Post B1lExWVLper5RXPmu8 by KanaMauna@sauropods.win
(DIR) More posts by KanaMauna@sauropods.win
(DIR) Post #B1kxGVazdb2sx1xPLk by ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org
2025-12-29T22:00:32Z
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Cold war Nike Missile site overlooking LA.
(DIR) Post #B1kxGWYY4AgTvjoyB6 by mattblaze@federate.social
2025-12-29T22:38:09Z
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@ai6yr There's a well-preserved site in Marin County with a museum. You can ride in the launch elevator with the missile (which they assure me is unarmed, but I still wouldn't piss them off).
(DIR) Post #B1kxGZf2WUevYjshDE by ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org
2025-12-29T22:05:58Z
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Apparently a bike parking spot up there. No vehicle access today (used to be, not sure if it is still the case... old Google Street View shots on restricted fire roads. 🤔 ). Saw a gravel biker. Would require a MTB or gravel bike with decent gearing to get up that hill, but it is gravel.
(DIR) Post #B1kxGeANlu6hX6Zmca by ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org
2025-12-29T22:09:17Z
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Amusingly, the parking lot at Upper Canyonback Trailhead (farther access right now without hiking/biking), there is a giant, sedan-eating hole in the road. Below the hole/cutout are sedans and Teslas. Above the hole and deep cut (where I parked) is Subaru- and 4wD land. LOL. (my 4Runner had no problem, but if you did not look carefully you could easily get very, very stuck in a large tire-deep hole). Even in sedan-land, there were multiple holes where cars had gotten stuck in 3-6 inch holes and hung up on rocks. (My kids apparently call this kind of place "Subaruland") #subaruland
(DIR) Post #B1kxGiRXs2DEnUdXvc by ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org
2025-12-29T22:14:56Z
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No access to "P" (parking) right now.
(DIR) Post #B1kxIMYUDkN5UYfWuO by amerika@annihilation.social
2025-12-29T23:46:15.964549Z
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@mattblaze @ai6yr They're going to have to reactivate these sites because war with the Asiatics is dawning again
(DIR) Post #B1l0baKbWde3aA26nw by jfew@mastodon.social
2025-12-30T00:11:50Z
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@mattblaze @ai6yr Here on Vashon Island, our former Nike base is now home to our food bank, community health clinic, and a daycare. Count on this place to put a flower in one of the biggest rifle barrels of the Cold War.
(DIR) Post #B1l0oplxQWLhEk92vI by mertzigzag@urbanists.social
2025-12-29T23:54:52Z
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@MisterMadge @ai6yr @ShiitakeToast @mattblaze That Cleveland scene is practically identical to Milwaukee’s setup—a similar underdeveloped downtown-adjacent lakefront zone (now part of the Summerfest grounds) hosted missiles too. https://emke.uwm.edu/entry/nike-anti-aircraft-missiles/
(DIR) Post #B1l0or4QbKiZGJnJLs by ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org
2025-12-29T23:55:25Z
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@mertzigzag @MisterMadge @ShiitakeToast @mattblaze How many cities had missiles set up like that?!?!?
(DIR) Post #B1l0osDgKPiKpJ8DPk by mertzigzag@urbanists.social
2025-12-30T00:08:11Z
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@ai6yr @MisterMadge @ShiitakeToast @mattblaze They were super widespread at the peak of the Nike program—pretty much every major airbase, port city, and industrial center was ringed by them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nike_missile_sites
(DIR) Post #B1l0ot5v4l6DXWVWxE by ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org
2025-12-30T00:15:30Z
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@mertzigzag @MisterMadge @ShiitakeToast @mattblaze 🤯
(DIR) Post #B1l0ou6fJTI2g7rdku by Nimbius666@comp.lain.la
2025-12-30T00:25:30.563642Z
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@ai6yr @mertzigzag @ShiitakeToast @mattblaze the Nike doctrine of the cold war was perhaps the most ardently unhinged of US policy save for the constant operation of nuclear bombers across the globe.The idea that an incoming nuclear missile could or should be "intercepted" by a nuclear airburst Nike was sheer desperation, a policy of missile defense the Russians still maintain to this day. That somehow a generation would forgive you the fallout of a swarm of these is pure nonsense.
(DIR) Post #B1l837jq7tMagquoOe by AMS@infosec.exchange
2025-12-30T01:32:14Z
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@Nimbius666 @ShiitakeToast @mattblaze @ai6yr @mertzigzag Nike wasn't for ICBM intercept. It was for bomber fleet intercept.
