Karosta Sea Forts & Coastal Defence Battery, Latvia

Karosta Sea Forts & Coastal Defence Battery are the remains of an old military establishment on the Baltic Coast of Latvia. The ruins consist of isolated buildings rising up from the sea, as well as the jumbled remains of destroyed fortifications and ammunition stores. Primarily, the broken and fractured concrete blocks are the result of intentional explosive demolition of the structures sometime before World War One. However, nature has also played a part over the intervening decades. The strong Baltic sea currents and fierce winter storms have further damaged the foundations of the buildings. Over the years the swirling eddies and driving waves have eroded away concrete. As a result of this, the buildings have tilted and sunk into the sands.

I visited this location during the 2019 Baltics Tour.

History of Karosta Sea Forts & Coastal Defence Battery

Constructed in the 1890s and early 1900s, this location served as a naval base of the Tsar of Russian. At this time the fortifications were to protect it from Empires biggest enemy, the German Empire. This area was part of the coastal defences, located on the northern side of the town. The coastal artillery batteries served as platforms for large calibre guns and mortars.

Less than a decade after the construction, it appears these coastal defences were deemed a “strategic mistake”. The exact reasons behind this, are not entirely clear. The canons were dismantled and moved elsewhere. The structures were destroyed via controlled detonations, or that was the plan. After two round of explosives, the broken remains of the defences were just left abandoned.

In the aftermath of World War One, Latvia fought to establish independence. This city saw fierce fighting, but the Latvian armed forces repelled both the Russian and German forces and Latvia gained internationally recognised independence by 1921. Latvia came under Soviet control by the early 1940s and remained part of the USSR until 1992; it was known as the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Latvian SSR) at this time. The port was home to thousands of Soviet navy personnel, and was a closed military town forbidden to the general population.