Ukraine: Strategic Missile Forces Museum – Command Post
Wow! What a totally incredibly insane attraction in Mykolaiv Oblast/Region of Ukraine – Strategic Missile Forces Museum. During the Soviet Union times, Ukraine held around 1/3 of the Soviet nuclear warheads and missiles and most of the missile manufacturing capabilities (in fact making Ukraine the third largest nuclear power after USA and Russia by the time USSR collapsed). All of the nuclear arsenal was transferred to Russia (something Ukraine perhaps regrets now) and most of the missile silos were destroyed. Except this one – it was converted into a museum. You can actually descend down into the deep underground to the command post – nearly 13 stories of concrete below. Here, protected by 9m of cement, was the place where special officers of the strategic missile forces of the USSR would execute the missile launch by pressing the infamous duo of red buttons (buttons were activated to launch readiness only twice – in 1962 and 1968). The missiles housed here were SS-24 Scalpel three-stage solid fuel ballistic missiles with 7000mi/11000km range, capable of hitting all of Western Europe and eastern USA. On a personal tour – we got to re-enact the entire missile launching sequence – with alarms and pressing the buttons! On the surface, you can see actual missile silos as well as a real (although without a nuclear warhead) SS-18 Satan ballistic missile (with an even longer range). Tons of other stuff on the surface as well – that’s in the next post!
