# Do any military vehicle/station currently in existence have a self-destruct? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 23, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-military-vehicle-station-currently-in-existence-have-a-self-destruct/713432 "2015-02-23T18:30:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-military-vehicle-station-currently-in-existence-have-a-self-destruct/713432/61 "2015-02-26T17:55:23Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > The only historical examples of a submarine successfully boarded involve a disabled submarine forced to the surface by damage and abandoned or intentionally surrendered. If the crew panic-abandons the sub, scuttling attempts might be ineffective and the boat can be (and historically, has been) captured. That’s how the Royal Navy (and, despite what Hollywood tells you, definitely **not** the US Navy) captured Kreigsmarine Enigma machines and codebooks during WW2. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-military-vehicle-station-currently-in-existence-have-a-self-destruct/713432/62 "2015-02-26T18:05:27Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > You overlooked a critical plot twist {…} No, I’ve seen the movie dozens of times, it’s the detail from the book (that I have not read) that’s bothering me. CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Unpronounceable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de0a6/32.png) [@Unpronounceable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unpronounceable)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-military-vehicle-station-currently-in-existence-have-a-self-destruct/713432/63 "2015-02-26T19:07:09Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > That’s how the Royal Navy (and, despite what Hollywood tells you, definitely **not** the US Navy) captured Kreigsmarine Enigma machines and codebooks during WW2. Despite what the US-haters tell you, the US _also_ [captured a U-Boat and enigma machine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-505). Just not until later. ---
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-military-vehicle-station-currently-in-existence-have-a-self-destruct/713432/64 "2015-02-26T21:53:45Z")
I worked with a defense contractor doing Avionics. They did have a small explosive to destroy some of the computer equipment to protect sensitive data. The idea was they couldn’t wait for, or trust, FLASH memory to erase. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-military-vehicle-station-currently-in-existence-have-a-self-destruct/713432/65 "2015-02-26T23:32:38Z")
> [@Unpronounceable](#): > > Despite what the US-haters tell you, the US _also_ [captured a U-Boat and enigma machine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-505). Just not until later. And [we still have it](http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/u-505/). ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-military-vehicle-station-currently-in-existence-have-a-self-destruct/713432/66 "2015-02-27T00:04:25Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > No, I’ve seen the movie dozens of times, it’s the detail from the book (that I have not read) that’s bothering me. > > CMC fnord! I don’t have the book handy, but I’ve read it a few times. And I don’t remember the whole “sucking the air out of the facility” bit. That would be redundant (why suffocate someone to just disintegrate them in a nuclear fireball 30 seconds later?) and impractical (as you say, where are they putting the air?). Not to mention, irrelevant in the actual case: with Andromeda mutating to eat anything you could use to make a sealed air system, the vacuum mechanism would have been been leakier than my kids’ usual alibis. If it’s in the book that way, it’s facepalmingly silly (even by the standards of Michael Crichton not paying attention). But I just don’t remember it, and the few lookups I could do with Google books doesn’t find it either. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-military-vehicle-station-currently-in-existence-have-a-self-destruct/713432/67 "2015-02-27T01:27:04Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > I don’t have the book handy, but I’ve read it a few times. And I don’t remember the whole “sucking the air out of the facility” bit. That would be redundant (why suffocate someone to just disintegrate them in a nuclear fireball 30 seconds later?) If I remember (and it’s been a long time since I read the book, so I might have it wrong) it was to make the nuclear explosion more efficient or something like that. > [@](#): > > and impractical (as you say, where are they putting the air?). Not to mention, irrelevant in the actual case: with Andromeda mutating to eat anything you could use to make a sealed air system, the vacuum mechanism would have been been leakier than my kids’ usual alibis. The people who built the lab could not foresee the specifics properties of the organisms they might be studying there. There’s lots of things wrong with the book, but that’s not one of them. > [@](#): > > If it’s in the book that way, it’s facepalmingly silly (even by the standards of Michael Crichton not paying attention). But I just don’t remember it, and the few lookups I could do with Google books doesn’t find it either. I’m pretty sure it’s in an epilog/windup section of the book, that is, after Hall disables the bomb. He’d managed to disable it with 30-some seconds to go, IIRC, and says something like “plenty of time”. Someone else then points out the air evacuation starting at 30 seconds. