San Francisco Defense Area Sites
SF-08/09 (San Pablo Ridge/Berkeley)
Administrative Areas
(SF-08A/SF-09A) with the Launcher Areas (SF-08L/SF-09L) in the
background. Circa 1955.
Undated US Army Corps of Engineers
Sacramento District History I
Location: San
Francisco Defense Area Nike Batteries 08-09 are located in the
Charles Lee Tilden Park in Contra Costa County, 4.6 miles southeast
of Richmond and 4.9 miles north of Berkeley, California. The
areas are part of the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD).
Site History: San
Francisco Defense Area Nike Batteries 08-09 were used by the
U.S. Army for assembly, launching, and control of guided missiles
for defense against hostile aircraft. The site was divided into
two areas: a Facility and Launcher Area were located at Nike
Battery 09, and an Integrated Fire Control (IFC) Area was located
approximately a mile to the northwest at Nike Battery 08. Structures
built on this site consisted of a gas station, family housing,
fuel storage tanks, septic tank, drain field, water tanks, administration
buildings, underground missile launching pads, and storage buildings
for liquid propellant, acid, gas and oil.
Nike Batteries 08-09 consisted of 135.33 acres (76.71 acres fee,
53.63 acres leased, 3.07 acres easement, and 1.92 acres license).
A total of 73.54 acres fee and easement were acquired by Declaration
of Taking (D/T) from East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD)
in 1957, and 6.24 acres fee was acquired by purchase from Tilden
Park Estates, Inc. in 1960. All of the license and leased acres
were acquired between 1954 and 1960.
The property was reported excess to the
General Services Administration (GSA) on March 26, 1971. The
Department of the Interior (DOI) conveyed 76.,71 acres fee and
3.07 acres easement to EBRPD by Quitclaim Deed on November 29,
1971, which contained a recapture clause for national emergency
or for non-compliance of intended use. On February 11, 1972,
GSA terminated the lease for 5.13 acres and the license for 1.51
acres with EBRPD. On February 23, 1972, GSA terminated the license
for 0.41 acre (0.01 County of Contra Costa, 0.13 Ansco Engineering
Corporation, and 0.27 Kensington Highlands Corporation). On June
30, 1972, the 48.50 acre lease with EBMUD expired under its own
terms. The restoration of the launching area was completed as
required in the lease and it was determined satisfactory by EBMUD
on May 13, 1974.
Integrated Fire Control
Areas (SF-08C/SF-09C), circa 1955
.
Undated US Army Corps of Engineers
Sacramento District History II
Nike Batteries 08-09 are located in Contra
Costa County, 4.6 miles southeast of Richmond and 4.9 miles north
of Berkeley, California. The property consisted of 76.71 acres
fee, 53.63 acres leased (various sources), 3.07 acres easement,
and 1.92 acres license (various sources) for a total acquisition
of 135.33 acres.
2. San Francisco Defense Area Nike Batteries
08-09 were used by the U.S. Army for assembly, launching, and
control of guided missiles for defense against hostile aircraft.
Structures built on this site consisted of a gas station, family
housing, fuel storage tanks, septic tank, drain field, water
tanks, administration buildings, underground missile launching
pads, and storage buildings for liquid propellant, acid, gas
and oil.
3. The total 135.33 acres was reported
excess to GSA on March 26, 1971. The DOI conveyed 76.71 acres
fee and 3.07 acres easement to EBRPD by Quitclaim Deed on November
29, 1971. The deed contained a recapture clause for national
emergency or for non-compliance of intended use. On February
11, 1972, GSA terminated the lease for 5.13 acres and the license
for 1.51 acres with EBRPD. On February 23, 1972, GSA terminated
the license for 0.41 acre (0.01 County of Contra Costa, 0.13
Ansco Engineering Corporation, and 0.27 Kensington Highlands
Corporation). On June 30, 1972, the 48.50 acre lease with EBMUD
expired under its own terms for a total disposition of 135.33
acres. The restoration of the launching area was completed as
required in the lease and it was determined satisfactory by EBMUD
on May 13, 1974.
Launcher Areas (SF-08L/SF09L)
The Western Electric SAM-A-7/M1/MIM-3
Nike Ajax
The Nike Ajax was the world's first
operational surface-to-air guided missile system. Its origins
lay in the immediate post-war time, when the U.S. Army realized
that guided missiles were the only way to provide air-defense
against future fast high-flying bombers. Western Electric became
the prime contractor for the XSAM-G-7 Nike missile system
and Douglas as the primary subcontractor was responsible for the
missile airframe.
The first unguided Nike missiles
were fired in 1946, but problems with the original multi-rocket
booster (eight solid-fuel rockets wrapped around the missile tail)
soon led to delays in the program. In 1948, it was decided to
replace this booster pack with a single rocket booster, attached
to the back of the missile. The main propulsion of the missile
was a Bell liquid-fueled rocket motor, and the flight path was
controlled by the four small fins around the nose. In November
1951, the first successful interception of a QB-17 target drone
succeeded. The first production Nike (which had been redesignated
SAM-A-7 in 1951) flew in 1952, and the first operational Nike
site was activated in 1954. By this time, the missile had been
designated by the Army as Guided Missile, Anti-Aircraft M1. The
name had changed to Nike I, to distinguish it from the
Nike-B (later MIM-14 Nike Hercules) and Nike II
(later LIM-49 Nike Zeus). On 15 November 1956, the name was finally
changed to Nike Ajax.
The Nike Ajax missile used a command
guidance system. An acquisition radar called LOPAR (Low-Power
Acquisition Radar) picked up potential targets at long range,
and the information on hostile targets was then transferred to
the Target Tracking Radar (TTR). An adjacent Missile Tracking
Radar (MTR) tracked the flight path of the Nike Ajax missile.
Using tracking data of the TTR and MTR, a computer calculated
the interception trajectory, and sent appropriate course correction
commands to the missile. The three high-explosive fragmentation
warheads of the missile (in nose, center, and aft section) were
detonated by ground command, when the paths of target and missile
met.
One of the major disadvantages of the Nike
Ajax system was that the guidance system could handle only
one target at a time. Additionally, there was originally no data
link between different Nike Ajax sites, which could lead
to several sites engaging the same target. The latter problem
was eventually solved by the introduction of the Martin AN/FSG-1
Missile Master command-and-control system, with automatic
data communication and processing. Other problematic features
of the Nike Ajax system were the liquid-fuel rocket motor
with its highly toxic propellants, and the large size of a complete
site with all components, which made Nike Ajax to all intents
and purposes a fixed-site air defense system.
By 1958, nearly 200 Nike Ajax sites
had been activated in the United States. However, the far more
advanced MIM-14 Nike Hercules soon replaced the Nike Ajax,
and by late 1963, the last Nike Ajax on U.S. soil had been
retired. In 1963, the Nike Ajax had received the new designation
MIM-3A. Despite the use of an MIM (Mobile Intercept Missile) designator,
the mobility of the Nike Ajax system was more theoretical
than actually feasible in a combat situation.
The MIM-3A continued to serve with U.S.
overseas and friendly forces for many more years. In total, more
than 16,000 missiles were built.
Source: Directory of U.S. Missiles
and Rockets, http://www.designation-systems.net/
Nike-Ajax Missiles
(NARA)
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