To All
Good Sunday Morning June 28, 2020
I hope that your weekend is going well.
Regards,
Skip
Today in Naval History
June 28
1814
The sloop of war USS Wasp commanded by Johnston Blakeley, comes across HMS Reindeer, commanded by William Manners, off Plymouth, England, and engages in battle. After the 19-minute battle, USS Wasp captures HMS Reindeer, taking her crew as prisoners, and burn her at sea.
1869
The Navy's first surgeon-general William M. Wood is appointed, and serves until Oct. 25, 1871.
1914
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria is assassinated at Sarajevo, Bosnia. This act eventually leads to World War I.
1919
The Versailles Peace Treaty is signed, which ends World War I.
1943
USS Peto (SS 265) and USS Tunny (SS 282) sink Japanese hydrographic-meteorological research ship Tenkai No.2 northeast of Mussau Island and a gunboat Shotoku Maru off the west coast of Rota, Mariana Islands.
Thanks to CHINFO
No CHINFO on the weekend
Today in History June 28
1635 | The French colony of Guadeloupe is established in the Caribbean. | ||
1675 | Frederick William of Brandenburg crushes the Swedes. | ||
1709 | Russians defeat the Swedes and Cossacks at the Battle of Poltava. | ||
1776 | Colonists repulse a British sea attack on Charleston, South Carolina. | ||
1778 | Mary "Molly Pitcher" Hays McCauley, wife of an American artilleryman, carries water to the soldiers during the Battle of Monmouth. | ||
1839 | Cinque and other Africans are kidnapped and sold into slavery in Cuba. | ||
1862 | Fighting continues between Union and Confederate forces during the Seven Days' campaign. | ||
1863 | General George Meade replaces General Joseph Hooker three days before the Battle of Gettysburg. | ||
1874 | The Freedmen's Bank, created to assist former slaves in the United States, closes. Customers of the bank lose $3 million. | ||
1884 | Congress declares Labor Day a legal holiday. | ||
1902 | Congress passes the Spooner bill, authorizing a canal to be built across the Isthmus of Panama. | ||
1911 | Samuel J. Battle becomes the first African-American policeman in New York City. | ||
1914 | Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated at Sarajevo, Serbia. | ||
1919 | Germany signs the Treaty of Versailles under protest. | ||
1921 | A coal strike in Britain is settled after three months. | ||
1930 | More than 1,000 communists are routed during an assault on the British consulate in London. | ||
1938 | Congress creates the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to insure construction loans. | ||
1942 | German troops launch an offensive to seize Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus and the city of Stalingrad. | ||
1945 | General Douglas MacArthur announces the end of Japanese resistance in the Philippines. | ||
1949 | The last U.S. combat troops are called home from Korea, leaving only 500 advisers. | ||
1950 | General Douglas MacArthur arrives in South Korea as Seoul falls to the North. | ||
1954 | French troops begin to pull out of Vietnam's Tonkin province. | ||
1964 | Malcolm X founds the Organization for Afro-American Unity to seek independence for blacks in the Western Hemisphere. | ||
1967 | 14 people are shot during race riots in Buffalo, New York. | ||
1970 | Muhammad Ali [Cassius Clay] stands before the Supreme Court regarding his refusal of induction into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. | ||
1971 | The Supreme Court overturns the draft evasion conviction of Muhammad Ali. | ||
1972 | Richard Nixon announces that no new draftees will be sent to Vietnam. | ||
1976 | The first women enter the U.S. Air Force Academy. | ||
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Last week I received this from Mike "Detch"
Small detail - I think U.S. Grant died on July 23 rather than June 23. In any case he died younger than I thought (age 63).
This is the only the second time in all the years of the List's history items that anyone brought something like this up. So I checked and what I put in was what the site had so I went to two other sources and found that Mike was right
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Ulysses_S._Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was an American soldier and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. Before his presidency, Grant led the Union Army as Commanding General of the United States Army in winning the American Civil War.
