Deep beneath Greenland’s icy surface lies a forgotten relic of the Cold War—an abandoned U.S. military base that once housed a covert nuclear missile project. While former President Donald Trump made headlines by suggesting the U.S. should buy Greenland, citing national security concerns, this Arctic territory has long held strategic importance for the American military. More than 60 years ago, a secret operation was underway beneath Greenland’s frozen landscape: Camp Century.  

 

 

Constructed in 1959 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Camp Century was a subterranean complex built within a glacier, consisting of two miles of tunnels. On the surface, it was presented as a nuclear-powered research facility, and journalists were even invited to document its activities. However, hidden within this frozen labyrinth was a top-secret initiative known as Project Iceworm—a plan to build a network of underground tunnels and railway tracks capable of housing and deploying 600 nuclear missiles. These missiles were positioned to be launched over the North Pole toward the Soviet Union in the event of conflict.

 

 

 

 

For seven years, Camp Century operated in extreme isolation, situated 127 miles from the nearest human settlement. Access to the base was only possible via sled, and the harsh Arctic conditions made travel treacherous. Despite these challenges, those stationed there did not necessarily perceive the camp as dangerous. “People thought it was dangerous,” said Austin Kovacs, an army research engineer who worked at Camp Century. “And it was not dangerous. It was comfortable. And at times it was very, very monotonous,” he told National Geographic.  

 

Despite its covert purpose, Camp Century was designed to be self-sustaining and relatively livable. It featured a clinic, a theater, and even a library. “We had everything you could imagine—lights, and heat, and all that kind of stuff,” recalled John Fresh, a soldier who visited the base. “It was cold. I mean, you know, when you walk down there, you could feel it’s like walking into a freezer,” he told NPR.  

 

Project Iceworm remained a well-guarded secret for years. It was only in 1968—following the crash of a U.S. jet carrying nuclear bombs in Greenland—that an investigation revealed its existence. The inquiry uncovered that Denmark’s prime minister had secretly approved the project, though its feasibility had been vastly overestimated. Military engineers had not accounted for the glacier’s ever-changing nature; the movement of the ice caused steel tracks to buckle, missiles to become unstable, and even the camp’s atomic reactor to be at risk. By 1963, the nuclear reactor was shut down, and by 1967, the entire base was abandoned. Just two years later, in 1969, Camp Century lay in ruins, swallowed by ice and snow, its wooden beams splintered and hallways filled with drifting snow.  

 

Decades later, modern scientists continue to uncover new details about this lost Cold War base. In April of last year, NASA scientist Chad Greene and his team were flying over Greenland when their radar unexpectedly detected the remnants of Camp Century beneath the ice. “We were looking for the bed of the ice and out pops Camp Century,” said Alex Gardner, a cryospheric scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “We didn’t know what it was at first.” Their findings provided an unprecedented look at the base’s tunnels and structures, which now sit buried 100 feet below the surface.

 

“In the new data, individual structures in the secret city are visible in a way that they’ve never been seen before,” Greene said. Though long forgotten by the world, Camp Century remains an eerie reminder of a time when the Arctic ice concealed the ambitions of a global superpower.

 

Based on a report by The Independent 2025-02-11

 

 

8 hours ago, Social Media said:

 

Deep beneath Greenland’s icy surface lies a forgotten relic of the Cold War—an abandoned U.S. military base that once housed a covert nuclear missile project. While former President Donald Trump made headlines by suggesting the U.S. should buy Greenland, citing national security concerns, this Arctic territory has long held strategic importance for the American military. More than 60 years ago, a secret operation was underway beneath Greenland’s frozen landscape: Camp Century.  

 

 

Constructed in 1959 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Camp Century was a subterranean complex built within a glacier, consisting of two miles of tunnels. On the surface, it was presented as a nuclear-powered research facility, and journalists were even invited to document its activities. However, hidden within this frozen labyrinth was a top-secret initiative known as Project Iceworm—a plan to build a network of underground tunnels and railway tracks capable of housing and deploying 600 nuclear missiles. These missiles were positioned to be launched over the North Pole toward the Soviet Union in the event of conflict.

 

 

 

 

For seven years, Camp Century operated in extreme isolation, situated 127 miles from the nearest human settlement. Access to the base was only possible via sled, and the harsh Arctic conditions made travel treacherous. Despite these challenges, those stationed there did not necessarily perceive the camp as dangerous. “People thought it was dangerous,” said Austin Kovacs, an army research engineer who worked at Camp Century. “And it was not dangerous. It was comfortable. And at times it was very, very monotonous,” he told National Geographic.  

