THE PORT OF STALIN AND VICINITY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R010500300009-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 17, 2011
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: February 14, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/05/17: CIA-RDP82-00457RO10500300009-7
50X1-HUM
CLASSIFICATION nn ,n ~ T QQ / : 1 1T C E N T R A IEC EAREPORT
-NTELLOF 14 INFORMATION REPORT CD NO,
COUNTRY Bulgaria
SUBJECT The Port of Stalin and Vicinity
PLACE
ACQUIRE
DATE OF
INFO.
THIS DOCUNNENT CONTAINS INFORIDATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF THE UNITED STATES. WITHIA THE MEANING OF TITLE 18, SECTIONS 703
AND 794. OF THE U. S. CODE, AS AMENDED. ITS TRANSMISSION OR REVEL-
ATION OF ITS CONTENTS TO OR RECEIPT BY AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON
IS PROHIBITED RV LAW THE REPRODUCTION OF THIS FORM IS PROHIBITED.
5,,
The Port of Stalin (Varna)
CIRCULATE
DATE DISTR.. 14 Feb. 1952
NO. OF PAGES
NO OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
1,, There appear to be no Soviet soldiers in Stalin either in uniform or
in civilian clothes. A few groups (four or five persons) of sailors be-
longing to the crew of merchant ships stationed in the port were noticed.
2. The following ships were seen in the port:
a, The ORL, Soviet registry, allegedly loading agricultural machinery; and
3., Along the quay beside the street which leads to the railroad station, there
were approximately 50 Skoda medium trucks, weighing approximately 30 quintals,
25 of which had wooden bodies and 25 iron bodies.
40 No,. 8 barge is stationed along the quay of the canal which joins the lake
(Varrensko Zzero) to the sea. The barge is made of reinforced concrete,
has a capacity ao-oroximately 300 tons, with two holds, a rotor, and cabins
for the crew in the sterna At the sar::e quay there was a tankehip with a
reinforced concrete hull, capacity a:mroximately '3,000 tons, flying the
Bulgarian flag but having on the s,okestack a red bated with the hammer and
sickle,, The metal parts of the tank were still colored with rinium, which
fact leads one to believe that the ship was either being fitted out or re-
paired.
constructed in the Korbso Shipyard (formerly known as Koralvag), the Bul-
garian-Soviet firrl,, which has constructed for this purpose wooden scaffolding
which can bold eight barges. At present six barges are being constructed,
but scaffolding is being prepared for six more.
Ishi_)s made of cement (barges or tankahips) are being
=
CLASSIFICATION S
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/05/17: CIA-RDP82-00457RO10500300009-7
 Z Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/05/17: CIA-RDP82-00457RO10500300009-7
SBCRET/CONTROL -' U. S. OI'F ICIALS ONLY
CENTRAL INTI:LLIG~'NC , ,i{irNNCY
- Z<
7.
9.
6; Along.the floating. quay moored at the entrance to the salt lake, the lagoon
of which is navigable; at the northern extremity west of the canal, the
Bulgarian steamer BL.-GOI KASSALOV is tied up for repairs.
8o Outside of the port there are tugs and pontoons used to salvage ships
which were sunk during the war:
Moored along. the q[ay of the canal near the barge and the tankship, there
is the Bulgarian steamship PURVI AI (the former NrItGI~'a =WDOKId).
eo Mproxir:ately ten kilometers almost exactly east of Varna work is in
progress for the recovery of the ship SHIPKA (or K ROL?);
b. ADproxinately two kilometers' south of Cape Galata and only a thousand 50X1-HUM
meters from the coast, salvaging operations are being carried'out on
the ship 50X1-HUM
The following ships were moored to the pier in the port of Stalin:
a. Sixteen u,otor torpedo boats, probably 50 tons, armed with one rachine-
gun approximately 20 millimeters; ro torpedo tubes were observed;
b. One rotor torpedo boat as above, , ,iroxin-ately 90 tons;
c, Two patrol boats (or mine layers. or mine sweepers) of approximately
200 tons, armed with two machineguns of approximately 20 millimeters;
de Four motor torpedo boats of approximately 100 tons each, armed with
one machinegun of approximately 20 millimeters and two torpedo tubes;
e. Three fast motorboats, each armed with a heavy rachinegun, probably
used by the naval police;
fq Your torpedo boats. out of commission and semidisrnantled; these are
old Bulgarian ships used in the first World W'ar, and are named as
follows: DRASKI, HRABRI. SRTLI, and STROGHI;
g. One destroyer, presumed to weigh approximately 2,000-2,500 tons, with
two smokestacks slanting.backwa,rds and having the following armament
visable at approximately 800 meters distance: two 120-135 mm. cannons
in the bow placed one above the other; six rapid-firing ihachineguns or
small canrone, presumably of 40 millimeters caliber, divided in two
groups of three guns each on both sides of the ship toward the center;
in the stern two 120-135 millimeter pieces placed one above the other; 50X1-HUM
one mast placed between the bridge and the first smokestack.