I have sent them a note but do not expect a reply.good catch
skip
So happy that some do read the history parts of the List
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Thanks to Carl….A combat nap is a great way to get a burst of energy
(OOPS, my secret routine is revealed!)
https://hotair.com/archives/2019/06/27/naps-are-good-for-you-helathy-habit/
FANtastic News: Naps Make You Smarter, Nicer
ANDREW MALCOLMPosted at 2:41 pm on June 27, 2019
Finally, a scientific explanation for how some of us of a certain age have gotten so much smarter than others over the years.
Naps.
Some wise cultures around the world with high noontime temperatures have midday breaks for a whole hour or two called siestas, which is Spanish for "four commutes a day."
When many Americans were younger, naps were punishment or an enforced rest to allow a presiding adult to grab some ZZZ's too. Decades later, naps have become like delightful little vacations.
Now, it turns out, naps are not only restorative, especially if you haven't slept well at night. But they also improve mood (check), physical performance (meh), even the ability to learn (check) and enhanced memory (can't remember).
This all sounds so good that it might not be totally true. But we're going with select health literature that says it is.
Most Americans employers have this crazy notion that they're paying to work, not sleep. So, you're supposed to power through those dozey times after lunch when the eyelids have a lazy mind of their own.
Unfortunately, studies have shown that short naps like 10 minutes are the best for maximum benefit and least wake-up fog. Some of us do not mind such half-awake moments. They remind of a Saturday morning which by the way is now only two days away.
One study a few years ago found:
The benefits of brief (5-15 min) naps are almost immediate after the nap and last a limited period (1-3h).
Longer naps (> 30 min) can produce impairment from sleep inertia for a short period after waking but then produce improved cognitive performance for a longer period (up to many hours).
The time of day that seems to produce the most benefits is early afternoons.
And another key factor is that nap benefits increase most when they become regular events, as in a habit at roughly the same time of day. The body gets into its own rest rhythm.
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Thanks to Chuck
AMAZING!!! Tunnel of Eupalinos in Samos, Greece; a technical miracle of the 6th century B.C. – Novo Scriptorium
An engineering marvel.
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The Los Angeles–Class Submarine: The Old American Attack Sub Russia Still Fears
By Kyle Mizokami, National Interest, 10 July
Sixty-two Los Angeles–class submarines were built between 1976 and 1996. Not all of them served at once—some of the earliest subs were retired starting in 1995 with just seventeen years of service to avoid costly nuclear refueling costs while the production line was still running! Today thirty-eight are still on active duty. The Seawolf class, meant to provide deeper-diving submarines capable of Arctic operations, was canceled at three ships, due to cost overruns and the quest for a 1990s "peace dividend." The true replacements for the "688" class are the Virginia submarines, currently under construction.
The Los Angeles–class nuclear attack submarines were the most successful American submarines of the Cold War. The United States built sixty-two Los Angeles–class subs, more than any class except for the Gato class of World War II. Fast, powerful and heavily armed, the submarines are slowly being replaced by Virginia-class attack boats.
The Los Angeles–class submarines, also known as the 688 class, were first designed in the early 1970s. The first ship, Los Angeles (SSN-688), was laid down in 1976. The submarines were produced at a Cold War pace, with production averaging three to five submarines annually, significantly higher than the current pace of two Virginia-class submarines produced annually. The Navy sustained this rate of production until 1992. Over the twenty years the class was produced, various systems, including propulsion, bow and towed sonar, and even hull material were upgraded to reflect the latest technology.
At 360 feet long and 6,927 tons submerged, the Los Angeles–class submarines were designed to be 20 percent longer and 50 percent larger by displacement volume than their predecessors, the Sturgeon class. They are also reportedly much faster: while the Sturgeon class could make twenty-six knots submerged, the Los Angeles class can allegedly make a swift thirty-seven knots.
