The Cold War rages, tensions are high, and the Pentagon tries to maximize every conceivable tactical advantage. The year is 1959.
The Cold War rages, tensions are high, and the Pentagon tries to maximize every conceivable tactical advantage. The year is 1959.
In a psychological war of mutually assured destruction, nothing is more important than nuclear missile delivery. How do you achieve that advantage? Like everything in real estate that means location, location, location.
Enter a nuclear-powered Arctic research base in Greenland called Camp Century. Or at least, that’s what the United States wanted everyone to believe it was.
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In reality, the facility was part of Operation Iceworm, a real life Star Wars Hoth base.
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By spreading the silos out over such a distance, Pentagon planners believed no coordinated Russian strike would have the ability to destroy them all at once.
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You went to work like any other Joe
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Using a system of rail cars, the 600 nuclear-tipped “Iceman” missiles, aka “Minuteman” missiles, would be constantly shuttled between silos. This meant any attack would effectively be playing a guessing game of missile whack-a-mole.
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Watch out for Wilford Brimley
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Spiral staircase quite literally down the hatch
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Greenland was chosen both for its proximity to Russia, and its flat geography. With an elevation change less than one degree across the facility, construction could be simple and uniform.
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More superstructure within the tunnel system
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Thule Air Base
Flying into Greenland’s pre-existing Thule Air Base, workers would travel an additional 150 miles to reach the facility.
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One of the entrances to Camp Century
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With many tunnels hundreds of feet into the snow, the facility was effectively an underground city.
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Housing 200 soldiers at once, Camp Century included a barber shop, a library, offices, science laboratories, warm shower facility, and of course sleeping quarters.
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One of the many tunnels in Project Iceworm, this one housing a silo.
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Other heavy equipment included the use of cranes
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While the facility did achieve some scientific breakthroughs - such being the first to drill to the bottom of Greenland’s ice sheet, its purported research purpose was largely unsuccessful.
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Mechanical bridges were employed to cover crevasses
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Moving ice and snow blockages rendered many parts of the facility inoperable, and ultimately problems with the central nuclear reactor meant that the Army abandoned Camp Century altogether in 1966.
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There were 21 tunnels.
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Housing was pretty Spartan.
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While Camp Century was never classified, Project Iceworm remained a secret until it was exposed in 1997 by a Danish Parliament investigation.
