Six hundred Hiroshimas

The W-53 warhead atop the Titan II ICBM had an estimated yield of nine megatons, equivalent to nine million tons of TNT.  That's roughly six hundred times as powerful as the warhead inside Little Boy that leveled Hiroshima.  For most of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s this missile was the centerpiece of our deterrence posture: fifty-four missiles sat in silos in Kansas, Arkansas and Arizona, able to fire within moments of a launch order but classified as retaliatory only.

I've written prior about my visit to the only remaining Titan II silo in Sahuarita, Arizona, now more than a year ago.  When I left Titan I was impressed by two things in particular: first, the knowledge and talent possessed by my tour guide and, second, the incredibly complex engineering problems solved by the crews that built Titan II. Within a few weeks, Maggie and I had signed up as volunteer docents (tour guides) and, a few months after that, started giving our own tours of the missile and launch complex.

Every Sunday we drive the thirty miles from northeast Tucson to missile site 571-7 in Green Valley and give four tours to up to twenty-five visitors. During these tours, we've met an array of incredibly interesting people: a plutonium expert that aided in the development of the W-53 warhead, guys from Czech Republic thankful that the US had a strategic arsenal that would protect them from Russia, former missile crew members that worked on Titan I, Titan II and Minuteman I, an astronomer working at NASA on Aries III.

This past Sunday Maggie and I gave the last tour we'll give for the next two months while she is in Iraq. We look forward to returning to Titan later this summer, but if you're in Green Valley any time in the near future, Titan is worth a visit.

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Second photo credit: Flickr user Telstar Logistics, under Creative Commons [Link]

Comments

[Travis McMenimon]

Back when I was working for my dad I was on the road with one of the locksmith techs and we began talking about the cold war and his experiences of working in one of those missle silos during the height of the cold war.

I can't begin to imagine some of the tense moments down there in the silo as the country tettered on the brink of war.

Very cool that you are involved in giving those tours. I would like to get out there someday to see them!

Hope all is well.

Travis

[Travis McMenimon]

Back when I was working for my dad I was on the road with one of the locksmith techs and we began talking about the cold war and his experiences of working in one of those missle silos during the height of the cold war.

I can't begin to imagine some of the tense moments down there in the silo as the country tettered on the brink of war.

Very cool that you are involved in giving those tours. I would like to get out there someday to see them!

Hope all is well.

Travis