Naval Submarine Base, Bangor • 245

Petty Officer 2ndClass John Mosley at thehelm of USS beneath the surface ofHood Canal.

Inthe control room of the Trident control room below via intercom. submarine USS Florida, Petty Officer Also atop the sail is the Florida's Section 3 2nd Class John Mosley munches commanding officer, Capt. Paul Sullivan. He rhythmically on a tasteless scrap of watches wordlessly and stoically over the gum and nudges the small oval OOD's shoulder. 400 Feet steering wheel before him to the right. Today the crew is taking the billion- Below the "Right 15 degrees rudder, steady dollar strategic sub from its berth at the course two-seven-eight," he says in a calm Bangor naval base to 600--deep Dabob Canal voice from the swivel chair where he sits. Bayin Jefferson County for a test spin. It's a ByLloyd Pritchett Mosley, considered the best helmsman short 35-minute cruise across Hood Canal. with the Florida's blue crew, can't see where The idea is to put the submarine he is going. through its paces one last time before it Instead, he eyeballs a panel clustered heads out on another 75-day patrol under with gauges and instruments and responds the unforgiving ocean after nearly a month to course headings ordered by the ship's in port. officer of the deck. "If the ship gets out (on a patrol) and For the moment, the 18,700-ton sub is something doesn't work ... it can create a real cruising along the surface of Hood Canal. domino effect," said Cmdr. Henry Gonzales, The officer of the deck, known as the the Florida's executive officer. "One reason "OOD," is perched at the top of the that doesn't happen much is because we submarine's towering black sail, out in a have Dabob Bay here to use for testing." brisk spring wind. He communicates to the The crew also needs to know if all 146 • Using the Resource

systems are working noiselessly, since a sub "All vents open!" answers the chief of that makes noise is a sub that gets found. the watch, as he throws open switches. And Trident subs aren't in the business of Thousands of gallons of Hood Canal water being found. begin pouring noiselesslythrough valves Any noises detected by sensitive sound into the sub's ballast tanks. detectors planted on Dabob Bay's bottom A rush of cool air passes through the must be tracked down and silenced by repair control room. "The average crews before the sub can head out to sea. Immediately, the red digits on the age ofthe crew As the sub enters the bay, it begins a sub's keel depth gauge begin increasing as long, looping racetrack circuit. It is nearly is only 21 the sub starts on its way below Hood Canal's time to dive. gray waves. The planesman calls out the years old.A lot The personnel on the sail — the OOD, increasing depths. of timesa new the junior OOD, the captain and two look "Three-eight feet," he says. "Four-six. crew member outs — clamber down a long metal ladder ...Four-eight.... Five-zero feet.... Five-two." senses the through two hatches into the control room "Deck's awash," calls out the officer of weight of the below. The last one down closes and seals the deck, signalling that the waves are now the hatches. combing over the sub's outer deck. whole world is Now the officerof the deck will guide When the keel depth reaches sixty- on his the ship by periscope. eight feet,the huge submarine is completely shoulders. But A command passes over the ship's submerged. I remind him speaker system: "Watchstanders, man your Once it passes below 84feet, it will be that it's really phones in preparation for submerging the too deep to use the periscope. ship." "Order depth one-nine-one," intones a teameffort... At the helm, Mosley chews his gum the OOD. I call it 'Team faster as the moment for diving approaches. Shortly after, he lowers the periscope. Florida'." His right leg moves up and down rapidly in The helmsman seems to relax. His leg — Capt. Paul a nervous rhythm. stops moving up and down. But he still gives Sullivan, USS Also at the ready is the ship's his gum a workout. Rorida planesman, to Mosley's left, who controls the sub's angle of descent, and the chiefof the watch, who mans a panel showing which JNow isthe time when the ship's sonar valves, hatches and openings on the ship's room takes over. hull have been closed. "We're the eyes and ears of the boat Beforethe sub can submerge, every when we're not at periscope depth," ex opening must be shut. plains Sonar Technician 1st Class Michael "We don't want water getting into Guinn. what we call the people locker," explains the What the sonar crew does is listen to submarine group's training officer,Lt. Cmdr. sounds in the water — very carefully — Jay Perkins. using a multimillion-dollar hightech elec The OOD orders more course changes tronic system called the AN/BQQ6 that and the helmsman answers. analyzes sounds on a screen. "Right full rudder, aye," says the The