Every self-respecting villain or mad scientist should have an underwater base. And not only in the movies, but also in reality. In the 60s, the United States was thinking about creating not just a base - entire cities under the thickness of the world's oceans.
Save underwater
By the mid-1960s, the USSR had finally accumulated enough missiles to really threaten America in the other hemisphere. The question of saving American cities was no longer an issue, but headquarters, the most important institutions and other useful institutions could be protected.
The Air Force and the army looked towards the mountains - it is convenient to dig tunnels in them, and the mass of stone from above will save even from the most powerful bomb. But the US Navy had a more interesting idea.
Rock Site underwater base off the coast of the United States.
In 1965, work began under the code name "Rock Site". In their course, they investigated the issue of creating both underwater and underground bases for the fleet. Such a solution would significantly increase the security of the structures. Indeed, in order to hit them, it is necessary to create a warhead for a rocket that will successfully pass through tens and hundreds of meters of water. Not to mention the problems of entering the water at high speed after flying in the atmosphere.
An underwater shelter under the Rock Site program. The placement of external buildings is also visible.
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They wanted to make two types of bases. The first were large underwater shelters for hundreds of people. They lay at a distance of several kilometers from the coast in the foundations of the underwater coastal plateaus. In peacetime, scientific stations were located there and various equipment for submarines and underwater construction were tested. The bases had tunnels leading to the coast and their own underwater locks for small submarines. Around would be the usual underwater structures used for scientific research.
Ventilation pipes for air intake from the surface.
During the troubled period, the naval command staff and the main scientific personnel were evacuated to the shelters. Communication with the coast through the tunnels was terminated, and the base went into an autonomous mode, receiving power from its own nuclear reactor. The air was also used, stored in underground tanks. Its supply was partially replenished from the surface using a system of ventilation pipes, which are also huge filters that cleanse radioactive dust.
The shelter was designed for a month's autonomous stay of a thousand people. If the tunnels leading to the shore were blocked, each base would have enough transport submarines to evacuate.
Scheme of the first submarine base under the Rock Site program in the area of the island of San Clemente.
They wanted to place such shelters along the entire coast of the United States and even in the Great Lakes.
In 1966, engineers began exploring the first site for such a base in the San Clemente Island area off the California coast. It was planned to start the construction by 1970 and finish in 1973. They wanted to work out the structure of underground shelters on it, and then mothball it. But, although the site was officially approved, many engineers expressed doubts about the placement of an underwater underground base in a tectonically unstable region.
Placement of the main elements of the underwater base. In - external buildings and ventilation pipes. With - main premises. D - technical rooms, reactor and air tanks.
Underwater shelter for a submarine
Another option for underground bases was underwater shelters for American "city killers" - nuclear submarines with ballistic missiles. Surface basing in US ports was quite vulnerable in the event of a surprise attack by the Russians, just like the existing rock shelters in Norway, since their entrances could be collapsed. But the underwater underground base is much more reliable - due to the water shield.
The placement of such bases near the Arctic Ocean was considered quite dangerous - there they could easily be attacked by Russian submarines with nuclear torpedoes. The US coast was also not very suitable - too far from the Soviet coast. It is now a submarine that can launch missiles even directly from its harbor - in the 1960s it was necessary to swim much closer.
As a result, the Tore underwater mountain range in the Atlantic Ocean near the Iberian Peninsula was considered the best place for such bases. I think many people know the Madeira resort archipelago, which is part of this chain. Submariners would also find it more pleasant to serve in warmer regions than in harsh Norway.
Underwater landscape of the Tore mountain range.
The bases were planned to be located close to the tops of the seamounts, at a depth of 50-100 meters. Each shelter housed two or three nuclear submarines and up to 600 garrisons. There was everything necessary for the routine maintenance of submarines, as well as arsenals of various weapons, including nuclear. There was, of course, and its own nuclear reactor.
According to the plan, after a month or two patrolling in the northern seas, the boat would return to the submarine base, spending there from a couple of weeks to a month. Such a duty would last six months, after which the submarine returned for six months to the United States.
Small underwater base for one submarine.
The plans included the construction of five such shelters. The task is rather non-trivial, so first it was necessary to gain experience at coastal shelters in the United States. In addition, the creation of specialized underwater construction equipment was required, and in the future, special transport supply boats, since the bases did not have any access to the surface. It is not surprising that the start of construction of the first such shelter was only planned for 1980.
A large submarine base capable of receiving several submarines.
Even according to the most preliminary calculations, the Rock-Site project turned out to be very expensive. The creation of the first experimental base off the coast of California alone cost as much as two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. What can we say about much more daring plans for larger shelters? But it was at least technically possible at the then scientific level. Underwater shelters for submarines required the development of numerous new technologies, costing even more than a flight to the moon.
In 1967, work on the "Rock Site" was stopped.
Or maybe they hide it?
But the story doesn't end there. Ufologists and conspiracy theorists could not pass by the Rock-Site project. For the US to shut down something because of the high cost? Rave! These are clearly bikes for diversion, but in fact, underwater bases were built long ago! And of course, they experiment on people there, remove a zombie virus, contact aliens and create all kinds of game.
Many conspiracy theorists like to look for underwater formations and plateaus on Google maps and call them either alien bases or secret government underwater cities.
It would be nice if the Rock-Site project didn’t just remain on the pages of documents. It would become a real monument to the human mind and engineering thought. Unfortunately, this did not happen.
Or maybe in the future we will see not only underwater bases, but entire cities?
Yuri Kuzhelev