back to article Brit nuke subs exposed on Google Earth

The UK's military top brass are said to be "furious" that updated imagery on Google Earth has laid bare pretty well all of Blighty's defence infrastructure, including Faslane nuclear sub base, the "nuclear crisis HQ" in Northwood, North London, the SAS barracks in Herefordshire, GCHQ in Cheltenham and MI6's spook central in …

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  1. Jez Caudle
    Black Helicopters

    SAS Crop circle?

    Do you see the crop circles to top and right of the SAS barracks?

    They are using Alien Technology and have Alien DNA. Why else would they storm the Iranian Embassy when everyone else was watching Steve "Interesting" Davis play snooker?

    I was watching in black and white on a 14 inch portable TV.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Military brass

    He'd probably have a fit if he saw www.secret-bases.co.uk then! Most of it is publicly available information.

    To be fair to Google, maps.live.com have slightly higher res imagery of Faslane, so perhaps the military should be aiming their scathing comments at Microsoft instead?

  3. Tim

    GCHQ

    GCHQ looks rather nice. Perhpas somebody there who is reading this would like to invite me over for a tour.

    Tim#3

  4. Ian

    A title is required.

    Why does the SAS HQ have crop circles in the field next to it?

    Is this part of their training? Anyone who can crawl into a farmers field without leaving a trail then making a pattern in the middle of the field and exit again without leaving an exit trail either is in?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Crop circles!

    I knew it! The SAS have been taken over by alien mind control rays! There's clear proof right there in the new google images: a series of crop circles in that last image at the top right of the picture!

    CALL THE NEWS OF THE WORLD!!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    And in rural Berkshire

    There's the Atomic Weapons Estalblishments in Aldermaston and Burghfield.

    If I understood this Googlestuff I'd KMZ it, but the spooks either don't care or are asleep at the wheel as the area is popular with recreational fliers in microlights and Cessnas and such who couldn't possibly be terrorists in disguise, could they, otherwise it'd be a no-fly zone.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    Crop circle fake also revealed

    I noticed that top right on the SAS photo is a crop circle. Is this proof that squaddies doing a never ending 'left wheel' are in fact the cause of crop circles and not aliens after all.

  8. fifi

    Windsor Castle

    This is right up there with the Ex-Royal car's GPS.

  9. Michael Fremlins
    Stop

    Lot of hot air about nothing

    The would-be "terrorists" already know where the base is. They wouldn't need to lob mortar bombs at any specific building, any one would do.

    This is just being used as an attempt at web censorship.

  10. Oliver Mayes
    Black Helicopters

    Bah

    Everyone knows that all those buildings are mere holograms designed to draw attention away from our real armed forces. Secure in their distant hollowed-out mountain-top hideouts.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Very clear, but what date?

    I am doing up a farmhouse in Yorkshire near one of the MOD sites. The image is now a lot clearer, but judging from the state of the surroundings is still pre 2004 despite the copyright statement

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    Outrageous!

    My own Google Earth-based researches have revealed that both Buckingham and St James' Palaces, 10 Downing Street, the MoD Main Building, the Cabinet Office, the Department of Health, Defra, the Ministry for Education (or whatever the hell it's called this week), the Houses of Parliament, City Hall, all the major UK airports, many sites of historic interest and the offices of both The Sun and The Daily Fail are fully exposed to the scrutiny of anyone with a computer that meets the minimum specifications and wishes to plan the sort of nefarious activities that are unachievable by merely walking around with a camera pretending to be a tourist. When will this be stopped?

    And where do I pick up my fee for pointing out the bleeding obvious in the name of scaremongering on a quiet Monday morning?

  13. Dr Patrick J R Harkin

    I like the design of GCHQ

    If you target your missile to hit it right in the middle, you'll miss it completely.

  14. richard
    Pirate

    hop on the no. 94 bus!

    now that's funny...oh and of course very chilling.....thanks to the sun for saving us again...

  15. Joseph Haig
    Flame

    nuke

    Was I the only person who read the word 'nuke' in the title as a verb rather than an adjective?