system is so sophisticated that, helmsman, just the slightest bit of tension with a crackerjackoperator, it can put entering his voice. "All ahead one-third, aye. together a three-dimensional acoustic ...Passing course one-eight-zero to the right, "picture" of all sounds surrounding the ship, sir.... Continue course two-zero-zero, helm identify where they are coming from and aye. Officer of the deck, steady on course what is causing them. two-zero-zero, sir." It can tell whether a nearby sound is "Very well, helm," answers the OOD. caused by a whale, a supertanker, an ocean Then the planesman receives his tug — or a Victor class Soviet submarine — orders: "Submerge the ship, make depth and then allow the sub to avoid it. seven-eight feet." "Just by listening, we can tell how And just as it has been portrayed in a many screws (propellers) a contact has, and thousand Hollywood movies, a voice how many blades are on each screw," said crackles over the ship's speaker system: Guinn. "Dive! Dive!" A horn alarm sounds Today, in Dabob Bay, the sonar system twice, and then the order is repeated: "Dive! picks up the tiny sounds of hundreds of Dive!" snapping shrimp. The sound of a passing Naval Submarine Base, Bangor • 147 patrol boat also leaves a thick acoustic wake nated by the certainty that it will be followed down the sonar system's screen. by about 75 days at sea. But out in front of the sub, all is clear. It takes most of a day for a sub to get Down below on the ship's lowest deck, from Bangor to the sea. Once the Trident in the Rorida's torpedo room, another crew reaches the western end of the Strait ofJuan is getting ready for action. de Fuca, "it's time to pull the plug," said Today the crew will test-launch a Mark Gonzales, executive officer of the Rorida's 48 torpedo — a million-dollar weapon so blue crew. The sonar smart that if it misses its target it is pro After the sub dives, it needn't come system picks grammed to come back and try again. back to the surface until the patrol is over. The torpedo being shot today has no Air is manufactured, water is purified from up the tiny warhead on it. After launching, it will be the sea and tons of food are stashed aboard. sounds of retrieved and put back into service. During all this time, one thing is more hundreds of No tense, sweaty-faced officer barks important than any other to the ship and its snapping "Fire one!" into his headset as a torpedo crew: silence. shrimp. After roars from its tube. Instead, there is a calm Aboard a Trident sub, any sound can countdown, after which a technician pushes jeopardize national security if a listening testfiring a a button in the control room. Soviet sub is anywhere within . There torpedo, a A loud hiss, lasting less than a second, fore, silence is not just a virtue; it is a neces torpedoman is the only sign that the torpedo has been sity, a habit, a way of living. removes the pushed from its tube by pressurized water. Machinists don't drop tools. Cooks smashed After the launch, a burly torpedoman don't bang pots and pans. Doors and hatches remains oftwo opens the tube to check it. Inside he sees the aren't slammed, they are closed with great, smashed remains of two Hood Canal shrimp gentle care. Whenever possible, crew Hood Canal sucked into the screens during the launch. members climb into their bunks, or "racks," shrimp sucked "It's the catch of the day," he says. to avoid making noise. Toilet lids aren't even into the tube. lifted for fear they will fall back down with a bang. 1he Trident submarines based at "Something like that can be heard Bangor spend more than twice as much time miles through the water," said Senior Chief out on patrol as they do in port. Mercer, who adds the crew goes "to any For 75days at a time, 160crewmen length to eliminate" noise. stand ready at a moment's notice to launch Meanwhile, the work load hardly lets 24 missiles packing up to eight warheads up. apiece toward targets in the Soviet Union, if "The average officercan easily work 18 called on by the president to do so. hours a day," said Perkins. The chances of that call coming are Every crew member stands six-hour almost incalculably remote. Nevertheless, watches, which are followed by 12 hours of the crew must be ready to act. work, training and drills. The remaining six They live inside their enormous steel hours can be used for sleep if there are no vault on manufactured air, surrounded by more drills during that time. pipes, cables, computers, machinery — and It's easy to forget whether it's day or missiles — never contacting the outside night, said Mercer, so most crew members world, from an undersea world about as orient themselves by which meal they are alien as any found on this planet. eating — breakfast, lunch, dinner or mid A shakedown cruise in Dabob Bay is night rations. part of the preparation for a cruise that starts