washington dc nuclear fallout shelter signs

“The Soviet Union had such a weak navy that it was thought almost impossible to find the ships in the grand expanse of the Atlantic,” Graff said, “but once satellite technology made it easy to track ships and get aerial observations, it was quite clear it was no longer feasible to hide the president in the Atlantic Ocean.” The ships carried special Joint Chiefs personnel and featured elaborate staterooms with full communications capabilities.

Under the National Emergency Command Post Afloat (NECPA) plan, one of the two “Floating White Houses” was always at sea in the Atlantic Ocean, Chesapeake Bay or shadowing the president around the world. USS Northampton (CLC-1) off Boston in 1953 (Credit: PJF Military Collection / Alamy Stock Photo) Floating White House-Atlantic Oceanīeginning in 1962, two special Navy command ships-the light cruiser USS Northampton and light aircraft carrier USS Wright-were considered the best options for evacuating the president from Washington, D.C., in the event of a nuclear attack. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself-While the Rest of Us Die.Īlthough the construction project stirred local curiosity-workers were particularly puzzled as to why so many urinals were required-the 90,000-square-foot complex remained a secret until The Washington Post revealed it in 1992. Graff, author of Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. “For decades, you had conventioneers and conference-goers filing through the public spaces, never realizing they were actually sitting in the doomsday chambers of the House and Senate,” said Garrett M. While much of this intended wartime capital was hidden behind reinforced concrete walls, the resort’s public meeting spaces included some of the facilities that would have been used by lawmakers. Congress that included everything from a dentist’s office to a 400-seat cafeteria. When the Greenbrier resort undertook construction of a new conference center in 1958, the expansion project included a top-secret bunker for the U.S. government was hidden in plain sight at a mountain retreat 250 miles southwest of the capital city. (Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images) The Greenbrier-White Sulphur Springs, West Virginiaįor decades the most ambitious Cold War hideout for the U.S. Congress and associated staff in the event of a nuclear attack on the U.S. A view of the West Tunnel Blast Door, which weighs 25 tons and serves as an entrance to a former government relocation facility codenamed “Project Greek Island.” This 112,000 square-foot shelter was constructed beneath the Greenbrier Resort’s West Virginia Wing, to serve as a relocation site for members of the U.S.

Washington dc nuclear fallout shelter signs