Raven Rock Mountain Complex

This article is about the 1953 nuclear bunker near the Mason–Dixon line. For the 1966 NORAD bunker, see Cheyenne Mountain Complex.

Raven Rock Mountain Complex
"Ravenrock", Liberty Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania, United States
200px The Site R tunnel entrance with abutments (, white figure in illustration) now has a building that is visible from a public road intersection to the west, particularly when trees are bare. The tunnel's other (east) opening is near the military installation's above-ground support area near the Route 16 intersection with Jack's Mountain Road.
Coordinates
Type	Nuclear bunker
Site information
Owner	U.S. Government
Site history
Built	1951-1953
See also: 1959 High Point bunker Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center 1959 Greenbrier nuclear bunker Project Greek Island

The Raven Rock Mountain Complex (RRMC) is an American military installation with an underground nuclear bunker near Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania, at Raven Rock Mountain that serves as an "underground Pentagon" (colloq.). The bunker has emergency operations centers for the United States Army, Navy, and Air Force.

Description

The installation's largest tenant unit is the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and RRMC communications are the responsibility of the 114th Signal Battalion. The facility has 38 communications systems, and the Defense Information Systems Agency provides computer services at the complex. Additional names for the installation are Raven Rock Military Complex, National Military Command Center Reservation (NMCC-R), Backup Pentagon", Site R, or "The Rock".

Site RT

Site RT is the portion of the military installation with communication towers and buildings atop the mountain.

History

Raven Rock Mountain and the adjacent Jacks Mountain on the north were formed in the Ordovician Period geologic period, and Miney Branch flows west-to-east between them in the Potomac River Watershed. The 1820 Waynesboro-Emmitsburg Turnpike with toll station for the 1787 crossroad was constructed between the mountains, where the Fight at Monterey Gap was conducted after the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg (Stuart's artillery at Raven Rock Gap shelled Federal troops.) In 1870 copper ore was discovered to the north, and the nearby Fountain Dale Springs House was established in 1874. The scenic area's mountain recreation facilities to the west included the 1877 Pen Mar Park, the 1878 High Rock Tower, the 1885 Monterey Country Club, and several resorts (e.g., Blue Mountain House, Buena Vista Springs Hotels, & Washington Cliff House). The 1889 Jacks Mountain Tunnel on the Western Extension (Baltimore and Harrisburg Railway) was completed near Raven Rock Mountain, and nearby stations were at Blue Ridge Summit and Charmian. The Army's 1942 Camp Ritchie was built southwest of the resorts, and a local road was built eastward from Blue Ridge Summit and intersected the north-south Fountaindale-Sabillasville Road (the intersection now provides access to the RRMC main gate.)

Planning for a protected Cold War facility near Washington, D.C. began in 1948 for relocation of military National Command Authorities and the Joint Communications Service.

Army unit

In 1953 the Army's Raven Rock unit was part of Joint Support Command, then in 1971 was redesignated as the Directorate of Telecommunications and placed under the garrison commander of Fort Ritchie, where Strategic Communications Command moved. The Directorate was redesignated USACC Site R Telecommunications Center in 1976, then simply USACC Site R in October 1981 (both under 7th Signal Command). Col. Humphrey L. Peterson was the 1983 commander of USACC Site R, which was redesignated In May 1984 as USAISC-Site R. Operation of the center was removed from the mission when the unit was redesignated the 1111th U.S. Army Signal Battalion under the 1101st U.S. Army Signal Brigade in October 1988 (under the 1108th U.S. Army Signal Brigade in October 1993), and the battalion remained responsible for maintenance, upkeep and communications. The unit became the 114th Signal Battalion under the 21st Signal Brigade after the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

Super underground communications center

The planned deep underground communications center was identified in the original 1950 federal petition to seize the Beard Lot, a 1,500-foot-high, mile-long hill located at Fountaindale and extending east and south along the Waynesboro-Emmitsburg road, The "Declaration of Taking" for "United States of America Versus 1,100 Acres of Land" was filed at the Adams County courthouse on January 23, 1951, and made the government the official owner of the 280-acre tract seized from 4 properties (17 total properties had been requested by February 15—some only for temporary use.) South of and above the Carson service station on the Sunshine trail, bulldozers began work on January 19, 1951; by February 3 a roadway to the site had been leveled behind a farmhouse; and by February 24 underground work had commenced (40 men working "normally" on that date were only performing above-ground construction.) By May 26 the Army had named the landform Raven Rock Mountain ("Raven Rock" is a pillar landform to the north along the mountain range) and listed its elevation as 1,527 feet.

By October 17, 1951, there had been two deaths: one due to premature dynamite detonation in the Beard Lot tunnel, and another due to crushing of a power-shovel operator. The S. A. Healy company was working on the alternate pentagon in November 1951, when Washington [announced] a cut-back in defense appropriations would affect the installation. On January 16, 1952, the government indicated that when completed, the bunker would have a standby group of approximately 100 personnel. Because of construction damage to the Sunshine Trail, the US said it would rebuild the trail in any fashion the state desired.

By March 29, 1952, more than 100 workers were striking from building additional Raven Rock housing at Camp Ritchie, which was to be a supplemental installation for the underground Pentagon at Fountaindale. No work was going on in the Raven Rock (Beard Lot) tunnel at that time. Local travelers having to bypass on the serpentine on the slope between Monterey and Fountaindale grew frustrated during the delay (the incomplete tunnel was dubbed the derogatory "Harry's Hole" for President Truman.) By April 7, 1952, United Telephone Company rights of way had been secured for four tracts, including one in Cumberland Township. Easements for three additional private tracts were filed by the government in December 1953 (a 1954 lawsuit against the U.S. by Alfred Holt was seeking $2,000 an acre for his 140-acre woodlot atop the Beard Lot [after] turning down an offer of $2,800 from the government.)

