The two floating “White Houses” – shelter of the President of the USA

As the Cold War escalated in the 1950s, the US government devised some secret plans to ensure its survival in the event of the Soviet Union launching a nuclear attack. These preparations for the “continuation of the government” included the construction of dozens of underground warehouses and the organization of the removal of high-ranking officials and government officials. So one of them was two boats “White Houses“, Which would be the refuge of the US President in the waters of the Atlantic.

So in the early 1960s, and more specifically in 1962, two US Navy special vessels – the light cruise ship USS Northampton and the light aircraft carrier USS Wright – were considered the most appropriate options for ousting the US President from Washington in the event of a nuclear attack.

The plan was called the National Emergency Command Post Afloat (NECPA) and according to this one of the two “White Houseboats” was always at sea in the Atlantic Ocean, in the Chesapeake Bay or in its “shadow” chairman wherever he was in the world, history.com reports.

The ships carried a special staff of Chiefs and had elaborate cabins, while they were also distinguished for the integrated communication systems with which they were equipped. “The Soviet Union had such a weak navy that it was considered almost impossible to find ships across the Atlantic,” said Garrett M. Graff, author of Raven Rock: The Story of the US Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself- While the Rest of Us Die ».

A plan, however, did not materialize, as according to Graff “when satellite technology made it easier to locate ships and take aerial observations, it became quite clear that it was no longer possible for the president to take refuge in the Atlantic Ocean.”

The NECPA project was abandoned in the early 1970s and eventually both ships were sold.