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Report - - Nike Missile Site SF88, San Francisco, USA | European and International Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Nike Missile Site SF88, San Francisco, USA

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pauln

too old to be reckless
28DL Full Member
Something a little different for you. Obviously this was a visit rather than a spot of real UE (there are one or two derelcit Nike sites around - use search for some reports from others).

Nike, named for the mythical Greek goddess of victory, was the name given to a program which ultimately produced the world's first successful, widely-deployed, guided surface-to-air missile system.

During the first decade of the Cold War, the Soviet Union began to develop a series of long-range bomber aircraft, capable of reaching targets within the continental United States. The potential threat posed by such aircraft became much more serious when, in 1949, the Russians exploded their first atomic bomb.

The mission of Nike within the continental U.S was to act as a "last ditch" line of air defense for selected areas. The Nike system would have been utilized in the event that the Air Force's long-range fighter-interceptor aircraft had failed to destroy any attacking bombers at a greater distance from their intended targets.

Within the continental United States, Nike missile sites were constructed in defensive "rings" surrounding major urban and industrial areas. Additional Nike sites protected key Strategic Air Command bases and other sensitive installations, such as the nuclear facilities at Hanford, Washington. Sites were located on government-owned property where this was available (for example, on military bases).

Over 250 Nike sites were commissioned during the 1950s and continued in service until the 1970s.


Much more on Nike Missile System Overview

A group of (mostly) volunteers has restored one such site - SF88 one of around 13 sites defending San Francisco. Few photos to follow but the highlight was watching the working silo elevator open its hatch and bring a missile to the surface ready for deployment ... made me a litle moist I can tell you. I haven't got videos of this sorted yet but here's one somebody did earlier on youtube

Missile Warhead Installlation Building. The original Nike Ajax Missiles carried HE, the later Nike Hercules carried a nuclear warhead of 20 or 40 kilotons. In the missile at centre of pic a (decommisioned) nuclear warhead is poking out
IMG_9845Large.jpg


Nike Hercules Missile on elevator from silo. From this point the missile would have been moved along the green rack at the back of the picture and then angled at 86degrees for firing.
IMG_9851Large.jpg


The silos are only a few feet underground to protect the missles from the elements - there is no chance that it would have protected against a bomb or missile dropped from above
IMG_9858Large.jpg


Access to the silo. Each Nike Hercules site had two silos with 6 missiles in each.
IMG_9863Large.jpg


A better view of the launch pad
IMG_9868Large.jpg
 
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