The Los Angeles–class submarines were constructed from HY-80 steel, with a glass reinforced plastic bow over the sonar array. This gives the submarine a maximum official depth of 650 feet. Other sources peg maximum operating depth at 950 feet. The absolute maximum diving depth in emergencies is reportedly 1,475 feet.
The submarines feature a teardrop hull first introduced with the Skipjack class, with diving planes mounted on the sail. The last twenty-three ships in class moved the diving planes to the bow and feature strengthened sails for breaking through Arctic ice. This was likely in response to the Soviet Union's Typhoon-class ballistic-missile submarines, which were designed to operate under and through Arctic pack ice.
According to Combat Fleets of the World [3], each submarine is served by a General Electric S6G pressurized water reactor powering two sets of geared steam turbines. The reactor provides 35,000-shaft horsepower to a single seven-bladed propeller. Some of the last of the class built have pump jets instead of a propeller. A diesel generator and batteries are available to provide emergency propulsion.
The sensor suite is centered around the BQQ-5 sonar system [4], with the class progressively equipped with the BQQ-5A(V)1, BQQ-5C and later the BQQ-5D—the same sonar that equips the Seawolf class. For flank detection, AN/BQG-5 [5] wide aperture arrays dot the submarine's sides, providing passive sonar detection capability. The class has been equipped with several towed sonar arrays, most recently the TB-29 Thin Line Towed Array [6]. The tail fins that support the towed arrays also support seven-celled Countermeasure Set, Acoustic MK 2 launchers.
Armament consists of four 533-millimeter torpedo tubes for all production submarines. The tubes are placed amidships on the hull due to the bow housing the active/pass sonar array. The ships can carry twenty-six torpedo tube-launched weapons, which at the height of the Cold War included Mk.48 homing torpedoes, up to eight Tomahawk cruise missiles, Harpoon antiship missiles and CAPTOR mines. The last twenty-three submarines were equipped with twelve vertical launch silos for Tomahawk missiles, a concept carried on with the Virginia class, for a possible total of twenty Tomahawk missiles.
In addition to the traditional roles of undersea, surface and strike warfare, the Los Angeles class was capable of conducting special operations. Select ships in the class were capable of being fitted with the portable Dry Dock Shelter, which could hold a Swimmer Delivery Vehicle, up to twenty SEAL commandos and four Combat Rubber Raiding Craft. This role has been taken over by the Ohio-class cruise missile submarines and the Seawolf class, particularly the USS Jimmy Carter.
Although intelligence gathering has long been a role for submarines, starting in the 1990s the U.S. submarine fleet began using an Army phrase, "intelligence preparation of the battlefield," to describe intelligence gathering in support of operations on the ground. Lacking a underwater enemy to fight, American submarines could linger off the coastlines of potential adversaries, collecting electronic data and conducting surveillance operations. The Los Angeles class was at the forefront of this effort, and USS Annapolis was refitted with a photonic mast featuring cameras instead of a traditional periscope mast.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for June 27
FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR June 27
THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
28 June
1917: Langley Field authorized as an experimental air station. (24)
1924: Lt John A. Macready, flying a Curtiss bomber, set FAI records for altitude (16,732 feet) and duration (2 hours 13 minutes 49.6 seconds) with payloads of 2,204.6 and 3,306.9 pounds.
