Pasha Liman Base, naval base in Albania
Pasha Liman Base is an active naval facility on the Albanian Adriatic coast, a short distance from the city of Vlora. The site occupies a sheltered bay and includes docks, piers, and a network of underground tunnels built during the Soviet period.
The facility was built in the 1950s by the Soviet Union, which used it as its main submarine station in the Mediterranean. After the break between Albania and the Soviet Union in 1961, Soviet forces withdrew and Albania took full control of the base.
The name of the base comes from an Ottoman-era pasha, a reminder that this stretch of coast passed through many hands over the centuries. From outside the perimeter, visitors can spot Soviet-era concrete structures standing alongside newer facilities, which shows how the site changed with each period of control.
The base is an active military facility, so access for visitors is strictly limited and entering without official authorization is not possible. The surrounding coastal road offers the clearest view of the site from outside the perimeter.
The underground tunnels at the site were built to shelter submarines from air attack and are large enough to house entire vessels inside the rock. Some of these tunnels still survive today, making the base one of the few remaining traces of Soviet military presence along the Adriatic.
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