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Hidden deep inside a granite mountain is the U.S. government's most important secret: a nuclear-proof underground city known as the 'Underground Pentagon.' This is the doomsday bunker where leaders would run a war after an apocalypse.
This is the incredible story of the Raven Rock Mountain Complex (Site R), a self-contained city built on giant springs to survive a direct nuclear hit. Learn about its Cold War origins, its self-sufficient features like a power plant and hospital, and its reported activation on 9/11 when Vice President Dick Cheney was evacuated there. This is the fortress of last resort, a silent guardian waiting for a day we hope never comes.
#ColdWar #SecretBunker #USHistory
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0:00
The secret underground Pentagon hidden
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in a mountain. Everyone knows about Air
0:05
Force One, the president's flying
0:07
fortress. But what if Washington DC
0:09
itself was completely destroyed? Where
0:12
would the government go? Hidden from
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public view, deep inside a granite
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mountain, just a 6-minute helicopter
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ride from the White House, lies a secret
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that is far more vast and far more
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permanent. It is a top secret,
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self-contained, and nuclearproof
0:27
underground city. a massive military
0:30
command center designed to allow the
0:32
Pentagon's leadership to survive the
0:34
apocalypse and run a global war from the
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heart of a mountain. Its official name
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is the Raven Rock Mountain Complex or
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Site R, but it is better known by its
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chilling unofficial nickname, the
0:46
Underground Pentagon. But before we
0:48
start our story, smash that like button,
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0:54
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0:57
To understand why a nation would spend
0:59
billions of dollars to hollow out a
1:01
mountain and build a secret city inside,
1:04
we must first travel back to the
1:05
terrifying dawn of the nuclear age. The
1:08
year is 1949. The United States has been
1:11
the world's sole nuclear power for four
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short years, a period of unparalleled
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military dominance. Then on August 29th
1:20
of that year, the Soviet Union
1:22
successfully detonated its first atomic
1:24
bomb. The American nuclear monopoly was
1:27
shattered. Suddenly, the continental
1:29
United States was vulnerable. The
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primary fear that gripped Washington DC
1:34
was that of a surprise bolt out of the
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blue atomic attack by a fleet of Soviet
1:39
long-range bombers. Military planners
1:41
realized with horror that the nation's
1:43
entire military and political leadership
1:46
was concentrated in one single highly
1:49
vulnerable target, Washington, DC. A
1:52
single well-placed atomic bomb could in
1:56
an instant wipe out the White House, the
1:58
Capitol, and the Pentagon, effectively
2:01
decapitating the United States
2:03
government and its military command
2:05
structure. In the face of this new
2:07
existential threat, President Harry S.
2:09
Truman gave a top secret order. The
2:12
military needed an alternate and
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completely invulnerable command center.
2:17
A place so secure it could withstand a
2:19
direct nuclear hit and allow the
2:21
nation's leaders to survive and
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retaliate. The search began for a
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location that was close enough to
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Washington for a rapid evacuation but
2:29
far enough away to survive the blast and
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it needed to be built inside a mountain.
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They found the perfect location. Raven
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Rock, a rugged 1 to,529
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ft granite mountain in the Appalachian
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Range just on the border of Pennsylvania
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and Maryland. In 1951, under the highest
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levels of secrecy, one of the most
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incredible and ambitious engineering
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projects of the Cold War began. For the
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next two years, an army of civilian
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miners known as the Rockhogs worked
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around the clock, 24 hours a day, 7 days
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a week, in three shifts. Using millions
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of pounds of dynamite, they blasted
3:07
their way deep into the solid granite
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heart of the mountain. They carved out a
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space that is almost impossible to
3:13
comprehend. The main entrance is a
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tunnel that runs for nearly a half mile
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into the mountain. At the end of that
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tunnel, they excavated three vast
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parallel caverns. But the true genius of
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Raven Rock's design is not the cavern
3:26
itself. It is what they built inside it.
3:29
Inside the hollowedout mountain, they
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constructed five separate freestanding
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three-story buildings. They are
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essentially a small city of office
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buildings built entirely underground.
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The final piece of this incredible
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fortress was its doors. The complex is
3:45
protected by two massive bank vault
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style blast doors, each weighing 34 tons
3:50
and made of thick reinforced concrete
3:53
and steel. By 1953, the underground
3:56
Pentagon was complete and operational.
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It was the ultimate Cold War bunker, a
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secret city hidden in a mountain, ready
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and waiting for a day that everyone
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hoped would never come. And for the next
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70 years, its secret world would
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continue to grow and evolve, becoming
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one of the most sophisticated and
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mysterious military installations on the
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planet. Behind the 34 ton blast doors of
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Raven Rock lies a world that seems taken
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from the pages of a science fiction
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novel. It is not a simple bunker. It is
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a fullyfledged, self-contained city. A
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subterranean metropolis designed to keep
4:32
the heart of America's military alive,
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even if the entire world outside has
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been turned to radioactive ash. The five
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freestanding three-story buildings
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inside the Mountain Cavern House,
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everything needed for 3,000 to 5,000 key
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personnel to survive and operate for at
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least 30 days, completely cut off from
4:50
the outside world. The city has its own
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streets, its own traffic lights, and its
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own emergency services. The
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self-sufficiency of Raven Rock is almost
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absolute. The city is powered by its own
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underground power plant with six massive
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diesel generators, each capable of
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producing 1,750
5:09
kW of electricity. These generators are
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fed by enormous underground fuel
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reservoirs, ensuring the lights stay on
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no matter what is happening on the
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surface. The city's water comes from two
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vast underground reservoirs, each
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holding millions of gallons of fresh
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water fed by a natural mountain spring.
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It even has its own water treatment
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plant. The air the inhabitants breathe
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is protected by a sophisticated
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filtration system capable of scrubbing
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the air clean of any radioactive,
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chemical, or biological contaminants. It
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is a sealed artificial ecosystem, a
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high- techch Noah's Ark built into the
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heart of a mountain. Over the decades,
5:47
the city has evolved to meet the needs
5:49
of its inhabitants. It has a fully
5:51
equipped hospital, a dental clinic, a
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fire department, and its own police
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force. To maintain a sense of normaly
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for the thousands of people who would be
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trapped there during a global crisis, it
6:02
also has a barber shop, a chapel, a
6:04
fitness center, and in a surreal touch
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of modern life, it is reported to have
6:09
its own Starbucks and a Taco Bell. This
6:11
is the underground Pentagon, a place
6:14
designed not just for survival, but for
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the long-term continuation of
6:18
government. Its primary classified
6:20
purpose is to serve as the alternate
6:22
command center for the Pentagon. In the
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event of a national catastrophe, the
6:26
Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs
6:28
of Staff, and thousands of essential
6:31
military planners and intelligence
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analysts would be evacuated to this
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mountain fortress to continue running
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the United States military. For decades,
6:39
the existence of Raven Rock was a
6:41
closely guarded secret. Its purpose, a
6:43
theoretical plan for a war that never
6:45
came. But on the morning of September
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11th, 2001, the theoretical suddenly
6:51
became terrifyingly real. As the attacks
6:53
on the World Trade Center and the
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Pentagon unfolded, the nation's
6:57
continuity of government plans were
6:59
activated. At 9:37 a.m., Vice President
7:02
Dick Cheney was rushed by the Secret
7:04
Service from his office in the White
7:06
House to a secure underground bunker.
7:08
While the exact location he was taken to
7:10
remains officially classified, it is
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widely reported and believed by
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journalists and historians that he was
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evacuated by helicopter to the one place
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that was designed for exactly this kind
7:22
of national crisis, the underground
7:24
Pentagon at Raven Rock. For a time on
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that terrible day, as the nation reeled
7:28
in shock and confusion, the secret city
7:30
inside the mountain was activated,
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fulfilling the grim purpose for which it
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had been built 50 years earlier. In the
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21st century, Raven Rock is not a
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forgotten relic. It is still a fully
7:42
operational hot military base, a key
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part of the nation's defense
7:47
infrastructure. It has undergone
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hundreds of millions of dollars in
7:50
upgrades to its communication systems,
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its computer networks, and its defenses,
7:55
ensuring it remains a state-of-the-art
7:57
command center. The story of the Raven
7:59
Rock Mountain Complex is a profound and
8:01
sobering look into the secret history of
8:04
the Cold War. The fact that a nation
8:06
felt it was necessary, that it was a
8:08
logical and rational decision to spend
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billions of dollars and years of effort
8:12
to hollow out a mountain and build a
8:14
secret city inside is a powerful
8:17
testament to how close the world came to
8:19
the brink of annihilation. It is a
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monument to a war that was never fought.
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A city that no one ever wanted to have
8:26
to live in. It is the ultimate insurance
8:28
policy. A fortress of last resort that
8:31
has been waiting silently in the heart
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of a mountain for over 70 years. A
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silent, powerful guardian hoping for a
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day that we all pray will never come.