Under this kind of regimen, the about three weeks before the sub actually excitement of heading out to sea wears off leaves on patrol, a time called "refit." after about the first two weeks of the patrol. "This is the most painful period in a The sameness gets to some people. It's submariner's life," said Senior Chief always the same shipmates, with the same Machinist's Mate Greg Mercer of Bangor, mannerisms, telling the same sea stories in who has served aboard Trident subs for the same way. years. And there are the worries of isolation. Refitperiod means 18-hour work days, "I'm confident in my wife's abilities; she can hard work, no sleep, inspections, extra duty handle anything," said Mercer. "But you still and very little time for anything else, worry. You worry about your family. You including one's family. And it's all domi worry about the unknown." 148 • Using the Resource By the midway point of the patrol, the the keel depth gauge race from 400 to 350 to crew is ready for some diversion. So,by 300 to 250... tradition, there is mid-patrol night — an As the sub breaks the surface, there is a evening of skits,auctions and other hilarity momentary surge of weightlessness. Then that crew members don't talk about to the sub goes level. outsiders. A sailor scrambles up the ladder to the After that, the world begins to look top of the sail, opening the hatches on his "Iftheship brighter as crew members start counting off way. gets out (on a the time until the end of the deployment — The outside air floods into the control four weeks, three weeks, two, one... room, bringing with it the scents of the patrol) and And then comes that magic day when outdoors that have been missing all day in something the submarine returns to the Strait ofJuan de the sub's sterile, manufactured atmosphere doesn't work... Fuca, rises up from the ocean depths and — the salt air, trees, flowers.... it can create a surfaces. The OOD orders a course heading back real domino The hatch is opened and for the first toward home at the Bangor base. time, the smells of the world above come The helmsman tosses his gum into the effect. One pouring down into the filtered atmosphere trash. reason that aboard the submarine. So strong is it that doesn'thappen some crew members with sensitive nostrils much is nearly swoon. The Concept of Deterrence Hours later, the Trident berths at its because we Alongshadow is cast on the golden Bangor pier and the crew filesoff,eyes glitter of sunrise on Hood Canal by have Dabob blinking in the harsh, unfamiliar sunlight the tall sail ofa Trident nuclear Bay here to use and straining to focus on distances farther missilesubmarine pulling away from the for testing." away than the end of the missile deck. enormous Navy pier complex at Bangor. — Cmdr. Henry Microbes in the air — absent in the The giant billion-dollar submarine, submarine's manufactured atmosphere — Gonzales, USS the most fearsome weapons platform in Rorida give everyone in the crew a cold. the U.S.arsenal, is about to disappear But the hardest thing to get used to is beneath the sea for 2 xli months with its the excess of noise — horns honking, people crew and 24 nuclear-tipped missiles. jabbering, dogs barking, television, radios, Thesub's mission while there is to car engines... act as a well-hidden persuader — to It can all be overwhelming to a subma riner not yet weaned from the culture of convince the Soviet Union that America is ready and able to respond with megatons silence. of nuclear fury to a Soviet attack against it. About three days later, the sub's This is what the Navy calls "strate alternate crew takes over and the just- gic deterrence." returned sailors get some well-deserved time At any given time, there are five or off. more of the huge Trident subs patrolling the waters of the Pacific offthe Soviet 1he Rorida's BlueCrew has all this to Union. But the subs can't carry out their look forward to as they spend the rest of the mission without a home base to keep morning and afternoon steering their huge them supplied and working. And this is it sub around the underwater Dabob Bay — the 7,100-acre Naval Submarine Base in course. They change depths, submerging as Kitsap County, with its high-tech facili deep as 400feet.They test equipment, they ties, equipment and thousands of skilled everything. Then it is time for the workers. final test. And the base can't operate without "Emergency surface the ship!" orders the Hood Canal itself. This is thesubs' the officer of the deck in the control room. conduit to the sea, 155miles away. The diving alarm sounds three times. Together, the waterway, the subs The chief of the watch reaches over and and the base offer a very persuasive throws open the emergency blow actuators, argument against starting a nuclear war forcing tons of water from the ship's tanks. with the United States. And thafs the The sub angles upward and the red digitsof Naval Submarine Base, Bangor • 149

