tips.)

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082349872349872
No pens apparent from Google Maps unless the lift bays are reinforced
(Faslane's isn't?), so I guess the USN is confident in their local air
supremacy.

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arethuza
The Royal Navy apparently considered an underground base for its missile subs
to be located in the Loch Glendhu area in the North West Highlands. However,
the US Navy wanted its submarines to be based closer to an airport and the
Royal Navy wanted to be close to the US Navy...

I'm rather glad Loch Glendhu is left unspoiled but it does mean the current
infrastructure for UK nuclear submarines is rather close to Glasgow and the
largest population centre in Scotland.

Source: [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silent-Deep-Royal-Submarine-
Service...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silent-Deep-Royal-Submarine-
Service/dp/1846145805)

NB That book is worth it just for the description of the infamous Perisher
course, let alone the stories about Rickover...

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Animats
Nice. Here it is in Google Earth.[1]

[1]
[https://earth.google.com/web/search/Yulin,+Guangxi,+China/@1...](https://earth.google.com/web/search/Yulin,+Guangxi,+China/@18.20118541,109.69268367,87.9074439a,55.67821423d,35y,50.00696383h,79.68150192t,0r/)

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superhuzza
Very cool.

Military installations that exploit natural features are always interesting.
It reminds me of some of the aircraft hangars used by the Swiss air force -
carved right into the mountains.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_cavern](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_cavern)

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mensetmanusman
Having this out in the open is great.

Letting citizens of other countries near the South China Sea know about the
purpose of the islands raises general awareness of the consequences of certain
actions.

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Keyframe
Island of Vis in Croatia has one, legacy of Yugoslavia, you can swim in. It's
a fun experience.

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_nalply
Where exactly?

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mikeyouse
Got curious and went looking, this looks like the one:

Ex. Yugoslavian military shelter for submarines D117, 21480, Rogačić, Croatia

[https://goo.gl/maps/imWgUufegJoe1ZsGA](https://goo.gl/maps/imWgUufegJoe1ZsGA)

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Keyframe
That's the one. Island is relatively small and has interesting military
installations on it.

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blickentwapft
So block the entry way and the whole facility is out of action?

Seems a significant single point of failure.

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Zhenya
If you're in their territorial waters, you're in trouble.

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dano
Here is the VirtualGlobetrotting: Military - Bases google map [1] The map
includes a lot of background information on each identified location.

1\.
[https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1OipNxc8-CLspaQsYwF...](https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1OipNxc8-CLspaQsYwFoFXtehjz0&usp=sharing)

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DobryMorozov
There was a submarine cave in the James Bond movie Die Another Day

