bastion

A bastion was also the name given to areas in the Arctic ocean where Soviet navy Northern Fleet SSBNs were to dash for safety during a conflict. Since Soviet boomers spent much more time in port, odds were higher that they'd be flushed from dockside.

Since they wouldn't have a large area to run in when NATO ASW forces blocked off the GIUK, the plan was to have them run for the polar icecap. They would patrol there, protected by SSNs from NATO boats, until needed.

Bas"tion (?), n. [F. bastion (cf. It. bastione), fr. LL. bastire to build (cf. F. bâtir, It. bastire), perh. from the idea of support for a weight, and akin to Gr. to lift, carry, and to E. baston, baton.] Fort.

A work projecting outward from the main inclosure of a fortification, consisting of two faces and two flanks, and so constructed that it is able to defend by a flanking fire the adjacent curtain, or wall which extends from one bastion to another. Two adjacent bastions are connected by the curtain, which joins the flank of one with the adjacent flank of the other. The distance between the flanks of a bastion is called the gorge. A lunette is a detached bastion. See Ravelin.

 

© Webster 1913.