The Trident submarines based at Bangor spend more than twice as much time out on patrol as they do in port. Duringall this time, one thing whole idea. County, is where the ships' missiles are "The worst thing you can have in loaded and unloaded. is more deterrence is uncertainty," explained Using all these facilities, a Trident important Capt. MalcolmWright, commodore of submarine returning from patrol can be than any other the eight-submarine Trident fleet based repaired, loaded and readied for another to the ship and on Hood Canal. "That lets (the enemy) patrol in 25days. Then ifs back out to sea think, 'Maybe we can get away with (a for another 75days with a new, refreshed its crews: nuclear strike).' You don't want him crew. silence. thinking that." "Deterrence is a funny concept," In fact, everything at the Navy's said Commodore Wright. "We have to Bangorbase on Hood Canal is designed have the abilityto do something that to keep the Soviets from thinking that. nobody wants to do — and do it so well First,there is the Strategic Weapons that we never have to do it." FacilityPacific,or SWFPAC(pronounced To keep its edge, the crew con "swiffpack"). This is where the subma stantly practicesmissilelaunches — going rines' missiles and warheads are stored, through the procedures without actually maintained and serviced.It is guarded by launching missiles or, less often,launch a company of Marines authorized to use ing missiles armed with dummy war deadly force against intruders. heads. There is the Trident Refit Facility, in Eventually, the procedure becomes essence a small shipyard that keeps the so ingrained in each crew member's mind submarines operating flawlessly and that he can do it without thinking. silently. But could the average middle The base's Trident Training Facility, Americans who man the launcher and fire with simulators that replicate all the controlconsoles— guys raised on mom, equipment on a Trident sub, is used for baseballand apple pie—be able to fire teaching and re-teaching crew members weapons knowing they would destroy how to operate their ship before they much of the world and the people in it? ever go to sea. "I don't think they (crew members) On the waterfront is a huge off could do it. I know they could," Capt. shore pier complex, complete with Paul Sullivan, commanding officer of the drydock, that can accommodate several Trident sub Rorida, said. 'The (nuclear) submarines at once and provide support threat has to be a viable deterrent. I have for the nuclear reactors that power them. no doubt that the crew could perform its A covered explosives handling mission." wharf, the tallest structure in Kitsap ByLloyd Pritchett 150 • Using the Resource

Section 4

Bangor is where Hood Canal nature coexists with the Mission: awesome firepower ofthe nuclear weapons age. Keep It Clean ByLloyd Pritchett

Thetwo Canada geese were Little did the geese know or care that winging northward, high over the the little pond they had chosen for their nest treetops of Western Washington, was in the midst of the largest concentration when they spotted a small pond of nuclear weapons in the region. below in the midst of an enor Surrounded by a double row of mous grassy field, near Hood barbed-wire-topped chain link fence, the Canal. cleared grassy field with its small seasonal The pair descended and landed on the pond is home to the Strategic Weapons pond's glassy surface. Facility Pacific, inside the Naval Submarine The large birds immediately liked what Baseat Bangor. they found. No humans or dogs intruded on Sitting at the top of a bluff overlooking the pond's solitude. Plenty of wild food was Hood Canal, it is the storage and mainte available in the immediate vicinity.The nance area for hundreds of nuclear missiles waters of the pond were clean and ample. and warheads carried on undersea patrols So they stayed. And in the following by the giant Trident subs homeported at the months, they hatched and reared a brood of base. goslings there. Any unauthorized humans who might Naval Submarine Base, Bangor • 151

