NOVA - Killer subs in Pearl Habor

[grandizer52]

Hea guys hope my incorrectness didn't kill this thread...I thought I retracted my statement. I'm stationed in hawaii, and a history major, so anytime I hear people are interested in WWII out here I want to speak with them and share the vast knowledge out here. one thing that is fading fast is the old NIKE/HERCULES sites that we in service from late 40's till the 70's
lets keep this thread alive...hope i didn't hijack it

D_B I think one of them is actually on display at the submarine base in groton CT, cause I was stationed at ford island and there's no evidence of a sub burried there. the only one is burried under a pier on the sub base. I'll look somemore cause it's a an interesting find.

Laytah
steve

 

[EGad]

There are a lot of Nike/Hercules sites around the US. The only one I've been to took all the launch hardware out, and I didn't get a very good look at the radar display, but I think most of them have been broken down for salvage. I know one on san fransco has full inert missiles. Nike/Hercs have nothing to do with subs. Judging by their size, an Trident class sub or anything before that would have never worked with Nike class boosters. But suffice to say that that generation of radar is boring to watch. 70's era radar isn't any better. I can guess that Nike boosters were never used on subs due to the size. Trident's on the other hand work really well.


All that being said (I just reread the OP) there may very well be a Nike/Herc there, as they were pretty much the most widely used antiair missiles. The main reason that they're widespread is because the battle of the Atlantic was fought in part just off the east coast. And the cold war made building up more anti air missiles a lot easier.

That is why there were Nike class antiaircraft missiles in much of the US.
d

 

[grandizer52]

D,
growing up in MA I use to go explore a couple in the blue hills outside Boston. the thing that got my attention in hawaii is...they were all mounted above ground. "BUT" the first midget sub ground in hawaii was across the beach from a future nike site...Irrelevant I know. what I was getting at was there's alot of hidden military history in hawaii. check out abandoned airfields and you may found some cool stuff near you.
as for the POLARIS/POSIDON/TRIDENT missile. different animal...nike/herc were surf-air. Trident is classified as ICBM

again i'm hijacking this thread....japanese mini subs. when I get off duty on sat. I'm going to comb Ford Island again....I swear there's no boat burried there

"BUT" D_B may come here, grab me by the hand and point to some plaque I overlooked the 10 years i've been stationed here
laytah
steve

 

[D_B]

The info on a sub buried (as part of fill) on ford Island was from the show.... I'll try to find it later

 

[grandizer52]

All the stuff like that is pretty well documented. "IT" may be under the pier where the MIghty Mo is tied to now.

 

[divengolf]

D_B I think one of them is actually on display at the submarine base in groton CT, cause I was stationed at ford island and there's no evidence of a sub burried there. the only one is burried under a pier on the sub base. I'll look somemore cause it's a an interesting find. Laytah steve

I was stationed at the Sub Base, Groton in the 70s and a Jap Mini Sub was on display on the base. Subsequently the USS Nautilus Museum was established and apparently that mini sub was incorporated into the museum. From the museum web site, it does not appear that the sub base mini sub was used during the Pearl Harbor attack. See this link.

The Submarine Force Museum Virtual Tour - Front Walk

I have sent an email to the museum director for any info he has on the Groton mini-sub. Will advise.

 

[carlislere]

There was a similar show on the Military channel last night, although I didn't see the whole program. They were evaluating a reconnaisance photo taken showing a possible sub in the water.

 

[D_B]

The info on a sub buried (as part of fill) on ford Island was from the show.... I'll try to find it later

It made it into the harbor, fired it's torpedos without hitting anything, and was sunk by two ships ... raised 2 weeks later and buried on Ford Island as fill ... 44:52 ... http://video.pbs.org/video/1377494854/
(wonder if all those dimples in the hull were caused by the concussion of depth charges? )


Too bad you can't see the rudders of the one on the one on display at the Nautilus Museum , thats one way you can tell its a pearl Harbor sub (36:55) (the pearl harbor era net cutter was not very strong, and could have been lost off of it)

 

[AfterDark]

There are a lot of Nike/Hercules sites around the US. The only one I've been to took all the launch hardware out, and I didn't get a very good look at the radar display, but I think most of them have been broken down for salvage. I know one on san fransco has full inert missiles. Nike/Hercs have nothing to do with subs. Judging by their size, an Trident class sub or anything before that would have never worked with Nike class boosters. But suffice to say that that generation of radar is boring to watch. 70's era radar isn't any better. I can guess that Nike boosters were never used on subs due to the size. Trident's on the other hand work really well.


All that being said (I just reread the OP) there may very well be a Nike/Herc there, as they were pretty much the most widely used antiair missiles. The main reason that they're widespread is because the battle of the Atlantic was fought in part just off the east coast. And the cold war made building up more anti air missiles a lot easier.

That is why there were Nike class antiaircraft missiles in much of the US.
d

There's an old Nike site in your town of Coventry Egad. It's off of Rt117 just east of the elementary school. I haven't been there for decades I have no idea what looks like these days.

 

[Rhone Man]

There was a similar show on the Military channel last night, although I didn't see the whole program. They were evaluating a reconnaisance photo taken showing a possible sub in the water.

That photo was also featured heavily in the Nova documentary.