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Boats by Bangor
July 27
Free
****NOTE: Boats by Bangor will NOT be on July 27th as originally scheduled. It is being rescheduled due to a maintenance issue with the Golden Rule that has delayed its sailing to the Salish Sea. We expect the new date to be either September 4th or 5th. Stay tuned!
Local activists will stage a water-based nonviolent protest and witness for peace in Hood Canal at the Trident nuclear submarine base. Peace activists will travel along the Bangor waterfront where nuclear warheads and Trident missiles are loaded onto submarines and where submarines are resupplied for ballistic missile patrols in the Pacific Ocean.
The witness for peace at the nuclear submarine base marks the 79th commemoration of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
What: Peace activists at nuclear submarine base waterfront. This is the third year since 2016 for the demonstration, called “Boats by Bangor.”
When: Saturday, July 27, around 9:30 am, kayaks enter Hood Canal south of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor at King Spit. Sailboats will come from various locations.
Where: Sailboats and kayaks will travel along the entire length of the waterfront of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, including the Delta Pier and the two Explosives Handling Wharves at Bangor where Trident submarines are maintained and nuclear warheads and Trident D-5 missiles are loaded upon submarines. Participants will not be risking arrest in Hood Canal.
The peace flotilla, titled “Boats by Bangor”, will include the original peace ship, the Golden Rule, that set sail in 1958 to the South Pacific to stop nuclear bomb testing in the atmosphere. A National Project of Veterans for Peace, the Golden Rule continues to inspire many peacemakers and peace ships around the world.
The flotilla is part of a continuing effort by activists to lift the veil of secrecy involving nuclear weapons in Puget Sound.
The Trident submarine base at Bangor employs the largest concentration of deployed nuclear weapons in the world and is the home port for 8 of the Navy’s 14 Trident nuclear powered submarines. More than 1,000 nuclear warheads are deployed on Trident D-5 missiles on SSBN submarines based at Bangor or stored at Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific (SWFPAC) at the Bangor submarine base.
One Trident SSBN submarine at Bangor is estimated to carry about 90 nuclear warheads. The W76 and W88 warheads at Bangor are equal respectively to 100 kilotons and 455 kilotons of TNT in destructive force. One submarine deployed at Bangor is equal to approximately 1,000 Hiroshima sized nuclear bombs.
Hood Canal is tightly controlled by the Navy with multiple easements from State agencies that restrict access and development near the submarine base, and with a series of federally established security zones that are enforced by Coast Guard, Navy, and Marine Corps personnel. Participants in the flotilla do not intend to enter the federally designated exclusion zone around the Bangor waterfront.
The Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action was founded in 1977. The center is on 3.8 acres adjoining the Trident submarine base at Bangor, Washington. The Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action offers the opportunity to explore the roots of violence and injustice in our world and to experience the transforming power of love through nonviolent direct action. We resist all nuclear weapons, especially the Trident ballistic missile system.
Please see attached map and navigation chart for Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor.
CONTACT INFO@GZCENTER.ORG FOR MORE INFORMATION
Click here to watch a video of musician Mike Stern telling the story of the historic Golden Rule in his song, “The Ballad of the Golden Rule” while sailing by the Bangor base on Hood Canal on August 9, 2016.
All aboard for the Peace Flotilla in 2016.