SS-4 silo cover

[Manfred M]

Deep in the forest of Zemaitija National Park, in Lithuania, is the site of the first hardened site where the Soviet Union installed SS-4 intermediate range ballistic missiles tipped with two megaton nuclear warheads. The site went into operation in 1963 and was abandoned in 1978. This image shows the protected tops of the missile tubes. The tubes themselves were 30m / 100 long and were underground. Four launch tubes were installed at this site.

The site is now a cold war museum.

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[NorthernFocus]

Rather benign looking to have housed something so dangerous. Nice composition. Not an easy scene to work with.

[Donald]

I wonder where the missiles were targeted to. From a field in Lithuania to ???????????.

[PRSearls]

This is a good capture, Manfred. These are hard to photograph in a meaningful way.

This would have been ground zero for western missiles/bombers. A museum is a good purpose for this. I've toured a similar museum south of Tucson, Arizona, US where a Titan II ballistic missile was on alert for decades. During the tour, my wife got to turn the key and "launch" the Titan during a simulated EWO (Emergency War Order). I loaded nuclear weapons in the Air Force and it put chills up my spine to think of the consequences of a real launch. The Titan II carried a 9 MT warhead... extremely devastating!

[CP140]

We were at the Titan Missile Museum last week.... did the "Top To Bottom" tour...

[LePetomane]

Cool stuff. I just watched Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Stranglove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" for the umpteenth time. A great dark comedy with a Cold War theme.

[Manfred M]

I wonder where the missiles were targeted to. From a field in Lithuania to ???????????.

The targets did change every few years, depending on the state of the cold war. We were told that London, Berlin, Oslo and Madrid were long time targets.

[Wavelength]

Nice work