Northern Russia

[Mike Carroll]

Hello all,

I am trying to follow details found in in the diary kept by my wife's great uncle starting on Friday 10th March 1916 when HMT Arctic Prince left Yarmouth bound for the White Sea and a spell of minesweeping and convoy work in the area of the Murman coast, the Kola peninsula and Arkhangelsk.

He describes what actually happened and the operations that were carried out, but one location which we have not been able to locate is 'Yukanski'. I have found limited references to this location using Google etc and referring to Yukanski itself, Yukanski Bay and the Yukanski Roads, but without anything to identify its location.

There are pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnparker/ which include the fate of the Arctic Prince, but also of Yukanski and its harbour.

I appreciate that many Russian cities, towns and villages will have changed their names since 1916, but any help in identifying the location of somewhere which seemed to form a significant part of great uncle's war service would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Mike

[apwright]

Great photos, Mike!

Yukanski is the town now called Ostrovnoy (Островной) near the mouth of the Yokan'ga River (68° 3' N, 39° 30' E). The islands offshore are the Yokan'gskiy (=Yukanski) Islands and the bay is called Йоканьгский рейд in Russian - Yokan'gskiy Roads.

The town is now the site of Gremikha Naval Base used by the Russian Northern Fleet, and is a closed city with no access by land - only by ship or helicopter.

Some photos:

http://www.panoramio.com/map/#lt=68.054809...5039482&z=4

http://www.gremicha.narod.ru/foto_albom/go..._01/str/003.htm

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%B0%...D1%85%D0%B5.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...D1%85%D0%B8.jpg (a nice panorama, showing the islands in your photo on the right)

http://ostrovnoy.narod.ru/photo/photo_nature_sea.html

Adrian

[Mike Carroll]

Great photos, Mike!

Yukanski is the town now called Ostrovnoy (Островной) near the mouth of the Yokan'ga River (68° 3' N, 39° 30' E). The islands offshore are the Yokan'gskiy (=Yukanski) Islands and the bay is called Йоканьгский рейд in Russian - Yokan'gskiy Roads.

The town is now the site of Gremikha Naval Base used by the Russian Northern Fleet, and is a closed city with no access by land - only by ship or helicopter.

Some photos:

http://www.panoramio.com/map/#lt=68.054809...5039482&z=4

http://www.gremicha.narod.ru/foto_albom/go..._01/str/003.htm

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A4%D0%B0%...D1%85%D0%B5.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...D1%85%D0%B8.jpg (a nice panorama, showing the islands in your photo on the right)

http://ostrovnoy.narod.ru/photo/photo_nature_sea.html

Adrian

Thanks Adrian,

That was exactly what I was hoping for. We had seen the Gremikha Naval base, but sort of discounted it.

As I explained we are searching for some context to great uncle's service and your response and the photos you link to are excellent.

Thanks again,

Mike