Hart Island Fitted With Frickin' Missiles Attached To It's Head
- 4 years ago
In 1956, Hart Island was retrofitted with Nike Ajax missile silos. Battery NY-15, as the silos were known, were part of the United States Army base Fort Slocum from 1956 to 1961 and were operated by the army's 66th Antiaircraft Artillery Missile Battalion.
The silos were underground and were powered by large generators. The last components of the missile system were closed in 1974.
Named for the mythical Greek goddess of victory, Nike missiles were surface-to-air missiles designed to shoot down enemy aircraft. Over a period of roughly two decades during the Cold War, Nike missiles were deployed at two-hundred sites within the continental United States. Operated by the United States Army Air Defense Command, the missiles provided a vital last line of defense against the threat of a nuclear attack by long-range Soviet aircraft. The Army's first Nike installation became operational during the spring of 1954 at Fort George G. Meade in Maryland.
The silos were underground and were powered by large generators. The last components of the missile system were closed in 1974.
Named for the mythical Greek goddess of victory, Nike missiles were surface-to-air missiles designed to shoot down enemy aircraft. Over a period of roughly two decades during the Cold War, Nike missiles were deployed at two-hundred sites within the continental United States. Operated by the United States Army Air Defense Command, the missiles provided a vital last line of defense against the threat of a nuclear attack by long-range Soviet aircraft. The Army's first Nike installation became operational during the spring of 1954 at Fort George G. Meade in Maryland.