this ship was the GEORGI DI"'ITROV, belonging to 'the
50X1-HUM
Bulgarian Navy, whose crew was allegedly made up of Bulgarian sailors
but whose officers were Soviet the ship in
question was moored to the Bier in the pr nc pal away 50X1-HUM
h. One old training ship with two masts and a diesel engine, formerly
named the ZAR ASEN; and
i, One other old training ship with two masts and a motor, Both of these
training ships, which were small and of an unspecified weight. were
moored on the far side of the south dock on the western side of the
port,
Naval . Air, Force
10a Along the south bank of the navigable lagoon
air force field and a sea -)lane slip,,
a stall
llm The airfield is located at the southeast end of the lagoon scarcely a
kilometer west of the western entrance of the canal.
one sr.all hangar which was closed and no planes, either on the field or
in flight. The sea -)lane slip is located r,ore to the west and anproxi-
mntely two kilometers from the western entrance to the canal, north of
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/05/17: CIA-RDP82-00457RO10500300009-7
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/05/17: CIA-RDP82-00457RO10500300009-7
SE:CRr, /CON"t`ROL - U.S. OFFICIALS ONLY
CENTR,-L I TrT :LLIG iC3 iG' CY
-3 -
the little village of Zvezdica, only one hangar on the
shore and one air,lane in flight: a recognition type bi-plane with two
pontoons attached to the fuselage.
Ca~stDef~,
l4i, On the northern side of Cane Galata at the. height of the elbow the road
makes when it veers toward the village of the name nave, there is a
training carro for artillery troops. During the period in question, a
first contingent made up of troops from the garrisons of Sofia, Plovdiv,
and Troyan was stationed there. The carer included four one-stozy*sheds'
approximately 30 meters long, having approximately a 100 con?aartments
formed by separate' curtains. The camp is situated south of the road;
inside the above-mentioned elbow and approximately one kilometer from
tho village of Galata,
13. In front of the camp, on the side on?posite the street, and between the
street and the edge of the coast, the following artillery nieces and rotor
vehicles bel$nging to the camp were stationed:
a', Sixty zsed um and light cars;
bo Thirty cater-)illar prime rovers for hauling artillery; and
c. Approxin tely thirty heavy field and antiaircraft artillery pieces of
probably 122 m:,illimeters, and 'six antiaircraft pieces of 85 z,.illi-
meters,
14, On the east side of Cape Galata, a;3proximately 300 meters south of the
lighthouse, there were sixteen heavy field artillery nieces, probably
122 millimeter caliber, and six 85 millimeter antiaircraft'pieces, Three
medium searchlights and three range finders were also visible,
150. Approximately every ten days, the artillery of the training camp and that
of the can.) which is located southeast of Cape Galata h re target practice
against sea targets or a;?ainst sleeves drawn by airplanes? These exercises
sometij.'tea t;%ke place in conjunction with the Bulgarian warship CORGI
DIMITROV, 50X1-HUM
16.
the technical training of the, units was not vary high bacause they
had great difficulty in hitting the targets and much armmmunition was
wasted,1
1?. Just south of the opening of the canal that joins the Gulf of Galata to
the navigable lagoon, between the road and the shore, and just south of
the Korbso shipyard, there is an antiaircraft battery made up of four
runs probably of 76 millimeter caliber.
18. On the northern side of Cape Galata, almost in front of the port of Stalin,
approxi;.utely two and one half kilometers from the vill,ige of Galata, in
a olace known as Kar. ntina (quarantine), there are gun o;:,nla,cer?;ents of
reinforced concrete, with four long-range antiship cannons, probably of
190-210 caliber* The guns are hidden arong the trees that-cover the coast
which in this location Juts over the sea. In the vicinity there is also
a hangar guarded by sentries, and signs prohibiting circulation, This
is certainly, a munitions de-not. In w*-oroxii' tely the saz.e locality.
parallel to the Stalin-Galata road,:and between the road and the sea, there
are numerous trenches approximately 20 meters long with aoproxir.ately 50
meters between them. The trenches are constructed of stones and earth but
without concrete; 50X1-HUM
Comm,,, sit: It has been confirmed that for at least two years, in the
sumrer months, the zone in question has been the headquarters of a training
center for antiship and antiaircraft practice,
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/05/17: CIA-RDP82-00457RO10500300009-7