Media/Press Contacts:
- Leonard Eiger (425) 445-2190
- Mary Gleysteen (360) 265-1589
- Glen Milner (206) 365-7865
- Day of the event (206) 979-8319
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 71st commemoration of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan.
What: Peace activists at nuclear submarine base waterfront. This is the first year for the demonstration, called “Boats by Bangor.”Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV 2016 movie trailer
When: Tuesday, August 9, 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 Rulecontinues to inspire many peacemakers and peace ships around the world.
The flotilla will also include members of the annual Pacific Northwest Interfaith Peace Walk led by the Bainbridge Island Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Temple.
This is the first year for a large water-based presence since the first Trident submarine, the USS Ohio arrived at Bangor in 1982. 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 U.S. and is the home port for 8 of the Navy’s 14 Trident nuclear powered submarines. More than 1,300 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 108 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 more than 1,400 Hiroshima sized nuclear bombs.
The nuclear warheads at SWFPAC and on submarines based at Bangor have the combined explosive power equivalent to more than 14,000 Hiroshima bombs.
The Boats by Bangor event follows an early-morning action on the previous day by the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action at the entrance to the Trident submarine base. Demonstrators on Monday, August 8, may risk arrest in commemoration of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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.
On March 11, 2016, the 10th bi-annual Nuclear Deterrent Symposium was held in Silverdale to discuss the future of U.S. strategic forces. Rear Adm. Charles Richard criticized opposition to the Navy’s $100 billion plan for 12 new replacement SSBN submarines, proclaiming, “It’s a matter of priorities.” The new SSBNs would replace the submarines at Bangor. Rear Adm. Richards noted that the USS Ohio arrived at Bangor in 1982 to much protest, and stated, “We have taken that [nuclear weapons] out of the national psyche.”
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action and Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility are involved in an environmental lawsuit against the Navy’s second Explosives Handling Wharf at Bangor. As a result of the lawsuit, plaintiffs discovered that while the Navy insisted the second wharf posed no new safety risk at the base, the federal agency responsible for explosives siting refused to grant approval. The case was filed in federal court in June 2012 and is currently pending in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
On December 14, 2015, the Navy filed a lawsuit in federal court to block the release of emergency response plans that might benefit the public in the case of a nuclear accident at Bangor. The lawsuit is still pending.
The U.S. is currently spending more on nuclear weapons programs than during the height of the Cold War.
The U.S. currently plans to spend an estimated $1 trillion dollars over 30 years for rebuilding the nation’s nuclear facilities and modernizing nuclear weapons.
The New York Times reported that the U. S., Russia and China are aggressively pursuing a new generation of smaller and less destructive nuclear weapons. The buildups threaten to revive a Cold War-era arms race and unsettle the balance of power among nations.
On May 27, 2016, President Obama spoke in Hiroshima and called for an end to nuclear weapons. He said that the nuclear powers “…must have the courage to escape the logic of fear, and pursue a world without them.” Obama added, “We must change our mindset about war itself.”
On July 30, 2016, the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki sent a letter to the U.S. Embassy in Japan asking U.S. President Obama to step up his nuclear disarmament efforts.
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.