1927: MACKAY TROPHY/DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS. Lts Lester J. Maitland and Albert F. Hegenberger flew a Fokker C-2, powered by three Wright 220 HP engines, the "Bird of Paradise," on the first nonstop flight from Oakland to Wheeler Field, Honolulu. They flew 2,407 miles in 25 hours 50 minutes by using the directional beacons of San Francisco and Maui. They received the Mackay Trophy for 1927 and a DFC. (9)
1934: The Army awarded a contract to Boeing Aircraft Company to design the B-17. (12) 1946: The first V-2 rocket, with instruments for upper air research, launched to an altitude of 67 miles from White Sands Proving Ground. (24)
1950: KOREAN WAR. FEAF launched its first successful airstrike as more than 20 B-26s from the 3 BG bombed the Munsan rail yards near the 38th parallel and the rail and road traffic between Seoul and North Korean border. One B-26, heavily damaged by enemy antiaircraft fire, crashed on its return to Ashiya AB, killing all aboard. (21) KOREAN WAR. Flying from Kadena AB, the 19 BG made the first B-29 medium bomber strikes of the Korean War by attacking a railroad bridge and tanks, trucks, and supply columns along North Korean invasion routes. Bad weather over Japan limited Fifth Air Force sorties, but 18 fighters flew close air support and interdiction missions. More than 30 F-80s from Itazuke escorted C-54s and B-26s flying between Japan and Suwon. 1Lt Bryce Poe II, in an RF-80A, flew the USAF's first jet combat reconnaissance mission, photographing the North Korean advance. C-54s and C-47s flew out the last of 851 U.S. citizens evacuated by air from South Korea. FEAF transports airlifted 150 tons of ammunition from Tachikawa AB to Suwon, about twenty miles south of Seoul. (28)
1954: The Douglas RB-66A made its first flight. The Air Force accepted this plane earlier in June, but it did not take possession of the plane pending the correction of obvious defects. None of the five RB-66As ever joined the combat air forces. (31)
1957: PROJECT FAR SIDE. The first phase of this project ended when the world's largest balloon lifted a load of military equipment and instruments weighing almost two tons above 104,000 feet. This flight was part of a series of tests to reach extreme altitudes using the "Rockoon" concept--hanging a 4-stage sounding rocket under a balloon and launching it from atitudes above 100,000 feet. The 4-stage vehicle included two Recruit and two Arrow II rockets. The vehicles reached 4,000 miles in the tests. (24) The 93 AREFS at Castle AFB received SAC's first KC-135A Stratotanker, "The City of Renton" (SN 55-3127). (1)
1964: The rebuilt X-15A-2 first flew.
1965: NASA confirmed the selection of Owen K. Garriott, Edward G. Gibson, Duane E. Graveline, Lt Cmdr Joseph P. Kerwin (USN) Frank Curtis Michel, and Harrison Schmitt as science astronauts for the Apollo program. Telephone calls between President Johnson and European leaders via the Early Bird I communications satellite began commercial satellite service between the US and Europe.
1974: Dr. Vannevar Bush, who guided US scientific effort during World War II and helped usher in the atomic age, died in Massachusetts at the age of 84.
1978: A B-1 launched the first live SRAM over the White Sands Missile Range. (12)
1994: McDonnell Douglas delivered the final nine F-15s to the Air Force. (27)
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THESE TWO ARTICLES ARE WORTH THE REPEAT… LEST WE FORGET
Thanks to Dutch. If you have never seen this be sure to read it. Well worth your time.
Viet Nam To/For Those Who Were There
Just me but I think the greatest disgrace of that fall day in November 1965 was that not one senior officer did the right thing – not one took a stand against Johnson – not one of them spoke out – no, everyone to a man held his silence, assuring their expected smooth, cushy road to their retirement. For that silence, the lives of some tens of thousands of American Fighting Men were squandered in SEA and some two million Vietnamese, Cambodian, Lao and Montagnard men, women and children were slaughtered outright or during imprisonment while millions more were forced to flee as refugees from their own lands.
Yes, as Sparky says, the times of today are déjà vu all over again, what with our feckless president and his perfumed princes and princesses bumbling all about again squandering the lives of American Fighting Men and Women and fomenting havoc throughout Iraq, Syria and their environs, bring Iran into the nuclear weapon world and stabbing our best ally in the region, Israel, in the back - all for their own politik … yes politik is still stronger than American Blood … they have no shame…..
Thanks to Sparky -
As many of us are products of the time, the Viet Nam War era, I share this as another insight into how we came to this tragic involvement. To all the Viet Nam vets, thanks for your commitment and sacrifices despite the politics that seemingly neutered our ability to win outright. I salute and admire your service. And, without becoming political, it is Deja vu all over again…it would appear. Thanks for sharing Doug.
