Inside an IC Ballistic Missile Base
Looking down into the 159-foot high, 40-foot wide Silo #1 of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile base in California. Experiencing this is nothing short of religious (photo copyright Jon Haeber)
The EA featured the extraordinary work of itinerant traveler, Jon Haeber, a few short weeks ago on his sojourn of reverie down California highway 101 [EA 12/08/07]. His latest pilgrimage, again in California, is imbued with the same wonderful flavor evident in all his travelogues — a thirst for adventure coupled with a love of solitude.
“I recently was one of a privileged few to see the interior of a Titan 1 ICBM complex. We at Bearings have written about these governmental behemoths borne of the Cold War. But it’s worth noting that our previous entry on a Titan 1 ICBM covered the bare bones stats — the fact that they travel at 5-6 times the speed of sound, carried a 4-megaton nuclear payload, and that there were 54 such missile bases dotting the Continental U.S.
This time, I’m going to give you the experience. I’m going to tell you what it’s like to be walking in the interior of a Cold War-era, underground complex that includes over a half-mile of underground tunnels and access portals, where tanks of liquid oxygen and RP-1, Diesel, and Water Glycerol were sent through a snake-like web of pipes and apparti, from tunnel to tunnel, silo to silo (there were three for each base).On a previous trip to the Titan silo outside of Denver (this one’s in California), I was with a group. On the first trip in California, I was alone. For the sake of saving my own toosh from being sued from here to Timbuktu, I do not — under any circumstances — recommend going alone. However, if one should find oneself, in their yearning for a moment of solitude, sitting in front of a 150-foot high, 50-foot wide tube constructed to house an intercontinental ballistic missile, one should not underappreciate such a moment, a moment which few people are privileged to have.”
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