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andromeda_Strain) backs me up: > [@](#): > > To halt the atomic detonation, Dr. Hall must insert his special key to an emergency substation anywhere in Wildfire. Unfortunately, he is trapped in a section with no substation. He must navigate Wildfire’s obstacle course of automatic defenses to reach a working substation on an upper level. He barely disarms the bomb in time **before all the air is evacuated from the deepest level** of the Wildfire complex. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-military-vehicle-station-currently-in-existence-have-a-self-destruct/713432/68 "2015-02-27T02:14:00Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I imagine that in a WW3 scenario, once nuclear armed bombers reached enemy territory they would initiate a “fail deadly” protocol, so if they were shot down their bombs would go off, to whatever effect. I could easily be wrong though; anyone? Here’s a real-world example. [Equipment of Strategic Air Command - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Weapons_Emergency_Separation_System) ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-military-vehicle-station-currently-in-existence-have-a-self-destruct/713432/69 "2015-02-27T16:10:04Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > If I remember (and it’s been a long time since I read the book, so I might have it wrong) it was to make the nuclear explosion more efficient or something like that. > The people who built the lab could not foresee the specifics properties of the organisms they might be studying there. There’s lots of things wrong with the book, but that’s not one of them. > > I’m pretty sure it’s in an epilog/windup section of the book, that is, after Hall disables the bomb. He’d managed to disable it with 30-some seconds to go, IIRC, and says something like “plenty of time”. Someone else then points out the air evacuation starting at 30 seconds. > > [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andromeda_Strain) backs me up: Well, in that case, my point about Andromeda destroying the pumps stands: there would be no air evacuation, because all the seals in the air evac system (and any non-metallic plumbing therein) are destroyed. The only threat would have been the nuke, as if any more were needed. I suppose a related not-yet-asked (as far as I know) question: did mutated Andromeda not develop a taste for plastic insulation? There should have been short-circuits all over the place. Maybe the nuke wouldn’t have gone off at all, given those things are electrically triggered. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-military-vehicle-station-currently-in-existence-have-a-self-destruct/713432/70 "2015-02-27T16:11:39Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Here’s a real-world example. [Equipment of Strategic Air Command - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Weapons_Emergency_Separation_System) An [even bigger example](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Hand_%28nuclear_war%29). Think of it as a self-destruct system for human civilization. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-military-vehicle-station-currently-in-existence-have-a-self-destruct/713432/71 "2015-02-27T23:24:02Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > Before I even read the Wiki, I could have told you this is a bad idea. Sure, I’m not advocating it - just sprang to mind as a fairly well-qualifying example of what the OP was looking for (not least because I remember the decommissioning of the bombs at Daedalus, which is only a few miles away from me). Rumour has it that there are still similar pipe mines somewhere under the runway at Southampton Airport (where the Spitfire first flew) - some of them were discovered and removed during maintenance work in recent years, but (according to same rumour) the placement of the mines was not properly mapped or recorded when they were installed - or the records were lost afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-military-vehicle-station-currently-in-existence-have-a-self-destruct/713432/72 "2015-02-28T00:39:38Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I think that spy plane that landed in China years ago had one to wipe the computers. > > Also that stealth helicopter that they used to take out Bin Laden I think had one. I think the stealth helicopter’s “self destruct” was a SEAL tossing a thermite bomb into it. > [@Tripler](#): > > Originally Posted by AK84 View Post > IIRC artillery crews have the ability to destroy their guns if in danger of being overrun. > > Yes. As mentioned upthread, thermite works wonders for these sorts of things. As do other high explosives. As does sticking a rock down the barrel and firing it! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-military-vehicle-station-currently-in-existence-have-a-self-destruct/713432.md?page=3)