Soviet bastions and the two-way GIUK Gap

The Soviet Northern Fleet's main bases lay on the Kola Peninsula, within the Arctic Circle. As ballistic-missile range increased, its strategic submarines could remain closer to those bases and beneath the polar ice instead of crossing the GIUK Gap to reach Atlantic patrol areas. The bastion depicted here also encloses Norway's Svalbard, making its relationship with Norwegian sovereignty part of the strategic problem. The GIUK barrier and Soviet bastion resemble heavily patrolled fortification zones with a naval no-man's-land between them, although neither is a literal wall. The bastion is an inner defensive perimeter protecting strategic submarines. To defend it, Soviet forces would still have to push into the Norwegian Sea toward the GIUK Gap, preventing NATO carriers from operating outside with impunity and threatening transatlantic resupply. The Norwegian Sea therefore becomes the contested space between NATO's barrier and the Soviet forces protecting their deterrent.