Cheers,
This is one of those rare insights to a critical turning point for America. This was the briefing to Lyndon Johnson that sealed the fate of more than 55,000 lives of American soldiers and wasted the vast treasure of the USA. The story is short and so compelling, you will not forget it.
Click here: The Day It Became The Longest War <http://www.thebutter-cutter.com/First_Day_Of_The_Longest_W_.php>
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If you have been to the Wall then you know what a powerful place it is and the emotions that you have are overwhelming. Especially when you reach out and touch a name…..skip
Thanks to Chuck
Faces Never Forgotten with Joe Galloway
This is a really good video and worth your time to watch.
From:
Date: June 24, 2015 at 4:04:47 PM EDT
To:
Subject: Faces Never Forgotten with Joe Galloway
If you served in Viet Nam...or know someone who did, this is worth watching...it's moving.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA9Dp1S3Ez4
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This day in U.S. Military History
June 28
1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, while riding in an Austro-Daimler that was chauffeured by Otto Merz, a Mercedes team driver. The assassination resulted in the outbreak of World War I. The archduke and his wife, Sophie, rode into Sarajevo in a motorcade consisting of four cars; the royals occupied the second. On the way to the City Hall as they crossed the Milijacka River at Cumuria Bridge, Serbian nationalist Nedjelko Cabrinovic threw a bomb at the Daimler carrying the archduke and his wife. Franz Ferdinand managed to deflect the bomb onto the street. About a dozen people, including Sophie, who was hit in the face with shrapnel, suffered injuries, but no one was killed. The assassin swallowed a cyanide pill and jumped off the bridge. Unfortunately, he coughed up the pill and landed in only a foot of water. He was taken into custody. The first two cars of the motorcade continued on their way to the Sarajevo City Hall. Upon his arrival at the welcome ceremony, Franz Ferdinand interrupted the mayor's speech, seizing him by the arm and crying, "One comes here to visit and is received with bombs. Mr. Mayor, what do you say?" He later calmed down and finished his own speech with a reaffirming pledge of his regard for the people of Sarajevo. After the speech, Franz Ferdinand ordered his chauffeur to carry him to the hospital to visit the victims of the bomb; Sophie accompanied him. Their driver took a wrong turn after crossing the Imperial Bridge and the car ended up on a street named after Franz Ferdinand's father, Franz Josef. Noticing his mistake, the driver applied the brakes and the car came to a halt a foot short of another Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip. Princip fired his pistol into the car, striking the archduke in the neck and his wife in the stomach. In shock and unaware that she had been wounded, Sophie cried to her husband, "For heaven's sake, what's happened to you?" Franz Ferdinand keeled over whispering "Es ist nichts, Es ist nichts…" A lengthy investigation into the conspiracy failed to prove any complicity in the plot on the part of the Serbian government. Nevertheless, the Austrians sent their army into Serbia and World War I was born.
