Hole in the Head Press

Meet The Battery Townsley Shock Tube

You're looking at the business end of the Battery Townsley shock tube.  In 1967, the Office of Civil Defense contracted with URS Corporation to develop, evaluate and operate this shock tube to conduct full-scale tests of loading, response, and debris characteristics of structural elements.

The tunnel built in the central corridor of Battery Townsley, a WWII 16-inch gun battery located at Fort Cronkhite in Marin County. Primacord was strung on an X-frame inside the 163 foot long metal tunnel.  When detonated it produced a shock wave similar to the shock wave produced by a megaton-range weapon.

Wall panels of various materials were secured in front of the shock tube and subjected to blasts.  Instruments measured how the materials responded to the blasts.

The work seems to have stopped around 1975, although it appears that there was some thought of reopening the facility in the 1980s.

This was not the first time Battery Townsley was used as a test bed. In 1941-1942, one of Battery Townsley's 16-inch guns was used to test concrete slabs, apparently for the Special Engineering Department of the Panama Canal. Four large concrete slabs were built near the battery. Each of them had a different concrete mix and rebar arrangement.  One of the slabs  was 42 feet by 23 feet and 13 feet thick.  A 16-inch gun was then used to shoot at them to determine how the concrete would hold up.

The National Park Service is preparing Battery Townsley for public tours - perhaps sometime in 2007.

Civil Defense Dead - 501(c)(3) Alive

We're not exactly sure what that is to the right of the old civil defense logo, but we're told by the New York Times that, after some 67 years, some outfit called the National Emergency Management Association has decided to replace the well known civil defense logo with the logo representing their not so well known 501(c)(3)organization.

If it's any help, NEMA's website indicates that they are associated with the equally unknown EMAC or  Emergency Management Assistance Compact and the ever popular Emergency Management Accreditation Program or EMAP as it is commonly called. 

On the face of it, it appears that they are privatizing the civil defense function through a series of 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporations.

So the next time you feel the need to "Duck and Cover," don't think of that old, outdated relic from the cold war, Civil Defense, get up to date and think - National Emergency Management Association.

It's your new 501(c)(3) ticket to survival.

Long Island Nike Site Trail

Rocket boosters seek support

Backers are hoping to build a memorial to Long Island's role in housing defense missiles during the Cold War

BY BILL BLEYER
Newsday Staff Writer

October 24, 2006

In the 1960s, when the threat of nuclear war between superpowers seemed very real, Long Island was dotted with missile, tracking and command facilities designed to keep the Soviet Union at bay. While that era is largely forgotten, some local history buffs are trying to get it back on the radar by creating a heritage trail.

Boosters of what would be the nation's first Cold War Heritage Trail will gather today at the American Airpower Museum at Republic Airport to try to gather support for the concept.

 

But the state parks department, while supporting the idea, says the trail with historical markers and interpretative displays will not be created in the near future because of budget and staffing issues.

Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington), a history buff who organized today's event, and museum officials hope the East Farmingdale facility would be one stop on the trail that would run from a former Nike missile base in Lido Beach to the huge radar installation at Camp Hero near Montauk Point.

The specific reason for today's gathering is to unveil the museum's newest relic, a 6,000-pound Nike Hercules missile loaned by the Cradle of Aviation Museum at Mitchel Field. The missile will be restored and then join three aircraft of the same era - including a U.S. F-111 - already in the museum's collection to form a Cold War exhibit, president Jeff Clyman said.

The missile, which carried an atomic warhead designed to destroy Soviet bombers, is believed to have been deployed on Long Island, he said. "It protected our shores much the same way as the batteries in the old forts did in earlier wars. We're tickled to have it."

A Long Island Cold War trail has been advocated by historians for many years. Israel approached the state after learning one of the Nike bases was in his district. "[I] asked them to work with me on developing a Cold War trail because the contributions of men and women who worked in our defense factories and the military itself during the Cold War have been largely forgotten," he said.

(Read the entire story here...)

 

Royal Observer Corps Cold War Posts

Here's a website that has documented the Royal Observer Corps bunkers such as the one pictured below.

Royal Observer Corps Post
(source)

Secret Russian Submarine Base

Until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 Balaklava was one of the most secret towns in Russia. 10km south eas of Sevastopol on the Black Sea Coast, this small town was the home to a Nuclear Submarine Base.

Inside a secret underground Russian submarine base

Check out more pictures here.

Duck and Cover

Need a bomb shelter?

No need to look further.