try to enter the area could be shot by Marine estuaries, a dozen streams, and other sentriesconstantlyon guard. Butthe Canada habitats, including four miles of shoreline geesewere welcomed. along Hood Canal. As the pair raised their young family All this diversity supports a teeming there,they often took the goslingsfor walks population of wildlife. between the earth-topped concretebunkers Here are great blue herons and great where the weapons are stored, oblivious to horned owls, osprey, kingfishers, mountain the megatonnage around them. quail,ducks,widgeons,mergansers,coho TheBangor The geese aren't the only creatures salmon, rainbow and cutthroat trout, red fox, basegoes to perfectly happy to liveinside a military bobcats, river otter, beavers, coyotes, rac extraordinary installation known more for its powerful coons and more than 150 blacktail deer. weapons than for its plentiful wildlife. And Tom James, the base's fish and lengthsto Some 5,000 acres of the 7,100-acre wildlifebiologist,said even cougars have preventoil or submarine base are wooded, and it also is beensightedinsidethe compound,attracted wastefrom home to lakes, wetlands, fields, small by the deer. getting into Hood Canal. "I've never Preserving the Environment seen a military base where the year,providingincometo support the Hereis a sampling of specificthings water is so the Naval Submarine Base at base's forestry program and some extra Bangoris doing to preserve and funding for area schools. pristine,"says enhance the environment at the installa • Contractloggershired to log on Lt. Robert tion on Hood Canal: the base are required to leave 10large Rothwell, base • A coho salmon hatchery has been trees per acre,leavinga diverse environ operations established and salmon runs restored on ment behind instead of a clearcut. "If you officer. streams feeding Devil'sHole,a natural leavelarge trees,you attract hawks and wetland on base. So far, 500,000 salmon eaglesthat eat the volesthat might chew have been released. down little trees," said base forester • Old hazardous waste sites on the Arthur K. Schick. Bangor base,createdyearsago before • Natural areas ofthe Trident base, modern disposal methods were available, including all wetlandsand lakes,are off- are being investigated for possible limits to construction and development. cleanup.Two are on the shore of Hood • Cattail Lake, at the base's north Canal. Crews tentatively are scheduled to end, is stocked with rainbow trout. beginan interimcleanup of the worst site, Cutthroat spawn naturally in the lake, known as "Site F," in the near future. and an 11-pounderwas recentlycaught. • All waste discharges from the base • Submarinepier facilities on Hood are being pumped away from Hood Canal were built far off-shore to allow Canal. Hazardous industrial wastes are room for migrating salmon to pass. trucked by licensedhaulers to a federally • The base is cooperating with approved site off-base. Waste oil is researchers to find white pine trees on processedat a recyclingplant. Sewage base that are resistant to blister rust — a dischargesare pumped off-base to the killer disease that is wiping out whole Brownsvilletreatment plant, operated by stands of the tree across the West. Kitsap County. • Eachwinter, the local chapter of •The amount of hazardous waste the Audubon Societyis admitted to the generated by the base has been slashed in base to conduct a bird species count. half in the past few years. The facility now • Wildlife is monitored across the is embarking on a program to cut the base, leading to interesting discoveries amount of ozone-depleting chemicals it about habits of different species. A recent uses. study found that each blacktail deer on • The base's forests are logged on a the base ranges over an area of only about 100-yearcycle,or about 30 to 40 acres per one-third square . ByLloyd Pritchett 152 • Using the Resource

On the shoreline, there are mussels, Robert Rothwell, recently said in a mock- geoducks,butter clams,oystersand crabsin serious complaint. abundance. And, of course, everywhere there are hundreds ofsmaller animals — from voles to 1he miracle is that the habitatremains salamanders to severalspeciesof frogs. so pristine despite the base's industrial As the rest of Kitsap County has mission— which includes repairing and A policy of becomeincreasingly urbanized,the Bangor maintaining eight Trident missile subma environmental base, protected behind its fence,has become rines based there and the nuclear weapons protection a defacto nature preserve — with wild they carry. animals sometimes spilling into the human- The presenceof 15,000 people who live along with a occupied areas of the compound. and workon the basealsohas not frightened strict, "I couldn't get into my parking place away the wildlife or tainted the waters of centralized the otherday because a deer wasblocking Hood Canal. authority over the way," the base's operations officer, Lt. But Marvin Frye, the base's environ- operations means the submarine A Legacyof ToxicDumping base, with 10,000 Likeother militarybases around the Bangor's most significant hazardous residents, nation, the Naval Submarine Base at waste sites. The lagoon was used for pollutes the Bangor faces serious environmental dumping variousmilitarycompounds problemsrelated to historical disposal from 1957 to 1972. Tests find toxics canal and spills of hazardous waste on the base. moving slowly through the water table watershed less The Bangorbase, formerlyan toward homes a mileaway. than many ammunition depot, includes 22scattered • Operable Unit 3 — Site 24:A communities