Planning for today's adventure began about 2 weeks ago when I got an invite to join a few people to climb down into an abandoned military bunker built during WW 2. We are keeping the location secret as we don't want a bazillion people tromping up there and perhaps getting the neighbors pissed off enough to call the cops. We didn't exactly have permission to enter the complex.
The story really goes back to December 7th, 1941 when the Japanese Empire attacked the United States military bases on O`ahu. Pearl Harbor and the navy ships there received the greatest amount of damage and loss of life in the attack. After the attack some of the ships that were two badly damaged to re-float were striped and parts used to repair other ships. One of the Battleships had it's 16" guns taken off and a series of "bunkers" were constructed on shore in the mountains to house the guns. The one we visited today was never put in to service as construction took so long that the war was over before it was finished. During the 1960's it was used as a Civil Defense planning site.
The first picture shows us climbing through dry scrub to reach the entrance. I was careful in aiming my camera to give no hints as to where this is.
This is the foundation for the turret mount for the 16" gun. I would have been fed ammunition from deep below the ground.
