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"Cartwheel" Tower, Fort Reno, Washington, DC, 2020. (fedia.io)
submitted 2 months ago by mattblaze@federate.social to c/photography@fedia.io
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"Cartwheel" Tower, Fort Reno, Washington, DC, 2020.

All the now-declassified pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/49576247768

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[-] mattblaze@federate.social 1 points 2 months ago

Captured with the Rodenstock 23mm/5.6 HR Digaron-S lens (@ f/6,3), Phase One IQ4-150 back (@ ISO 50), Phase One XT camera (1/25 sec exposure).

This unassuming cylindrical tower, at first glance perhaps a grain silo or water tower, was part of a secret "continuity of government" microwave communications network. Built in the early 1960's, a network of similar towers located around the capital region linked the White House with critical sites such as Camp David, Raven Rock, and Mount Weather.

[-] mattblaze@federate.social 1 points 2 months ago

The upper white section of the tower is actually a plexiglass radome, concealing various microwave and UHF radio antennas.

CARTWHEEL and its cousins were decommissioned around 1990. Most of the towers, mainly atop mountains in remote areas, were demolished or left to rot. However, CARTWHEEL and CORKSCREW (on a mountain near the Appalachian trail in central Maryland) have been maintained in good condition, now repurposed by the FAA.

[-] mattblaze@federate.social 1 points 2 months ago

Despite CARTWHEEL being located in the middle of a residential neighborhood in a busy city and staffed by military personnel, officials went to great lengths to conceal the true purpose of these towers. They hid in plain sight, appearing to be silos or water towers (they even used civilian water trucks to send crews to some of the towers).

It was only after the cold war ended that the details of the network were declassified.

[-] mattblaze@federate.social 1 points 2 months ago

Obsolete secret infrastructure like CARTWHEEL tower, only revealed decades later, intrigues me not just for its scale and design, but also for the obvious question it gives rise to. If this stuff effectively managed to stay unnoticed for decades, what newer secrets are hiding under our noses today?

[-] cstross@wandering.shop 1 points 2 months ago

@mattblaze@federate.social If you're ever in Scotland you might want to visit the Secret Government Bunker attraction in Fife, just over the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh. It's a former ROTOR nuke-hardened air force control centre turned continuity of government HQ, and it's run as a cold war museum. Up top, it's disguised as farm buildings. Underground? Three levels of accommodation for a couple of hundred military and civil servants in event of nuclear war.

[-] mattblaze@federate.social 1 points 2 months ago

@cstross@wandering.shop I remember something like that just outside London, now a privately operated museum. Looks like a suburban house from the street.

[-] b3cft@infosec.exchange 1 points 2 months ago

@mattblaze@federate.social @cstross@wandering.shop
Yeah. Kelvedon Hatch Nuclear Bunker.

It's great, but strange. The owners have a very weird and dark sense of humour. It's also very,... British eccentric, I think is the best way to describe it.
The audio tour is definitely worth it.

[-] mattblaze@federate.social 1 points 2 months ago

@b3cft@infosec.exchange yeah, that’s what I was thinking of

[-] dan613@ottawa.place 1 points 2 months ago

@cstross@wandering.shop @mattblaze@federate.social My spouse says we're going to visit the moment Scotland leaves the UK and rejoins the EU. Whether I like it or not. She can park me in a pub with wifi somewhere.

[-] tomdewar@mas.to 1 points 2 months ago

@cstross@wandering.shop @mattblaze@federate.social I can second this. It’s only a few miles from where I grew up up. Never knew it was there until years later when I found out a friend’s dad (who worked at the Uni) was on the list of people supposed to head there in the event of nuclear tits up.

[-] davep@infosec.exchange 1 points 2 months ago

@mattblaze@federate.social I used to live in a small town called Griesheim in Germany and would regularly drive past an abandoned US airbase. The gate was still manned and I'd occasionally see people in cars getting checked there. Thought it was a bit weird, but that was it.

A couple of years later the Snowden revelations came out and it turns out it housed the infamous underground Dagger Complex (there were radomes too, but I never really gave it much thought).

[-] onyxraven@hachyderm.io 1 points 2 months ago

@mattblaze@federate.social I love this question :)

[-] standev@mastodon.online 1 points 2 months ago

@mattblaze@federate.social did we get to see any declassified former Soviet documents that showed whether they knew about it or not?

[-] mattblaze@federate.social 1 points 2 months ago

@standev@mastodon.online dunno

[-] Asbestos@pnw.zone 1 points 2 months ago

@mattblaze@federate.social
IMHO that's a pretty lame job of hiding something. Never seen a watertower on a hilltop with a large building next to it. Also water tanks on hilltops aren't tall and skinny as the location provides the height. But sites like this are interesting. So much money and work just gone. At least the FAA could make use of one

[-] mattblaze@federate.social 1 points 2 months ago

@Asbestos@pnw.zone Your complaint is noted. I’ll get right on it.

[-] Asbestos@pnw.zone 1 points 2 months ago

@mattblaze@federate.social
Not a complaint. And unlike the previous jackass I don't think you had anything to do with it. (note: I'm not saying I'm not a jackass, just not the size or type of the other jackass)

this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2024
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