Photo by Glen Milner
from the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action
by Glen Milner
Sixty people were present on May 10 at the demonstration against Trident nuclear weapons at the Bangor submarine base. Eight demonstrators blocked the main highway entrance into the base for over 10 minutes and were cited by the Washington State Patrol.
At around 2 p.m., the demonstrators entered the highway carrying large banners and signs stating, “Abolish Nuclear Weapons” and “Nuclear Weapons are Immoral to Use, Immoral to Have, Immoral to Make.” T-shirts stated, “Ban the Bomb” and “Pope Francis Said Possessing Nuclear Weapons is Immoral.” All incoming traffic was blocked at the Main Gate at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. Demonstrators were removed from the highway by the Washington State Patrol.
All eight demonstrators were cited for violating RCW 46.61.250, Pedestrians on roadways, and released at the scene.
Those cited by the Washington State Patrol:
Caroline Wildflower, Port Townsend; Deacon Denny Duffell, Dan Gilman, M.H., Nancy Kachel and Dave Kachel, Seattle; Nick Mele, Bellingham; and Michael “Firefly” Siptroth, Belfair.
Mother’s Day in the United States was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe as a day dedicated to peace. Howe saw the effects on both sides of the Civil War and realized destruction from warfare goes beyond the killing of soldiers in battle.
Earlier, on Saturday morning, anti-nuclear weapons activist Susan Crane spoke of her Vigil Behind Bars and nonviolent civil resistance to nuclear weapons. Susan Crane lives and works at the Redwood City Catholic Worker in California, where she supports people in poverty who are often homeless. Susan has two adult children and four grandchildren.
Between 2017 and 2021, Susan Crane joined with U.S. anti-nuclear weapons activists in annual actions in opposition to U.S. nuclear bombs, the 170-kiloton “B61-3,” and the 50-kiloton “B61-4”, at Germany’s Büchel Air Force base. Susan Crane recently returned to the U.S. after serving a 7.5 month prison sentence for demonstrating against U.S./NATO nuclear weapons at Germany’s Büchel Air Force base, where 170-kiloton “B61-3” and 50-kiloton “B61-4” U.S. nuclear bombs are deployed.
Susan Crane spoke of our mission as peace activists, and said:
“Phil Berrigan often reminded us about the nature of military bases. And when I look at the Trident base at Bangor or Büchel air base, I see nothing but the organization of death, the practice of more and more horrendous ways of killing people. I see the suffering of people around the world who lack basic needs that could be available if our economies weren’t based on warmaking. The prophet Isaiah talked about the need to turn swords into plowshares, and that is what is needed today. We need to unlearn war, and if we are to continue life on this planet, we need to disarm.
“At Büchel air base (a NATO base), there are U.S. nuclear warheads held in underground vaults in the protected airplane shelters. When I was at the base, I heard the Tornado fighter jets taking off on the runway… and going on practice runs every day, practicing to deliver nuclear bombs to Russia. The organization of death.
“At the Kitsap Bangor Trident Base, it is the same… the Trident submarines that carry Trident missiles holding nuclear warheads come into the base, and silently leave the base. Except the subs and crew are not just practicing. These subs have nuclear warheads aboard that are ready to be launched at any moment from the oceans of the world.
“I view these bases with horror and revulsion. We need to stop this insane, wasteful, bloody way of organizing death.”
Susan Crane also reminded us:
“…We know that in community there is strength, that we can often think better, overcome our fears, and be responsible for our actions.
“I think that is an important part of nonviolent resistance. Gather with other people. Gather with other organizations. Respect the differences, search for the common ground. Recognize each other as colleagues, as siblings. Work with people of different faiths, or different political views, or different languages.
“Moving away from the powerlessness, the helpless consumption of bad news, toward: we can do something, and we can change something. And we don’t just change the realities of life; we also change ourselves. We heal ourselves by not despairing about the state of the world. Well-being is resistance.”
Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, just 20 miles from Seattle, is homeport to the largest concentration of deployed nuclear warheads in the world. The nuclear warheads are deployed on Trident D-5 missiles on SSBN submarines and are stored in an underground nuclear weapons storage facility on the base.
There are eight Trident SSBN submarines deployed at Bangor. Six Trident SSBN submarines are deployed on the East Coast at Kings Bay, Georgia.
One Trident submarine carries the destructive force of over 1,000 Hiroshima bombs (the Hiroshima bomb was 15 kilotons).
Each Trident submarine was originally equipped for 24 Trident missiles. In 2015-2017 four missile tubes were deactivated on each submarine as a result of the New START Treaty. Currently, each Trident submarine deploys with 20 D-5 missiles and about 90 nuclear warheads (an average of 4-5 warheads per missile). The warheads are either the W76-1 90-kiloton warheads, W88 455-kiloton warheads, or W-76-2 8-kiloton warheads.
The Navy in early 2020 started deploying the new W76-2 low-yield warhead (approximately eight kilotons) on select ballistic submarine missiles at Bangor (following initial deployment in the Atlantic in December 2019). The warhead was deployed to deter Russian first use of tactical nuclear weapons, dangerously creating a lower threshold for the use of U.S. strategic nuclear weapons.
The next planned demonstration at Bangor will be on August 9-11, for the 80th commemoration of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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. We resist all nuclear weapons, especially the Trident ballistic missile system.
See video of Susan Crane’s presentation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGxpguaYVNA.