Billboards inform Puget Sound citizens of Nuclear Weapons stockpiled in their Back Yard

Beginning on July 21, and continuing for four weeks, five billboards will display the following paid advertisement: Did You Know, You are only *** Miles from a Big Pile of Nuclear Bombs!  Let’s Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

Included in the five advertisements are maps showing the proximity of the cities and billboards in Lynnwood, Shoreline, Kirkland, Gorst, and Seattle—to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, homeport for 8 of the Navy’s 14 Trident nuclear-powered submarines.  

The billboards serve as a public service announcement—informing the reader of the exact number of miles they are at that exact location, to nuclear weapons based at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor.  The naval base is the largest concentration of deployed nuclear weapons in the world.  Below is the Lynnwood, Washington billboard.

Pat Moriarity, the artist commissioned by Ground Zero to produce the billboards stated, "I have lived in Kitsap County for 25 years and have always been aware of the Bangor submarine base. That said, until recently I never really understood the true extent of just how many “ready to go” nuclear weapons were stockpiled so close to all our homes. I'd like to think if everyone knew, they’d also be concerned about getting rid of them. As a species we humans need to evolve past this ‘mutual assured destruction’ mentality, the scariest staring contest you can imagine.”

The cartoon style billboards by Pat Moriarity are the third of a series of cartoon billboards that show the proximity of communities across Washington State to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor.

Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor 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.

Comic Book artist Pat Moriarity, who created the cartoon style billboard near his home in Port Orchard, is an award-winning internationally known artist.  

Hans M. Kristensen is the expert source for the statement, “Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor… with largest concentration of deployed nuclear weapons in the world.”  (See cited source material here and here.)  Mr. Kristensen is director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists where he provides the public with analysis and background information about the status of nuclear forces and the role of nuclear weapons.

The billboards are an effort by Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, a grass roots organization in Poulsbo, Washington, to reawaken public awareness of the dangers of nuclear weapons in the Puget Sound region.

The billboard ads

The five billboard ads measure 10 ft. 6 in. tall by 22 ft. 9 in. in length and will be displayed for one month starting on July 21. The billboards—third of a series of billboards by Pat Moriarity--are located approximately at: 

* 14005 Highway 99 Lynnwood WA https://www.google.com/maps/search/47.87130374,+-122.27484673?sa=X&ved=1t:242&ictx=111 

* 13504 NE 124^th St., Kirkland, WA https://www.google.com/maps/search/47.711658,+-122.159571?sa=X&ved=1t:242&ictx=111 

* Roosevelt Way NE and NE 45^th St. (southeast corner), Seattle, WA https://www.google.com/maps/search/47.661145,+-122.317192?sa=X&ved=1t:242&ictx=111

* N 165^th St and Aurora Ave. N (northwest corner), Shoreline, WA https://www.google.com/maps/search/47.748895,+-122.345896?sa=X&ved=1t:242&ictx=111 

* Highway 16, east of Feigley Rd. W, Gorst, WA https://www.google.com/maps/search/47.52478,+-122.69835?sa=X&ved=1t:242&ictx=111 

Our proximity to the largest number of deployed strategic nuclear weapons puts us near a dangerous local and international threat.  When citizens become aware of their role in the prospect of nuclear war, or the risk of a nuclear accident, the issue is no longer an abstraction.  Our proximity to Bangor demands a deeper response.

Nuclear weapons and resistance

In the 1970s and 1980s, thousands demonstrated against nuclear weapons at the Bangor base and hundreds were arrested.  Seattle Archbishop Hunthausen had proclaimed the Bangor submarine base the “Auschwitz of Puget Sound” and in 1982 began to withhold half of his federal taxes in protest of “our nation's continuing involvement in the race for nuclear arms supremacy.''

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.” 

Contacts for more information:

Glen Milner (206) 365-7865

Rodney Brunelle (425) 485-7030

Pat Moriarity, artist, cartoondepot@earthlink.net

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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.