A 1952 Army history disclosed Raven Rock information. Three underground buildings were completed in 1953, the year a guard shelter burned on the installation. By April 1954, "Little Pentagon" development had cost $35,000,000.

Automatic activation

After the 1954 Air Defense Command blockhouse was built at Ent Air Force Base where the joint 1955 Continental Air Defense Command was activated, in August 1955 OSD approved the automatic activation of Raven Rock's Alternate Joint Communication Center on declaration of air defense warning or notice of surprise attack (SAC similarly completed a bunker in 1955). The AJCC was equipped with command and control (C²) hardware by the end of 1955.

1956 War Room Annex

In July 1956 at Raven Rock, a joint War Room Annex was established and was operated by the Air Force, and Raven Rock's readiness was broadened in April 1957 [for] activation prior to emergency if JCS thought it necessary. By 1959, the services as well as JCS regarded Raven Rock as their primary emergency deployment center. For the Air Force, it served as Headquarters USAF Advanced, capable of receiving the Chief of Staff and key officers. After President Dwight D. Eisenhower expressed concern about nuclear command and control, a 1958 reorganization in National Command Authority relations with the joint commands was implemented. On 1 July 1958 Raven Rock's USAF facility, ADCC (Blue Ridge Summit), became one of the 33 NORAD Alert Network Number 1 stations (but with receive-only capability as at TAC Headquarters, Sandia Base, and the Presidio at San Francisco.) On 20 October 1960, the JCS instructed the Joint Staff to establish a Joint Alternate Command Element (JACE) for rotating battle staffs to Raven Rock for temporary duty. In November 1960, consoles at the Pentagon's Joint War Room became operational, and the Raven Rock JACE was activated on 11 July 1961 under USAF Brig. Gen. Willard W. Smith [with the 5] staffs permanently stationed in Washington and an administrative section at Ft. Ritchie —rotations began in October 1961 (Fort Ritchie also had the OSD Defense Emergency Relocation Site.) An expansion project by the Frazier – Davis – McDonald Company was underway in December 1961 at the "little Pentagon", and bunker personnel were evacuated during a 1962 fire. Pentagon construction to provide an entire JCS center at the Joint War Room opened the National Military Command Center (NMCC) in early October 1962. It was initially considered an interim center until a nearby Deep Underground Command Center (DUCC) could be completed after which Raven Rock would be phased out as superfluous, whichever version [50-man or 300-man DUCC] was chosen, but neither was built—nor were SAC's similar Deep Underground Support Center or NORAD's Super Combat Centers.

1962 ANMCC

"ANMCC" redirects here. For the detailed National Military Command Center description, see Joint War Room § 1962 NMCC.

Raven Rock's joint War Room, USAF ADCC, and other facilities were designated the Alternate National Military Command Center (ANMCC) on 1 October 1962 when the Burroughs SS-416L Control and Warning Support System with the Semi Automatic Ground Environment had been deployed (Back-Up Interceptor Control began at North Bend AFS in December.) The term AJCC remained in use, only [for] the Army-managed communications complex. On 17 October 1962, DOD Directive S-5100.30 conceived the Worldwide Military Command and Control System with five groups of C² systems: the National Military Command System was the primary group (to serve the President/SECDEF/JCS) and was to contain the Pentagon NMCC, Raven Rock's ANMCC, 3 NEACP aircraft on 24-hour ground alert, 2 NECPA ships, and interconnecting communications—the Raven Rock bunker was hardened further to about 140 psi blast resistance by 1963 when the Cheyenne Mountain nuclear bunker was being completed for tbd psi. The USAF's subsequent IBM 473L Command and Control System with AN/FYA-2 Integrated Data Transfer Consoles and Large Panel Display Subsystem had equipment deployed at both the NMCC and ANMCC (a 2nd IBM 1410 computer was installed by December 15, 1966.)

1976 Telecommunications Center

The USACC Site R Telecommunications Center was designated in 1976, and the 1977 Alternate National Military Command and Control Center Improvement Program was worked on by the DoD Special Projects Office (later renamed Protective Design Center) for a new deep underground C² center with >3 mi (4.8 km) of air entrainment tunnels (cancelled in 1979.) After the 2001 September 11 attacks, Vice President Cheney used Raven Rock as a protected site away from President George W. Bush. The Raven Rock military installation was declared part of the Pentagon Reservation under 10 U.S.C. § 2674(g) and on May 25, 2007, DoD policy declared it is unlawful for any person entering in or on the property … to make any photograph, sketch, picture, drawing, map or graphical representation of the Raven Rock Mountain Complex without first obtaining the necessary permission" (cf. persons not entering or on the property such those of Google Maps.)

In 1977, the bunker had an Emergency Conference Room, and the Current Action Center was a military intelligence unit (an Air Force general was responsible for overseeing the installations' communications.)

In popular culture

• In the TV series Jeremiah, Raven Rock is a setting and on Prison Break, Raven Rock is an identified location.
• In films, Raven Rock is identified in Oblivion.
• In video games, it is home to the remnants of the United States Government in Fallout 3.
• In Fury and Light by Chris Stewart, Raven Rock is an identified location where the dying president is taken.

External images
1952 tunnel photo
Aerial photos
locked gate and shack