Baltiysk

Baltiysk (Russian: Балти́йск), prior to 1946 known by its German name Pillau (Polish: Piława; Lithuanian: Piliava), is a seaport town and the administrative center of Baltiysky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the northern part of the Vistula Spit, on the shore of the Strait of Baltiysk separating the Vistula Lagoon from the Gdańsk Bay. Baltiysk is the westernmost town of Russia. Population: 32,697 (2010 Census); 33,252 (2002 Census); 27,070 (1989 Census).

The town is a major naval base of the Baltic Fleet and a ferry port on the route to St. Petersburg.

History

Prussian village

A Prussian fishing village sprang up on the coast at some point in the 13th century, taking its name from pils, the Old Prussian word for "fort". A great tempest created the navigable lagoon in front of the village on September 10, 1510. This fostered the growth of Pillau into an important port of the Duchy of Prussia. A blockhouse was constructed in 1537, followed by a system of storehouses in 1543 and the earliest fortifications in 1550.

Baltiysk (air base)

Baltiysk is a former air base in Kaliningrad Oblast at the north of Vistula Spit a natural cape, Russia located 5 km southwest of Baltiysk on the opposite site of natural outlet. Constructed in the 1930s by the German airforce, Soviet airforce took this place over after 1945 and it used to be Russia's westernmost air base. It has been deactivated in the 1990s and Google Earth imagery shows it to be in a severe state of decay. It appears to house a small number of interceptor alert pads.