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During the Cold War, 16 Nike missile batteries formed a defensive ring around metropolitan Detroit. Behind guarded fences and heavy steel doors, Nike Ajax and later Nike Hercules missiles stood ready to intercept Soviet bombers approaching America’s industrial heartland.
In this episode of End of the Road in Michigan, we follow a reconstructed launch-crew shift at the Newport D-57/58 battery. Radar antennas sweep the sky, underground elevators raise missiles to the surface, and soldiers prepare to respond within minutes.
Learn why Detroit’s factories made the region a likely military target, how radar and ground computers guided the missiles, and why the system faded as intercontinental ballistic missiles changed the Cold War threat.
The Nike batteries never fired in combat, but for nearly two decades, Michigan soldiers and National Guard crews trained as though an attack could come at any hour. This episode also separates documented history from the lingering rumors about nuclear warheads at individual Detroit-area sites.
The End of the Road in Michigan is a production of
Thumbwind PublicationsThis episode includes AI-generated content.