(DIR) Post #B1l838vDj43qMRFPm4 by Nimbius666@comp.lain.la
2025-12-30T01:46:33.224731Z
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@AMS @ShiitakeToast @mattblaze @ai6yr @mertzigzag As the missile age advanced, the threat of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) began to eclipse that of bombers. The Nike program adapted once again, birthing the Nike Zeus—a missile designed to intercept nuclear warheads in space. This marked the beginning of Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) research. Nike Zeus led to subsequent programs like Nike-X and the Sentinel and Safeguard systems, but technological, political, and treaty limitations ultimately constrained their deployment.
(DIR) Post #B1lExWVLper5RXPmu8 by KanaMauna@sauropods.win
2025-12-30T01:59:01Z
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@ai6yr @mattblaze What I love about that location is that the barracks are right next to the launch area and would’ve been destroyed by the backblast in an actual Nike rocket launch. Makes you question if the brass really thought the program would work.
(DIR) Post #B1lExXwgTWJTubD89A by mattblaze@federate.social
2025-12-30T01:59:45Z
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@KanaMauna @ai6yr Pretty sure the missile crews were considered single-use.
(DIR) Post #B1lExZ36N92bKnDlmy by douglasvb@m.ai6yr.org
2025-12-30T02:03:48Z
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@mattblaze @KanaMauna @ai6yr so were all of the crews on every strategic platform 😬
(DIR) Post #B1lExZwP3XHE6J5vzE by IrrationalMethod@social.coop
2025-12-30T02:29:56Z
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@douglasvb @mattblaze @KanaMauna @ai6yr A former coworker of mine was stationed in Europe as part of an artillery unit armed with nuclear shells. Apparently someone asked one day "hey sarge, why do we _only_ have two of these?" Sarge: "In case the first one is a dud."
(DIR) Post #B1lExb1l179bTCbiyG by douglasvb@m.ai6yr.org
2025-12-30T02:33:35Z
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@IrrationalMethod @mattblaze @KanaMauna @ai6yr oooo I wonder which one he was working with! There were a surprising number of nuclear artillery rounds in the NATO inventory over the years. They even made rounds for the Mark 7 guns on the Iowa Class battleships. Because everything is better with a mushroom cloud.My favorite though remains the Davey Crocket.
(DIR) Post #B1lExbxBZb5iLJTaU4 by flyingsaceur@ioc.exchange
2025-12-30T02:45:28Z
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@douglasvb @IrrationalMethod @mattblaze @KanaMauna @ai6yr it was kind of an open secret that pretty much everything had a couple nukes just in case. Ship launched AIM-7 Sparrow SAMs? ASROC depth charges? Tomahawk SLCMs? Sure, why not
(DIR) Post #B1lExcoMNtcr0EM3Mm by flyingsaceur@ioc.exchange
2025-12-30T02:55:10Z
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@douglasvb @IrrationalMethod @mattblaze @KanaMauna @ai6yr and lest we forget VA(AW)-33 “Nighthawks”, the nuclear strike squadron that flew a prop-driven A-1 Skyraider variant armed with nuclear bombs. Put the ball to the wall, climb and release at 45 degrees, then do an Immelman and hope the white paint on your tail keeps it from getting vaporized by the blasthttps://theaviationist.com/2024/11/29/ad-5n-skyraider-nuclear-role/
(DIR) Post #B1lFKXFPEj00PJvhfU by Nimbius666@comp.lain.la
2025-12-30T03:08:09.747102Z
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@flyingsaceur @douglasvb @IrrationalMethod @mattblaze @KanaMauna @ai6yr this was eventually evolved into US operation chrome dome.The idea being that once a first strike had been experienced by the usa, orders to in flight bombers would be sent to target Moscow. Refuelers in flight would then deliver not just some, but ALL of their fuel to the bombers aerially and ditch the plane.Bombers reaching Moscow would drop their bombs and, having no remaining fuel left, suffer the same fate over hostile soviet territory. The mission flights were nicknamed TOADs, short for "take off and die."
(DIR) Post #B1lGEH4aYlqCSZRrcW by flyingsaceur@ioc.exchange
2025-12-30T03:15:40Z
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@Nimbius666 @douglasvb @IrrationalMethod @mattblaze @KanaMauna @ai6yr [puffs cigar] that was the second strike doctrine and it did not stand up to conventional combined arms because, as the saying goes, “would we trade New York for Hamburg?”
(DIR) Post #B1lHjgTeG1nUBGi9Am by douglasvb@m.ai6yr.org
2025-12-30T03:20:42Z
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@flyingsaceur @Nimbius666 @IrrationalMethod @mattblaze @KanaMauna @ai6yr everything I learned about nuclear commandv and control I learned from Dr Strangelove 🤣🤣🤣
(DIR) Post #B1lHliAWwHN60Sjero by Nimbius666@comp.lain.la
2025-12-30T03:35:35.905152Z
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@douglasvb @flyingsaceur @IrrationalMethod @mattblaze @KanaMauna @ai6yr also no fighting in the war room.