08 May 2011

Military Submarines are Offensive!

Just a thought I had yesterday while participating with the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action Mother's Day vigil and traditional civil disobedience at the Naval Base Kitsap Bangor. NBK Bangor is homebase for about 8 Trident capable submarines. Trident is an ICBM system. Each submarine is capable of carrying 24 missiles. Each missile can be equipped with 8 nuclear warheads, with an effective range of about 4,000 miles. The explosive potential of the warheads is either 100 kilotons (W76), or 475 kilotons (W88), depending on which of two varieties the particular vehicle is equipped. By contrast, the bombs that exploded over Hiroshima and Nagasaki were about 15 and 21 kilotons.

According to scientists, these weapons are capable of striking virtually anywhere on the planet within about 15 or 30 minutes.

Submarines [military submarines] are an attack weapon. They are designed to lurk undetected near targets. They are designed to intimidate and instill fear. Putting nuclear weapons aboard submarines is just about offensive as it gets.

At the May 2011 protest, in opposition to the weapons, seven people entered the roadway in front of the main gate to the military base. They were cited with a traffic violation before being released on their own recognizance.

Let our hearts and our voices cry out: Trident must be abolished! Military spending must be redirected toward productive and peaceful purposes! End imperialism!

Below, I have posted some photos from yesterday's protest.

Berd

Mother's Day Proclamation, by Julia Ward Howe
Mother's Day Proclamation (1870) by Julia Ward Howe

Mom Says: Abolish Nukes Now!
Vigil in Silverdale

War is NOT the Answer.
War is NOT the answer.

Wild Weather, and the rain held off. Here is a patch of blue in between high contrast clouds. There was hail, and the next minute there was bright sun!

There's a lot of surveillance of the protest. It is too bad that the government views protesters as adversaries, when our goal is to make the world a better place, by ending Aggression.

Greeting Party

Main Gate Blue Line

It Is Peace

Highway Banner

It is amazing to think how much impact military submarines and nuclear weapons can have on international policies, and on the world.

Reading the 1870 Mother's Day Proclamation by Julia Ward Howe

Making Friends

On the Line

Saturday 7 May 2011, Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, Mother's Day protest against nuclear weapons, against all weapons of mass destruction, against policies of Manifest Destiny and American Exceptionalism, against militarism and imperialism, against aggression. More information about Ground Zero here: gzcenter.org/.

link to flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rwhitlock/sets/72157626554192425/
Posted by
tags , , , ,

1 comment:

  1. AnonymousJune 17, 2011 at 2:12 PM

    ...Part of the function of submarines, inherent in their design, is to lurk undetected—to lie in wait near their target—to be able to strike without warning.

    This makes the submarine an offensive military apparatus...

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)