Kildin Island
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Kildin (also Kilduin; russian: Кильдин,
North Sami North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...
: Gieldasuolu) is a small
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
n
island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
in the
Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territo ...
, off the Russian shore and about 120 km from Norway. Administratively, Kildin belongs to the
Murmansk Oblast Murmansk Oblast (russian: Му́рманская о́бласть, p=ˈmurmənskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, r=Murmanskaya oblast, ''Murmanskaya oblast''; Kildin Sami: Мурман е̄ммьне, ''Murman jemm'ne'') is a federal subject (an oblast) of ...
of the
Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. Kildin Island is a plateau, up to 900 feet in elevation; it drops sharply to the sea on the north. Great granite masses rise from the sea and are carved into broad terraces. In the interior there is a relict lake, Lake Mogil'noe (or Molginoye), which is separated from Kildin Strait by an isthmus through which seawater filters that replenishes the lake. The brackish lake holds a unique species of cod (Gadus morhua kildinensis) that has adapted to it. The island is long by and wide at the widest part. Kildin Strait, which separates it from the mainland, is long and varies in width from to about . The water is deep so anchorage is only possible near the shore. The only safe anchorage is in Monastery Bay, at the South East end of the island. The bay gets its name from a fortified monastery that used to stand there but that the British destroyed in 1809 and of which no trace remains. According to the Norwegian Organization for the Protection of the Environment, there is a deposit of expended reactors from Soviet nuclear submarines on the island.


Coastal missile system

Since its establishment on the island in 1957, the regiment operated the S-2 cruise missiles and later the newer generation P-35. The missile complex was operated from underground facilities and was aimed at approaching enemy surface vessels. During World War 2 on the island were many tunnels, underground facilities for commanders, and storages. Back in the Soviet times, transport communication on the island was organized by the military. In the past, four vessels connected the island with the mainland. Nowadays, only one of them passes by, sailing from Murmansk to Ostrovnoy. The military left the island in 1995.


Lighthouses

There are three lighthouses on the island. #Kildinskiy Zapadnny (West Kildinsky) is built near the southwest corner of the island and marks the western entrance to the strait between the island and the mainland. #Kildinskiy Severnny (North Kildinsky) is built on the north side of the island, about 25 km (15 mi) east of the entrance to Kola Bay. #Kildinskiy Vostochny (East Kildinsky) is on the southeastern side of the island, near the settlement of Vostochny Kildin.