sites,ranging from placeswhere explosive torpedo fuel incineratorwas operated in with justa materials were burned or buried to places the southeast corner of the base from used for general waste and chemical 1973 to 1983 before removal. Tests handful of disposal. uncovered heavy metals, ordnance and homes. The cost of cleaning up all the sites PCBs in the soil. hasbeen estimatedat $24 million by Navy — Site 16:Adjacent to Site 24,the officials, but authorities at the federal spot was the storageareafor the torpedo EnvironmentalProtectionAgencysay fuel incinerator. Drums ofwastewater costs could rimconsiderably higher. At and contaminatedrags,along with most of the sites,studies are under way to waste solvents, were stored there. Small determinethe bestmethodofdealing spills also were reported. with the pollution. — Site 25 is made up of a number The following is a summary of the of stormwater drainage ponds which sites listed on the federal "Superfund" list accepted runofffrom industrial activities of hazardous waste sites: at Bangor. • Operable Unit 1 — SiteA:The first • Operable Unit 4—Site C West Bangorsite placed on the Superfund list Fill material was removed from this site was used from 1962 to 1977for ordnance locatedunder Building7700, an area (explosives) disposal.Ordnanceincluded used for the disposal of picricacid and TNT, flares, fuses, primers, smokeless torpedo fuel from 1946until 1973.The powder and black powder. The site is material was moved from Site C East. located at the north end of the base. Toxic An investigation will determine if all the soils,runoff and contaminated groundwa material was removed. ter have been found, but no drinking • Operable Unit 5 — Site E:This wells are threatened so far. was a dump area for electroplating • Operable Unit 2 — SiteF:A wastes from 1960 until 1973. Tests found wastewater lagoon in the south-central low levelsof metals in groundwater. part of the base is now considered one of — Site5: A metallurgy test build- Naval Submarine Base, Bangor • 153 mental program director, says ifs really no preserve and enhance the environment, to miracle. Rather, ifs all the result of careful comply with all environmental laws — planning and follow-through, he says. including state and local laws — and to "We operate a full-scopeintegrated cooperate with all environmental regulatory environmental management program. We officials, Frye said. take a holistic approach, if you will... a balanced approach," said Frye, who has run the program since its beginnings in the Ifsa big order, considering the envi Some 5,000 1970s, when the Navy compound was ronmental damage the base could do. It is, acres of the converted from an ammunition depot to a after all, an industrial facility larger than 7,100-acre submarine base. most private businesses. The environmental program "empha Even more important, the base handles submarine sizes man and nature living together in some of the deadliest materials known to base are harmony," he added. man. wooded, and it Its three "overriding goals" are to Take nearly 200 nuclear warheads also is home to lakes, wetlands, fields, small estuaries, a ing located here was torn down about Lake. The material was removed in 1981. dozen streams, 1973. Experts suspect the site may be — Site10:Buildings 1676and 1677 and other contaminated with mercury. in the southeast corner of the base were habitats, — Site 11: Close to Site E, this area used for herbicide storage from the late was used for the disposal of barrels and 1950sto 1979. Some containers apparently includingfour cans of pesticides.Consultants have leaked through wooden floors. The two miles of begun removal of the material. buildings were demolished in 1983and a shoreline along • Operable Unit 6 — Site C East: new building was constructed with a Hood Canal. From 1946 to 1973, unknown amounts of paved parking lot. torpedo fuel wastewater, explosive — Site18:Between 5 and 10 gallons material and solvents were disposed of in of PCB fluid were spilled at Building1016 a gravel pit. in the southeast corner of the base. The — Site D: Explosive compounds area has since been covered with asphalt. were burned on the ground here from —Site27:A pit in the southeast 1946 to 1965. corner of the base was used to steam- • Operable Unit 7 — Site 26: clean locomotives. When the pit was full, Discharges from various industrial and the grease and residue were hauled away. disposal operations may have contami The pit was filled during the 1970s. nated sediments along the shore. — Site 28:A ditch adjacent to — Site B: Roral Point at the north Building 1032in the southeast corner of end of the base was a testing area for the base was used for paint waste and pyrotechnicsfrom 1950until the early solvents. 