 

 

Despite its covert purpose, Camp Century was designed to be self-sustaining and relatively livable. It featured a clinic, a theater, and even a library. “We had everything you could imagine—lights, and heat, and all that kind of stuff,” recalled John Fresh, a soldier who visited the base. “It was cold. I mean, you know, when you walk down there, you could feel it’s like walking into a freezer,” he told NPR.  

 

Project Iceworm remained a well-guarded secret for years. It was only in 1968—following the crash of a U.S. jet carrying nuclear bombs in Greenland—that an investigation revealed its existence. The inquiry uncovered that Denmark’s prime minister had secretly approved the project, though its feasibility had been vastly overestimated. Military engineers had not accounted for the glacier’s ever-changing nature; the movement of the ice caused steel tracks to buckle, missiles to become unstable, and even the camp’s atomic reactor to be at risk. By 1963, the nuclear reactor was shut down, and by 1967, the entire base was abandoned. Just two years later, in 1969, Camp Century lay in ruins, swallowed by ice and snow, its wooden beams splintered and hallways filled with drifting snow.  

 

Decades later, modern scientists continue to uncover new details about this lost Cold War base. In April of last year, NASA scientist Chad Greene and his team were flying over Greenland when their radar unexpectedly detected the remnants of Camp Century beneath the ice. “We were looking for the bed of the ice and out pops Camp Century,” said Alex Gardner, a cryospheric scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “We didn’t know what it was at first.” Their findings provided an unprecedented look at the base’s tunnels and structures, which now sit buried 100 feet below the surface.

 

“In the new data, individual structures in the secret city are visible in a way that they’ve never been seen before,” Greene said. Though long forgotten by the world, Camp Century remains an eerie reminder of a time when the Arctic ice concealed the ambitions of a global superpower.

 

Based on a report by The Independent 2025-02-11

 

 

And where is the story, where are the news?😕

If it' secret how do they know it is there?

38 minutes ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

If it' secret how do they know it is there?

It was a secret in the 1950s and 1960s.

 

If you read the OP, it explains in fair detail how it was rediscovered.

Make Greenland Great Again, before the Chinese get there with that belt and road nonsense 😗

I do hope they took all those nuclear weapons when they cleared out. Now it's the oil.

3 hours ago, proton said:

Make Greenland Great Again, before the Chinese get there with that belt and road nonsense 😗

Uninformed MAGA claim. 🙂

 

The Chinese have been kicked out of infrastructure projects in Greenland since 2018! 

And in the meantime, Denmark passed a foreign investment act to prevent them from coming back!

There is nothing secret about it.  Its just abandoned.

Is it for sale?

 

2 hours ago, Purdey said:

Mam nadzieję, że wzięli całą te wszystkie bronie nuklearne, kiedy się wyrzucili. Teraz to jest olej.

No.

4 hours ago, proton said:

Make Greenland Great Again, before the Chinese get there with that belt and road nonsense 😗

Better still, leave Greenland alone to work out its own destiny with Denmark and the EU. Let ALL the people of Greenland work out their own future

11 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Is it for sale?

 

If it is DJ Trump will buy it and turn it into the Ice resort and Hotel Casino.

4 minutes ago, wavodavo said:

If it is DJ Trump will buy it and turn it into the Ice resort and Hotel Casino.

 

And then, Trump could compete for customers with Harbin.

1 hour ago, wavodavo said:

If it is DJ Trump will buy it and turn it into the Ice resort and Hotel Casino.

At his own expense I assume, otherwise it will belong to the USA and not Trump personally.

 

BTW, if all the Greenlanders accept Trump's offer, where will they live? If they sell their house and land, they will have to leave their own country, and live where?

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

At his own expense I assume, otherwise it will belong to the USA and not Trump personally.

 

BTW, if all the Greenlanders accept Trump's offer, where will they live? If they sell their house and land, they will have to leave their own country, and live where?

Trump will sell them all ice condos..and they would have ice cold beer all year round.

Is this still a Thai related forum or has it become a propaganda support for all the co-funding environmental wokes giving out all over against Trump ?

9 hours ago, Sigmund said:

Is this still a Thai related forum or has it become a propaganda support for all the co-funding environmental wokes giving out all over against Trump ?

It is actually posted in the World News forum, which is one of the many forums on Asean News.

 

You don't have to read it unless you want to keep up with the World News.