Notable incidents

*2003, 21 August: The Russian submarine K-159 sank off Kildin Island while she was being towed to a scrap yard. She sank about northwest of the island, near the entrance to Kola Bay. The sinking, which claimed the lives of nine of her ten crew, occurred during a gale. *1992, 11 February: In the
submarine incident off Kildin Island The submarine incident off Kildin Island was a collision between the United States Navy, US Navy nuclear submarine and the Russian Navy nuclear submarine Russian submarine B-276 Kostroma, B-276 ''Kostroma'' near the Russian naval base of Severom ...
, USS ''Baton Rouge'', a Los Angeles class nuclear attack submarine, collided with the Russian
Sierra-class submarine The Sierra class, Soviet designations Project 945 ''Barrakuda'' and Project 945A ''Kondor'', (NATO reporting names Sierra I and Sierra II respectively), are series of nuclear-powered attack submarines intended for the Soviet Navy and currently i ...
K-276 ''Kostroma'' some from the line that connects Tsypnavolok Cape and Kildin Island. The US Navy stated that the collision occurred more than from the shore, which is international waters. However, Russia uses a different set of rules for defining the boundary between territorial and international waters, and maintains that the collision took place within Russian territorial waters. Fortunately, the accident caused no injuries or deaths on either vessel. *1943, 24 July: The British merchant vessel SS ''Llandaff'' (4,825 grt) was part of a three-vessel convoy bringing timber from the
White Sea The White Sea (russian: Белое море, ''Béloye móre''; Karelian and fi, Vienanmeri, lit. Dvina Sea; yrk, Сэрако ямʼ, ''Serako yam'') is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is su ...
to
Kola Inlet Kola Bay (russian: Кольский залив) or Murmansk Fjord is a 57-km-long fjord of the Barents Sea that cuts into the northern part of the Kola Peninsula. It is up to 7 km wide and has a depth of 200 to 300 metres. The Tuloma, Rosta ...
on behalf of the Russians. The vessels were some northeast of the island when a flight of four Messerschmitt
Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...
fighters attacked ''Llandaff'', hitting her aft and starting a fire. helped to get the fire under control. ''Llandaff'' eventually entered harbour; there were no casualties. *1943, 2 January: While part of Convoy JW51B from Loch Ewe for Murmansk with military cargo, the American freighter ''Ballot'' (6,131gt) ran aground on the island in fog and was a total loss. Her crew abandoned her on 13 January. In 2018 the Russian Northern Fleet’s Search and Rescue unit's ''Ivan Shvets'' diving boat and the ''Elbrus'' multi-purpose logistics support vessel retrieved from 60m deep water one of the
M3 Lee The M3 Lee, officially Medium Tank, M3, was an American medium tank used during World War II. The turret was produced in two forms, one for US needs and one modified to British requirements to place the radio next to the commander. In British Co ...
tanks that was part of ''Ballot''s cargo. *1941, 4 August: Three German destroyers overwhelmed and sank the Soviet patrol boat ''Tuman'' about northwest of Kildin. The incident became famous, a capsule of seawater from this point was embedded in the giant statue ''
Defenders of the Soviet Arctic during the Great Patriotic War To the Defenders of the Soviet Arctic during the Great Patriotic War (russian: Защитникам Советского Заполярья в годы Великой Отечественной войны), commonly called Alyosha (russian: 'А ...
'', and to this day Russian naval vessels passing by this point () dip their flags and sound a long blast on their horns in memory. *1917, 22 October: The German submarine U-46 fired a torpedo that sank ''Zillah'' (3,788grt), which was en route from Archangel, Russia, to Lerwick, Shetland Islands, with a cargo of timber. The attack occurred without warning northeast of Kildin Islandl; the entire crew of 18 men lost their lives. *From the late 1860s and until 1930, some
Kola Norwegians The Kola Norwegians ( no, Kolanordmenn) are Norwegian people, who mostly settled along the coastline of the Kola Peninsula in Russia. History In 1860 the Russian Tsar Alexander II granted permission for Norwegian settlements on the Kola. Around ...
emigrated to Kildin from
Finnmark Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024. On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...
. *1809, 6 June: During the
Anglo-Russian War (1807–1812) During the Napoleonic Wars, the Anglo-Russian War (2 September 1807 – 18 July 1812) was the phase of hostilities between Great Britain and Russia after the latter signed the Treaty of Tilsit that ended its war with France. Anglo-Russian hostil ...
, boats from HMS ''Nyaden'' attacked a fort on the island, capturing it and 22 or 23 vessels that were sheltering under its protection. The landing party took away some of the guns of the fort or threw them in the river. *1599, 19–26 May: The Danish King
Christian IV Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years, 330 days is the longest of Danish monarchs and Scandinavian monar ...
visited Kildin on his first expedition as a King of
Denmark–Norway Denmark–Norway (Danish and Norwegian: ) was an early modern multi-national and multi-lingual real unionFeldbæk 1998:11 consisting of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Norway (including the then Norwegian overseas possessions: the Faroe I ...
. The expedition, which set off from Kronborg, Elsinore, on 19 April, is in detail described in the diaries of Sivert Grubbe.Kong Christian den Fjerdes Dagbøger for Aarene 1618, 1619, 1620, 1625, 1635
/ref> *1594, 23–29 June: The Dutch explorer,
Willem Barentsz Willem Barentsz (; – 20 June 1597), anglicized as William Barents or Barentz, was a Dutch Republic, Dutch navigator, cartographer, and Arctic explorer. Barentsz went on three expeditions to the far north in search for a Northern Sea Route, N ...
visited Kildin Island on his first voyage while on his way to
Novaya Zemlya Novaya Zemlya (, also , ; rus, Но́вая Земля́, p=ˈnovəjə zʲɪmˈlʲa, ) is an archipelago in northern Russia. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean, in the extreme northeast of Europe, with Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island, ...
.


See also

* ''Kildin'' class - The island gave its name to the ''Kildin''-class of Soviet destroyers


References

{{coord, 69, 19, 10, N, 34, 20, 55, E, display=title, region:RU_type:isle_source:GNS-ruwiki Islands of Murmansk Oblast Barents Sea