1919 – At the Palace of Versailles outside Paris, Germany signs the Treaty of Versailles with the Allies, officially ending World War I. By the fall of 1918, it was apparent to the leaders of Germany that defeat was inevitable in World War I. After four years of terrible attrition, Germany no longer had the men or resources to resist the Allies, who had been given a tremendous boost by the infusion of American manpower and supplies. In order to avert an Allied invasion of Germany, the German government contacted U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in October 1918 and asked him to arrange a general armistice. Earlier that year, Wilson had proclaimed his "Fourteen Points," which proposed terms for a "just and stable peace" between Germany and its enemies. The Germans asked that the armistice be established along these terms, and the Allies more or less complied, assuring Germany of a fair and unselfish final peace treaty. On November 11, 1918, the armistice was signed and went into effect, and fighting in World War I came to an end. In January 1919, representatives traveled to the Paris Peace Conference. Germany had no role in the negotiations deciding its fate, and lesser Allied powers had little responsibility in the drafting of the final treaty. It soon became apparent that the treaty would bear only a faint resemblance to the Fourteen Points that had been proposed by Wilson and embraced by the Germans. Wilson, a great idealist, had few negotiating skills, and he soon buckled under the pressure of Clemenceau, who hoped to punish Germany as severely as it had punished France in the Treaty of Frankfurt that ended the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. Lloyd George took the middle ground between the two men, but he backed the French plan to force Germany to pay reparations for damages inflicted on Allied civilians and their property. Since the treaty officially held Germany responsible for the outbreak of World War I (in reality it was only partially responsible), the Allies would not have to pay reparations for damages they inflicted on German civilians. The treaty that began to emerge was a thinly veiled Carthaginian Peace, an agreement that accomplished Clemenceau's hope to crush France's old rival. According to its terms, Germany was to relinquish 10 percent of its territory. It was to be disarmed, and its overseas empire taken over by the Allies. Most detrimental to Germany's immediate future, however, was the confiscation of its foreign financial holdings and its merchant carrier fleet. The German economy, already devastated by the war, was thus further crippled, and the stiff war reparations demanded ensured that it would not soon return to its feet. A final reparations figure was not agreed upon in the treaty, but estimates placed the amount in excess of $30 billion, far beyond Germany's capacity to pay. Germany would be subject to invasion if it fell behind on payments. The Germans initially refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles, and it took an ultimatum from the Allies to bring the German delegation to Paris on June 28. It was five years to the day since the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, which began the chain of events that led to the outbreak of World War I. Clemenceau chose the location for the signing of the treaty: the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles Palace, site of the signing of the Treaty of Frankfurt that ended the Franco-Prussian War. At the ceremony, General Jan Christiaan Smuts, soon to be president of South Africa, was the only Allied leader to protest formally the Treaty of Versailles, saying it would do grave injury to the industrial revival of Europe. Germany soon fell hopelessly behind in its reparations payments, and in 1923 France and Belgium occupied the industrial Ruhr region as a means of forcing payment. In protest, workers and employers closed down the factories in the region. Catastrophic inflation ensued, and Germany's fragile economy began quickly to collapse. By the time the crash came in November 1923, a lifetime of savings could not buy a loaf of bread. That month, the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler launched an abortive coup against Germany's government. The Nazis were crushed and Hitler was imprisoned, but many resentful Germans sympathized with the Nazis and their hatred of the Treaty of Versailles. A decade later, Hitler would exploit this continuing bitterness among Germans to seize control of the German state.
In the 1930s, the Treaty of Versailles was significantly revised and altered in Germany's favor, but this belated amendment could not stop the rise of German militarism and the subsequent outbreak of World War II.
Congressional Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
*SANTIAGO-COLON, HECTOR
Rank and organization: Specialist Fourth Class, U.S. Army, Company B, 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). Place and date: Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam, 28 June 1968. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Born: 20 December 1942, Salinas, Puerto Rico. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp4c. Santiago-Colon distinguished himself at the cost of his life while serving as a gunner in the mortar platoon of Company B. While serving as a perimeter sentry, Sp4c. Santiago-Colon heard distinct movement in the heavily wooded area to his front and flanks. Immediately he alerted his fellow sentries in the area to move to their foxholes and remain alert for any enemy probing forces. From the wooded area around his position heavy enemy automatic weapons and small-arms fire suddenly broke out, but extreme darkness rendered difficult the precise location and identification of the hostile force. Only the muzzle flashes from enemy weapons indicated their position. Sp4c. Santiago-Colon and the other members of his position immediately began to repel the attackers, utilizing hand grenades, antipersonnel mines and small-arms fire. Due to the heavy volume of enemy fire and exploding grenades around them, a North Vietnamese soldier was able to crawl, undetected, to their position. Suddenly, the enemy soldier lobbed a hand grenade into Sp4c. Santiago-Colon's foxhole. Realizing that there was no time to throw the grenade out of his position, Sp4c. Santiago-Colon retrieved the grenade, tucked it in to his stomach and, turning away from his comrades, absorbed the full impact of the blast. His heroic self-sacrifice saved the lives of those who occupied the foxhole with him, and provided them with the inspiration to continue fighting until they had forced the enemy to retreat from the perimeter. By his gallantry at the cost of his life and in the highest traditions of the military service, Sp4c. Santiago-Colon has reflected great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
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Thanks to Dutch
From the gains of that pallet of cash – Dutch
Satellite image: Iran blast was near suspected missile site
What exploded in the incident early Friday that sent a massive fireball into the sky near Tehran remains unclear, as does the cause of the blast.