    Icon seems appropriate.

  16. Paul Murphy

    Calculated risk.

    After all if someone is determined to attack somewhere then they will find a way.

    I think I would prefer things to be open anyway, after all if you have nothing to hide ...etc And it's not as though these places can't defend themselves after all.

    ttfn

  17. David Edwards

    If I was a terrorist

    I really would think more than twice about raiding an SAS base.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You have already failed

    If your on the ground security is incapable of keeping people with bombs out of your buildings.

  19. Nick

    Aliens already found SAS

    Look at the crop circles in the NE corner of the pic.

    I don't think there's anything available on Google earth which a well organised terrorist cell could find out for themselves.

    It's one thing to see an aerial photo of something, but another thing to figure out whether it's a sleeping barracks/ missile facility/ heavily reinforced concrete bunker/ WMD creation facility -

    It takes a lot of skilled photo interpretation and then political interference to figure out what something actually is.

  20. Herby

    Why is this so special?

    In a simple test, I entered "pentagon, arlington va" into Yahoo's mapping service. It gave me a nice map of the point that is commonly referred to as "ground zero", the center of the structure. As I understand it, it was the place where the Soviets had a missile targeted during the cold war. In addition I understand there is a hot dog stand (or similar) there (called "ground zero cafe", as I understand it) that the "locals" take lunch breaks. From the looks of it it is a nice sunny patio.

    No I have never been there.

    Of course, when the Mac first came out, its map "desk accessory" had the coordinates for "Area 51" in it. They were asked kindly to remove that point. They kept the "middle of nowhere" point though!

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Noticed this on Friday

    The road from Loch Lomond over to Faslane is superb on the old motorcycle (warning: lots of sheep at times, do a sighting run first) and I was trying to remember what is was called; then I noticed that Faslane itself was shown in surprising detail. Almost to maximum magnification.

    I think the threat is overblown though. Sure you can see that a road goes from that white blob to the other white blob, but you have no idea which white blob is for what. Much better to go along aforementioned road, stop at the car park at about halfway, and just have a good look.

    As for rocketing Faslane....only place really would be from the road. But there's a high fence, loads of cameras and the all hippies would just get in the way.

  22. elpaw
    Alien

    Are those crop circles?

    Just outside the SAS HQ?

  23. George
    Stop

    Over reaction terrorism badnwagon ahoy!

    Lets face it, we all know that the SAS is in Hereford, nuke subs are in Faslane and anyone with serious intent would be able to get the co-ordinates without needing to pop on Google Earth.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    so what?

    Devonport (home to subs, frigates etc.) is also clearly shown and has been for some time.

    Anybody who really wanted to find the necessary info could do so anyway, regardless of Google earth/maps.

    I think the Germans spotted the dockyard back in the 1940's.

  25. Alexander Lovell
    Black Helicopters

    Is this really news?

    If you want to be really outraged you could head over to www.secret-bases.co.uk who have been exposing all sorts of stuff like this in glorious high resolution since 2003.

    They have google maps extracts, site plans, photos taken from low flying light aircraft of all manner of well...secret bases. Training areas and ranges, RAF and USAF bases, an interactive tour of the trident base area posted in 2007, munitions storage areas, all kinds of stuff about GCHQ, MI5, MI6 and the FCO listening staion at Hanslope Park etc are all there.

    It's a great website to waste a slow afternoon in the office.

  26. Steve Foster

    Bigger Worry...

    ...for the Sun should be who's making those crop circles next to the SAS barracks (top-right of picture)!

    Obviously, the SAS have been infiltrated by aliens...

  27. Matt
    Thumb Down

    More fear-mongering

    What's the Sun's readership? I'm guessing that they've just highlighted this 'problem' to around 5,000,000 people who otherwise wouldn't have known about this 'security breach'.

    Well done them for keeping the cat in the bag...