1960s and became a burn/disposal area — Site29:Empty pesticide/herbi forgarbage,explosiveswaste and scrap cide tanks were rinsed with water that metal until 1972. flowed onto the ground in the main —Site2:A dump site along Nauti garage and public works area in the lus Avenue, across from the Reet De southeastcorner of the base. ployed Parking Lot,contains scrap metal — Site 30: From 1977 to 1985, and inert explosive material. neutralized pesticide and herbicide rinse — Site 4: Carlson Spit may have water was disposed of on the ground near been used to dispose of ignition devices. a stretch ofrailroad tracks near the Reet Further site inspections are planned. Deployed Parking Lot. — Site 7:One-gallon paint cans and ByChristopher Dunagan 55-gallon drums were dumped over a hillsidenear a creekfeeding into Cattail 154 • Using the Resource packing 2.3 megatons of explosive power, transported from their bunkers to the base's stack them on 24 rockets filled with 25 tons explosive handling wharf, the entire road of high-explosive propellant apiece, then line surface and roadbed is inspected visually, them up inside a steel submarine housing a electronically and with guard dogs. fueled-up 90,000-horsepower nuclear During the loading procedure, blast reactor. shields are in place. What do you get? An extreme case of In case the worst happens and a missile The miracle is safety-consciousness, say personnel at the accidentally ignites, they are only stored or that the base who work with this high-power techno- moved in areas of the base away from wizardry every day. community facilities, public highways and habitat They say the Navy goes to such lengths private property that could be damaged. remains so to minimize the hazards of its nuclear The subs' nuclear reactors are built to pristine despite submarine operations on Hood Canal that exacting standards. All radioactive fission the base's there is really nothing for people in the products are contained within high-integrity industrial vicinity to worry about. fuel modules that can withstand battle With the pervasive culture of safety in shock. mission. the submarine service, the risk level is No radioactivity is released to the Marvin Frye, reduced to as near zero as possible, they say. environment, and tests are conducted the base's 'To the Trident sailor, safety is para annually in the air and water at Bangor to environmental mount. We breathe safety, we train safety confirm this. program and we live safety," said Lt. Cmdr. Jay Perkins, training officerfor the Trident director, says submarine group at Bangor. A few environmental problems have it's the result "The emphasis on safety really pre cropped up from time to time — including of careful cludes any major catastrophes." chemical and oil spills. planning and Officialswon't discuss the specificsof But Frye said all spills are immediately follow- their safety precautions, but they are willing cleaned up, no matter how minor. %through. to discuss them generally. Old hazardous waste sites on the base, Nuclear warheads are designed with created back when it was an ammunition multiple safety features, then are subjected to depot, also are being readied for cleanup, he rigorous analyses and testing to ensure said. weapon integrity even in the event of a And all waste from the base is pumped handling accident, said Cmdr. Keith away from Hood Canal, he explained, to Arterburn, spokesman for the base. That prevent contamination of the water. Small means a weapon won't explode unless it is residential areas outside the installation put activated, prepped and launched thousands more pollution into Hood Canal, through of miles away during an actual nuclear war. their septic systems, than the entire Bangor The missiles that propel the warheads base. on their way are touchier. Loaded with tons The fact that so many wild creatures of solid rocket fuel, they are listed as a "Class are thriving and that the waters of Hood A" explosive — the most sensitive type. Canal remain unpolluted is a signal that To prevent an accidental ignition of the environmental programs and safeguards fuel by lightning, buildings where the established by the base are working. missiles are maintained are outfitted with "Hood Canal is a tremendous asset to enormous 50-foot lightning rods. the and to national To keep the fuel from degrading, it is security and we're doing all we can to make kept at a constant temperature and humid our presence as neutral environmentally as ity. Safety procedures guard it against being we can," said Capt. Malcolm Wright, bumped or jolted during handling. commodore of the Trident submarine When missiles are loaded aboard squadron. submarines at the base, they are moved Added Capt. Lawrence J. Kramer, inside containers carried aboard special commanding officerof the submarine base: vehicles that transport them at extremely "It really is a beautiful place. I hope it will slow speeds. always be that way." A half-hour before the missiles are