Murmansk

Murmansk is a city in the extreme northwest of Russia with a seaport on the Kola Gulf, 20 miles from Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland. It has some 400,000 inhabitants and is an important navy base. The port remains ice-free year round due to the warm North Atlantic drift.

History

The city, initially known as Romanov-on-Murman, was founded in 1915 when the railroad to Kola was built. The city was named after the Russian Royal Dinasty Romanovs Romanov-on-Murman. The name Murmansk was given to the city after the Revolution in 1917. After the October Revolution, from 1918 to 1920, the city was occupied by western allies and white (czarist) forces. During World War II, Murmansk was Russia's vital link with the western world and vast quantities of military supplies arrived there. During the cold war it was a centre of Soviet submarine activity. It appeared in an episode of JAG.