    (need a 'cat out of the bag' icon!!! :D)

  28. James

    Protection from Al Qaeda

    Let's face it, if the people who are supposed to be protecting us FROM the likes of Al Qaeda are intimidated by having pictures of their highly guarded bases out there, we're doomed. Can you really imagine anyone with the firepower and skill to attack the SAS in their own base being deterred by only having a blurred photo of where they'd be confronting a couple of hundred highly skilled, heavily armed special forces troops? Err... no.

  29. Geoff Spick

    Hiding MI6

    What's the point?

    I hope that when Al Queda does decide to attack MI6, bundling out of a train at Vauxhall station for a good vantage point, surely those green glass-fronted ramparts will collapse to reveal a shed load of 50 cals and Javelin missiles to blat them into pixie dust.

    As for Faslane, there's bugger all there, all the good stuff is at Coulport

    Finally - go on, invade the SAS HQ, I fricking dare anyone!

  30. Steve

    What's the issue here?

    Faslane - get close enough to launch mortars/rockets with any accuracy and they'd be able to see it anyway and Google doesn't actually tell you what individual buildings are.

    GCHQ - just not worth attacking unless you're going to flatten it entirely. There's no infrastructure that's irreplaceable and unless you know which office window to attack, you're unlikely to randomly hit all the analysts who specialise in your country/region.

    MI6 - that's not MI6 it's just a "Foreign Office building" - ask the government.

    SAS - anyone stupid enough to think that attacking the SAS barracks will do anything other than piss them off should be encouraged to try.

  31. Joe
    Flame

    No security risk

    Sorry, any half-witted terrorist can find just about any "sensitive" location, this is a lot different from gaining access, and doing harm. Besides, more harm my be done by targetting the financial district than either military or intelligence sites. That's why the World Trade Center was the main target. Sure The Pentagon was also hit, but that was meant to be a slap in the face (and may have been an alternate target anyway)

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    Thats nothing....

    These facilities are publicy known and easy to find. If The Sun are concerned about military secrets being exposed, what would they say about this site?

    www.secret-bases.co.uk

    If I remember rightly, somewhere on the site it mentions that the Daily Mail tried to run a scare story about this guy providing information for terrorists. When MI6 were asked for their opinion, they commended the site author for his investigative work and said he's just the type of chap they'd want to employ, and he was invited to visit with their top brass!

  33. Daniel Silver badge
    Pirate

    OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH

    I'm SHOCKED - AND DISGUSTED Teh Terorists will be now able to completly work out how to HIT US WHERE IT HURTSand cause DEVISTATION to our law abiding land. Them IMIGRANTS arent helping either and we shall all be MURDERED in our BEDS by NAZI TERORISTS who can come in when they please and DONT PAY TAXES or ANYTHING.

    I'm ANGRY - ANGRY BEYOND WORDS at this outrage. Wont somebody think of teh CHILDREN

    Signed,

    An average SUN reader

  34. Andrew Munson
    Alien

    SAS consultants

    Anyone else notice the UFO landings in the crop field Noth-east of SAS base?

  35. Jamie
    Linux

    Stop the terrorists

    OK so the maps and pictures are posted online.

    Then to sell a 35p rag the editors at the SUN decide to publish it and talk about how terrorist could use this information to base attacks. And just to make sure in case they did not get the pictures off the website, and to add to the hysteria they also publish the actual location in latitude and longtitude.

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    Crop circles

    I'm guessing the crop circles posts were a joke, but just in case anyone thought they were serious, those circles are actually the compass and other controls from google earth. They just happen to be in a field...

  37. Big Bear
    Alien

    UFOs?

    Bugger the terrorists! I just hope that the SAS are well on their way to building a Mind Shield and Fusion Ball Defences! Plus have the Hangers in a row with the Elevator connected to a single Living Quarters, all in a “T” configuration so the pesky aliens have to attack along a single vector…

  38. Giles Jones Gold badge

    Stupid

    It's the same stupid logic that means printed maps no longer have military sites printed on them. They used to do.

    What kind of a fool would force their way into an army base and cause trouble?