By Jon Gambrell | Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An explosion that rattled Iran's capital came from an area in its eastern mountains that analysts believe hides an underground tunnel system and missile production sites, satellite photographs showed Saturday.
What exploded in the incident early Friday that sent a massive fireball into the sky near Tehran remains unclear, as does the cause of the blast.
The unusual response of the Iranian government in the aftermath of the explosion, however, underscores the sensitive nature of an area near where international inspectors believe the Islamic Republic conducted high-explosive tests two decades ago for nuclear weapon triggers.
This Friday, June 26, 2020, photo from the European Commission's Sentinel-2 satellite shows the site of an explosion that rattled Iran's capital. Analysts say the blast came from an area in Tehran's eastern mountains they hides a underground tunnel system and missile production sites. The explosion appears to have charred hundreds of meters of scrubland. (European Commission via AP)
The blast shook homes, rattled windows and lit up the horizon early Friday in the Alborz Mountains. State TV later aired a segment from what it described as the site of the blast.
FROM POISONINGS TO BEHEADINGS, 'HONOR KILLINGS' IN IRAN GET A FRESH SPOTLIGHT WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
One of its journalists stood in front of what appeared to be large, blackened gas cylinders, though the camera remained tightly focused and did not show anything else around the site. Defense Ministry spokesman Davood Abdi blamed the blast on a leaking gas he did not identify and said no one was killed in the explosion.
Abdi described the site as a "public area," raising the question of why military officials and not civilian firefighters would be in charge. The state TV report did not answer that.
Satellite photos of the area, some 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) east of downtown Tehran, showed hundreds of meters (yards) of charred scrubland not seen in images of the area taken in the weeks ahead of the incident. The building near the char marks resembled the facility seen in the state TV footage.
The gas storage area sits near what analysts describe as Iran's Khojir missile facility. The explosion appears to have struck a facility for the Shahid Bakeri Industrial Group, which makes solid-propellant rockets, said Fabian Hinz, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California.
The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies identified Khojir as the "site of numerous tunnels, some suspected of use for arms assembly." Large industrial buildings at the site visible from satellite photographs also suggest missile assembly being conducted there.
The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency says Iran overall has the largest underground facility program in the Middle East.
Such sites "support most facets of Tehran's ballistic missile capabilities, including the operational force and the missile development and production program," the DIA said in 2019.
Iranian officials themselves also identified the site as being in Parchin, home to a military base where the International Atomic Energy Agency previously said it suspects Iran conducted tests of explosive triggers that could be used in nuclear weapons. Iran long has denied seeking nuclear weapons, though the IAEA previously said Iran had done work in "support of a possible military dimension to its nuclear program" that largely halted in late 2003.
Western concerns over the Iranian atomic program led to sanctions and eventually to Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. The U.S. under President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the accord in May 2018, leading to a series of escalating attacks between Iran and the U.S. and Tehran abandoning the deal's production limits.
Iran's missile and space programs have suffered a series of explosions in recent years. The most notable came in 2011, when a blast at a missile base near Tehran killed Revolutionary Guard commander Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, who led the paramilitary force's missile program, and 16 others. Initially, authorities described the blast as an accident, though a former prisoner later said the Guard interrogated him on suspicion Israel caused the explosion
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