Voroshilovskaya Battery is a coastal turret battery No. 981 which is located in the southern part of Russky Island some kilometers away from the Novik bay. It consists of two towers. In 1931the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR decided to shore up defense of Vladivostok and build Voroshilovkaya Battery. It was planned to locate it in such a way that it couldn’t be seen from the sea and to use the natural landscape of the area. The construction was completed in 1934. The Battery was named in honor of the people’s commissar for defense Klim Voroshilov. Voroshilovskaya Battery defended Vladivostok till it was removed from the operational inventory of coastal defense in 1997. In a year the similarly-named museum, the branch of the Museum of Military History of the Pacific Fleet, was created on the basis of the Battery. Its exhibition concerning Voroshilovskaya Battery contains photos of the first commanding officers of the Battery, maps dated the beginning of the 20th century, samples of shells and others. The museum is open for individual tourists as well as for tourist groups.
What is unique about Voroshilovskaya Battery?
- It was built very fast and is considered to be a miracle of engineering;
- The Battery towers are connected with the underground corridor 250 meters lengthwise;
- The towers are just the tops of the five-storied underground construction with the depth of 15 meters;
- The width of the concrete vault is over 3 meters and Voroshilovskaya Battery could withstand a hit of an air bomb with the weight of one ton;
- Its guns could reach targets at the distance of 35 kilometers;
- One tower was operated by 75 people while 399 people operated the whole Battery;
- In 1987 Voroshilovskaya Battery became the shooting location of the movie called Moonzund. The film director decided to make an impressive scene and get a shot off. He was persuaded from doing this but without effect. As a result, the cameras were broken and the director was found deafened with eardrums ruptured;
- During 63 years only training shots were made.
