You can see the platforms that fold out of the way when the missile would be lifted to the surface to fire. Here, I am looking up toward the blast doors on the surface.
#Titan missile silo serial number#
I like to find all the serial number tags on the old equipment in the silo. The entire internal structure was supported by giant springs so that the missile and equipment were protected from shock if a bomb should go off on the surface.įortunately for us, these are no longer “hot.” The water temperature was a pretty consistent 55 degrees. The depth of the silo was around 105-110 ft.
When we reached the silo through the door in the photo above, we put on our fins and masks and deflated our BCs to drop down into the main missile silo.Īs long as we made sure not to disturb the silt on the beams, the visibility in the silos was pretty great. I actually enjoyed this because it helped to keep the weight of the tanks off our backs and the water was nice and cool in our dry suits so we weren’t too hot by the time we reached the silo. The water became deeper and deeper as we approached the silo. We kept our BCs inflated so that when we missed a step we wouldn’t fall into an open hole in the floor. The metal flooring was salvaged long ago, so we had to make our way on exposed beams and pipes. The tunnels connecting the silos are all flooded. The tunnel behind the kayak is our entry into the silo complex. The shop keeps a small kayak in the prep room so we can drag extra gear with us through the flooded tunnels. These are the last lights we will see other than the lights we brought with us. We made our final gear checks and prep in this room before we headed into the tunnels. Here you can see the sand from the escape shaft covering the floor. The dive shop rigged up a pulley system so we could easily lower gear down into the staging room below. If they needed a quick escape, it could be opened and the sand would fall into the room below and then they could climb out. This shaft would have been filled with sand to protect the workers inside from a blast above. The entry down the old emergency escape hatch.
Here we are receiving our pre-dive briefing before heading down into the tunnels. The dive shop has set up some benches and tables on the surface to make it a bit easier to gear up. It was nice to have the AC running and the awning out in the 90-100 degree heat while we suited up into our dry suits for the mid 50-degree water below. We spent the night in town before the dive and then drove the motorhome right down to the dive site. Traveling by motorhome made this dive a lot more accessible. We entered through the vertical shaft near the center. This is a painting of the missile complex.
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