The Pasha Liman Base, or Pashaliman Base, is an

Albanian Navy The Albanian Naval Force ( sq, Forca Detare të Republikës së Shqipërisë) is the naval branch of the Albanian military. Their name was changed from the Albanian Naval Defense Forces in 2010. The Naval Force is headquartered in Durrës, and o ...

base south of

Vlorë Vlorë ( , ; sq-definite, Vlora) is the third most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Vlorë County and Vlorë Municipality. Located in southwestern Albania, Vlorë sprawls on the Bay of Vlorë and is surrounded by the foothi ...

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

History

Cold War history

Pashaliman was the only Soviet base in the Mediterranean in the 1950s. It was the hot spot of conflict between the Soviets and the Albanians in 1961 when Albania pulled out of the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...

and the dispute of the four

Whiskey-class submarine Whiskey-class submarines (known in the Soviet Union as List of ships of Russia by project number, Projects 613, 640, 644, and 665) are a class of diesel-electric attack submarines that the Soviet Union built in the early Cold War period. Design ...

ownership which Albania had seized. Following the collapse of the Communist regime, the base was rebuilt by

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and under a bilateral agreement the

Turkish Navy The Turkish Naval Forces ( tr, ), or Turkish Navy ( tr, ) is the naval warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The modern naval traditions and customs of the Turkish Navy can be traced back to 10 July 1920, when it was establi ...

has the right to use it.

Modern history

Three of the Albanian Navy's four Damen Stan patrol vessels were built at Pashaliman, the most recent completed in 2014. Currently, four retired Whiskey-class submarines previously owned by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

are still located on the facility alongside Albania's active-duty naval vessels. They can be seen via satellite images of the base. The Naval Force often operates naval exercises in the

Bay of Vlorë The Bay of Vlorë ( sq, Gjiri i Vlorës — ) is a large bay of the Adriatic Sea situated along the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast on the Mediterranean Sea in Southern Europe. It opens to the sea in the northwest and is largely surrounded by the la ...

, out of Pashaliman. This includes exercises with other nations, such as the United Kingdom. The most recent exercise, Sarex '16, took place in April 2016. An Albanian-Turkish military cooperation agreement was signed in 1992 that encompassed rebuilding Albania's Pasha Liman Base by

alongside granted access for Turkish use.

Civilian facilities

A civilian

naval engineering Naval architecture, or naval engineering, is an engineering discipline incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the engineering design process, shipbuilding, maintenance, and o ...

firm and

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

also operate out of the military facility, providing a wide range of services.

References

{{Reflist Albanian Navy bases Installations of the Soviet Navy Albania–Soviet Union relations Warsaw Pact Submarine bases Turkish Navy bases Buildings and structures in Vlorë Military installations of the Soviet Union in other countries Albania–Turkey relations

History

Cold War history

Modern history

Civilian facilities

See also

References