  39. Calvin Davidson
    Happy

    If they're cropcircles...

    ... the aliens have been rather busy. They're even in central London.

  40. Ross Fleming
    Joke

    @David Edwards

    "I really would think more than twice about raiding an SAS base"

    You've missed the point!! The Sun has told me that they might be asleep sometimes!! Then what? Eh? Eh?

    Once you've sat back and thought of the children for a bit, I think you'll find yourself looking a bit silly m'laddo!

    The Sun are absolutely bang on. Blur the pictures on Google Earth. Not only that, cover the buildings in a big dome of frosted glass so you can't see them properly when you're outside it. It's the only way to be sure...

  41. J Day
    Coat

    SAS running scared....

    I bet the SAS are running around like headless chickens.........NOT

  42. dervheid
    Alert

    Also clearly on view

    Check out the view of Rosyth Naval Dockyard/Graveyard. Several subs on view there.

  43. Tim Wesson
    Black Helicopters

    Police

    Good job that you didn't carry photographs of any police stations!

  44. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Google's info is rubbish...

    ... you can get much more detailed info from the US Navy

    http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/~cannon/medports/Faslane/

    "Port Ops normally work on VHF ch 73."

    Just in case you needed to listen.

  45. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    So???

    Anyone driving down the A40 can see GCHQ, and the roads round it are public roads, and then there are all the people in the houses there too. You can't "hide" things like GCHQ or AWE Aldermaston or Fylingdales. So are the Sun going to demand that all the roads near them are closed?

    Once again we had a shit-rag of a paper trying to boost its flagging sales by spinning a nothing story into some sort of hysteria with suitably rabid quotes from "military experts" (which probably means someone who buys the Tanks bit work from the newsagent).

    So, nothing to see here, move along.

  46. This post has been deleted by its author

  47. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Excuse me for being vague ...

    but the locations of the likes of Faslane, etc are well-known to anyone who happens to live nearby or simply drive past every day.

    Over-reaction, much?

  48. Ian
    Coat

    and......

    what exactly would be the point of attacking faslane anyway? "we've blown up some buildings that contain spares for a sub." Wow, big deal. The subs at se are the useful ones, and no-one knows where they are until the crash into a French equivalent. And I really don't think they leave nuke warheads lying around in sheds that you can see on Google Earth. 25meters down, under stell and concrete, maybe. But you'd have to hit that with a bit more than a truck-mounted mortar to make an impression.

    Mine's the one with the quality newspaper in the pocket

  49. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    Crop Circles are by Google

    Look more closely at the crop circles and just below (crossing the road) is the Google Maps zoom slider. Therefore, aliens put crop circles there to help them use Google. Or Google are the aliens or ... the whole of the Earth is a virtual 3D alien-Google software of somewhere else completely.

  50. Owen Kerr
    Black Helicopters

    IRA have been there and done that without Google Earth

    The IRA managed to hit the MI6 building in 2000 with a handheld rocket launcher and they probably didn't need much more than a tourist map to find their way so if someone wants to hit a target like one of these sites Google Earth won't be needed. It just means they might save 20mins or so looking for a picture.

  51. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    Re: Thats nothing

    "These facilities are publicy known and easy to find. If The Sun are concerned about military secrets being exposed, what would they say about this site?

    www.secret-bases.co.uk

    If I remember rightly, somewhere on the site it mentions that the Daily Mail tried to run a scare story about this guy providing information for terrorists. When MI6 were asked for their opinion, they commended the site author for his investigative work and said he's just the type of chap they'd want to employ, and he was invited to visit with their top brass!"

    Translation:

    "MI6 are well aware of this website and are monitoring both the site author as well as the locations of the site visitors. They would only want to employ the author if the site featured foreign secret military sites. Invitation to meet their top brass for a 'chat' about national security."

  52. Aortic Aneurysm

    crop circles

    I'm shocked it took nearly 40 comments, before someone pointed out the were the compass.

    Epic fail from most, getting their pants wetter than someone taking a bath fully clothed.

