Kildin Island
Kildin (also Kilduin;Russian: Кильдин) is a small Russian island in the Barents Sea, off the Russian shore and about 120 km from Norway. Administratively, Kildin belongs to the Murmansk Oblast of the Russian Federation.
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 ten miles long by three and a half miles wide at the widest part. Kildin Strait, which separates it from the mainland, is ten miles long and varies in width from two miles to about half a mile. 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.
Lighthouses
There are three lighthouses on the island.
- 1) 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.
- 2) 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.
- 3) Kildinskiy Vostochny (East Kildinsky) is on the southeastern side of the island, near the settlement of Vostochny Kildin.
Other
The island gave its name to the Kildin-class of Soviet destroyers.
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 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) 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: The USS Baton Rouge, a Los Angeles class nuclear attack submarine, collided with the Russian Sierra-class submarine K-276 Kostroma some 4.7 miles (7.6 km) from the line that connects Tsypnavolok Cape and Kildin Island. The US Navy stated that the collision occurred more than 12 miles (19 km) 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 to Kola Inlet on behalf of the Russians. The vessels were some 20 miles (32 km) northeast of the island when a flight of four ME-109s attacked them, hitting Llandaff aft and starting a fire. HMS Britomart 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.
- 1941, 4 August: Three German destroyers overwhelmed and sank the Soviet patrol boat Tuman about 15 miles (24 km) 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,[1] and to this day Russian naval vessels passing by this point (69°33′06″N 33°40′20″E / 69.55167°N 33.67222°E) 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 the Zillah (3,788grt), which was en route from Archangel, Russia, to Lerwick, Shetland Islands, with a cargo of timber. Although the Zillah was defensively armed, the attack occurred without warning, 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Kildin Island. The entire crew of 18 men lost their lives.
- 1809, 6 June: During the Anglo-Russian War (1807-1812), 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.[2]
- 1594, 23-29 June: The Dutch explorer, Willem Barentsz visited Kildin Island on his first voyage while on his way to Novaya Zemlya.
References
- ↑ Maria Dmitrash. "'Алеша' – мемориал защитникам Заполярья" ['Alyosha' – memorial to the defenders of the Arctic]. Seven Wonders of Russia. Retrieved October 18, 2011. (Russian)
- ↑ Pilgrim, John (1996) "Naval Operations in the Arctic, 1808-1809". Mariner 's Mirror 82, pp.224-5.
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Coordinates: 69°19′10″N 34°20′55″E / 69.31944°N 34.34861°E