  53. Lukin Brewer

    Well, I suppose...

    ...if the USSR isn't there to provide high quality satellite imagery to our enemies any more...

    Seriously, though, you can glean very little from the aerial pics of MI6 and GCHQ. It's not much use without a floor plan. As for Faslane, you could map that out from the other side of the loch. If you wanted grid coordinates for any of these places, you could just triangulate them the old-fashioned way. The only terrorists Google Earth will assist are the lazy, armchair variety.

    If you search for "Area 51" on Google Earth, it comes up immediately - one result - and takes you straight there. It's been visible there for years. It even has pictures. All in all, they reveal nothing that would be of any use to an enemy of the US. The only thing that's missing now is the old graphic of the little green men recharging their saucer and having a barbecue.

  54. mh.
    Coat

    Don't worry

    The innocent have nothing to fear. At least that's what that nice Ms Smith tells me.

    I remember Bruce Schneier suggesting that if you think terrorists are trying to destroy your infrastructure, it might not be a good idea to dismantle it yourself (http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/01/helping_the_ter.html). The tabloids do need to be careful with their scaremongering because there's nothing to say that they might not be banned next. Terrorism laws don't just apply to people who look or sound a bit foreign.

  55. ElFatbob

    i reckon

    that if the governments were that bothered, the various spook agencies could make google's life pretty unbearable...

  56. Mark Lockwood
    Black Helicopters

    Not only are these available on Google Earth

    ... but any would be terrorists could get the information for an Ordnance Survey Map and a London A to Z, and could do for the past 30 years or so.

    For the love of God, will someone please think of our children, and children's children.

    That is all.

  57. The Fuzzy Wotnot
    Thumb Up

    What an arse!

    Hmmm, 'cos your average terrorist only has access to Google Maps and an A-Z! I was able to drive right past Faslane on a family holiday, video camera out the car window, no one stopped me, so if I was with the Black January or whomever I can't see that bluring a few shots in Google would stop me!

  58. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    But they haven't photographed any Policemen,

    So that's all right then !

  59. Pete James

    @ Giles Jones

    "What kind of a fool would force their way into an army base and cause trouble?"

    The IRA tried it back in 1989 at Tern Hill barracks.

    I remember it well. As I saw their getaway car I was a witness.

  60. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    "the revealing snaps would make it easy for terrorists to launch accurate mortar or rocket attacks"

    I'm not a military expert, but it seems to me that if terrorists are in a position to shell Cheltenham and London, there's a bigger problem than satellite photos...

  61. Pete James

    Just an additional point....

    Hereford is a bit deserted at the mo as most of the nutters there are on their Government funded 'business' trips. So any terrorist attack won't do much good except for a knock on the doors of some places in distant lands............

  62. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    At least MI6 take security seriously

    A few years ago a colleague got lost in Vauxhall looking for our client's office. He thought it was the MI6 buildiong but when he asked them "What building is this?" he was told they couldn't tell him!

  63. J Ford

    Many Bothans died to bring us this information

    Live search has more useful pics of GCHQ. You can even see a long service trench in the roof for budding x-wing pilots to take out the reactor core.

  64. Steve Swann
    Thumb Up

    @Big Bear

    ROFL. Now *those* were the days!

    (checks number of APs remaining.... )

  65. Pete Silver badge

    @What's the issue here?

    So far as GCHQ goes, I doubt that anyone working on the "good" stuff is permitted to have anything as un-Tempesty as a window.

    Plus, with any of these bases just try parking a car or a van nearby them for any length of time - see how long it takes before a patrol arrives. For extra stupidity points, try unloading a rocket-launcher sized length of plastic guttering/tubing and see if they come any quicker.

  66. Frank

    Underwater at Faslane?

    Never mind the SAS crop circles, which have been exposed as a Google hoax. If you look at the water at Faslane, there seem to be some regular structures under the surface, along the entire length of the visible waterway.

    Is this some kind of Google artefact or maybe an internal lens reflection of adjacent industrial building? If it is underwater structures, how did they get the concrete to set? Why hasn't anyone else commented on this (so far). What is it anyone?

    (If this is all a stupid misunderstanding, please feel free to take the p**s, as I know you will)

  67. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bad planning really

    Gerry Anderson was on to this issue years ago - anyone know what the dark patterns in the loch are? - just abberation or something more interesting?

  68. Tom

    oooh I'm so scared

    just think - someone could drop a nuclear bomb there and cause about 0.001% of the damage that one banker and a bunch of politicians could.

    I'd run away but I cant afford the trainers...

  69. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Military brass

    What can you say about a web site that thinks Wandsworth is in South East London. Hi grade information like this must be a boon.

  70. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Halo

    Ah but are we going to be.....

    in trouble even just for viewing such facilities on Google ?. Given the hypersensitivity to such

    things we could be said to be in possession of images (in cache?) helpful to a terrorist and

    thus unlawful ?.

  71. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    how lovely...

    there's a nice little landscaped garden next to the field with crop circles in.

    I bet that's where we launch missiles from - it'll open up right down that path down the middle.

  72. Bill

    @crop circle = compass?

    Er .. there are 14 (?16?) circles N of Faslane, and no, aortic, they're not the compass. Mind you, they're not crop circles either, they're flat topped mounds, so maybe they're residences for our alien overlords?

    Either way, We Should Be Told and i'm going to be reading the Sun every day from now on until we are.

  73. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Norkwall

    Luckily the story in the Sun will be of no use to the evil Al Quada as the cleverly installed nork firewall on page 3 will prevent any self respecting islamic fundamentalist from accessing the information.

    And should any of them try there colleagues will be duty bound to kill them........

    Paris, as exposed hooters can save us from the evils of terrorism!

  74. Lionel Baden

    @Pete 12:59 GMT

    Plus, with any of these bases just try parking a car or a van nearby them for any length of time - see how long it takes before a patrol arrives. For extra stupidity points, try unloading a rocket-launcher sized length of plastic guttering/tubing and see if they come any quicker.

    When i was younger and had no money i had to deliver chemicals there, drove up in a old rusty white van packed full of checmicals, and they were happy for me to go right up and deliver at the building cause i didnt want to carry them.

    But that said i was pulled over once in london (whilst runing late) by police and they did a spot check on the van, but they didnt check to see what the chemicals were i was carrying.

  75. pootman

    Accurate?

    "the revealing snaps would make it easy for terrorists to launch accurate mortar or rocket attacks".

    Still pushing that whole 'accurate' propaganda I see. Weird to see them talking about the enemy using 'accurate' attacks though.

  76. MikeG

    @Frank

    I reckon the apparent underwater structures are image artefacts; it looks like a ghostly overlay of somewhere else.

    There *are* types of concrete that will set underwater BTW...

  77. neb
    Happy

    re@SAS

    at least they haven't shown the colour of the boathouse

    phew!

    hi ho, hi ho

    a walting we will go

  78. Anonymous Coward
    Linux

    hahaha

    How's the show feel on the other foot? Watching the watchers.

  79. Paul

    @Frank

    "If it is underwater structures, how did they get the concrete to set"

    Prefabricated structures?

  80. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Been watching for years

    I've been watching military bases on GE for years. It's really quite worrying to look at some of our naval ports (plymouth for example) and see the whole fleet in dock - makes I worry if a war be commin, all the navy lads ashore havin fun,

    Jocking apart, this really is old news, US bases have planes on hard standings so you can see what type of base they are, (Nuke Bomber, fighter/interceptor, freight/refuelling, helicoper etc) and our bases are not much better - we just don't have the planes to look at.

    @Frank - concrete sets as a result of a chemical reaction called hydrationgenerating heat and so should be able to set underwater, if not, simply build a cofferdam, pump out the water, build your underwater edifice, let the water back in and remove the cofferdam

  81. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Neb

    >at least they haven't shown the colour of the boathouse

    First thing I looked for that :)

  82. Andy Livingstone

    I'm not worried

    The important places, like my house, are still fully blurred.

    The Faslane pictures are of much poorer quality than the tourists usually get from the other side of the Loch or from the top of the nearby Car Park viewing point.

  83. Andrew
    Happy

    @neb

    You are a member of ARRSE AICMFP. Everyone knows it's eggshell.

  84. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    Why is this an issue? The Chinese sub bases have been on GE for a while.

    A pretty good view of the Jianggezhuang Submarine Base approximately 14 miles east of Qingdao at Latitude 36° 6'14.41"N & Longitude 120°34'47.20"E complete with Chinese subs has been on Google Earth for quite some time. There's even a Jin-class sub at the Xiaopingdao Submarine Base at Latitude 38°49'4.03"N & Longitude 121°29'39.75"E.

  85. Nathan
    Pirate

    Camo

    Time to cover every "sensitive" building/base with camouflage so people can't see them from satellite images... it works for terrorists...

    "OMG WHERE DID THE WHITE HOUSE GO?"

  86. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Pointless

    If a bunch of protesters can waltz into a nuclear subbase there really isnt mutch reason to protest about satellite pictures.

  87. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ammo bunkers

    How about the ammo bunkers just a bit north of Banbury, Oxfordshire? Apparently the largest one of it's kind it Europe. If you're a naughty terr, and wanted to start a war this might be a good place to start.

    Follow the train tracks - you can see the sidings quite clearly.

  88. Ed Blackshaw Silver badge

    @Frank and AC

    Those look like JPEG compression artefacts to me.

  89. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Hell, I Can Beat THAT

    http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=56.059954~-4.818642&style=a&lvl=18&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=11952505&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&where1=56%C2%B03'29.63%22N%2C%204%C2%B048'47.86%22W&encType=1

    Microsoft Live has a proctoscope.

  90. Simon Harris
    Boffin

    @Frank - Underwater Cement

    Even the Romans knew how to do this.

    Vitruvius was writing about it over 2000 years ago.

    http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27877/27877-h/27877-h.htm#Page_38

  91. Harry Stottle

    The Military's Complaints are Entirely Justified!

    Classic instance of how Privacy is intimately connected with Security.

    Publishing hi res aerial reconnaissance images of buildings makes them much easier to attack. But why has it not occurred to anyone else that this same risk applies to the private homeowner?

    Particularly if you include "street view", the potential burglar and other attackers can now "case the joint" without even taking the nominal risk of being seen on the street in the days leading up to the attack. Sauce, goose, ganders etc...

  92. Big Bear

    @Steve Swann

    Abandonia.com is where I found it again... It's the only permanently installed game on my ultraportable, though I recently found Red Storm Rising as well on some site...

  93. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    Since a colleague of mine was too stupid...

    Since a colleague of mine was too stupid to figure out how to get Google Earth to show the Chinese subs, I figure others may be as well:

    To have Google Earth display -

    Jianggezhuang Submarine Base: Cut and paste "36° 6'14.41"N, 120°34'47.20"E" (without the quotes) into Google Earth

    Jin-class sub at the Xiaopingdao Submarine Base: Cut and paste "38°49'4.03"N, 121°29'39.75"E" (without the quotes) into Google Earth

  94. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Big Deal

    I can see the Pentagon .... and the CIA ...and the NSA.

    What's the problem?

  95. Dombert
    Black Helicopters

    Just a thought...

    If our colonial cousins can use fast track anti-terror legislation to drag Gary McKinnon off to get a 70 year wrist-slap for messing with the Pentagon's computers, wouldn't it be nice to see the UK using the same legislation to try and drag in senior Google Earth staffers on spy-sat

    based espionage charges. To the Tower with them!

    I await the black choppers.

  96. Mark
    Flame

    RAF Welford

    The Sun has missed one.

    RAF Welford, large munitions base - just of the M4.

  97. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    Crop circles

    The crop circles aren't anywhere near as scary as the giant metal compass flying over Faslane.

  98. Matt Bull
    Black Helicopters

    If you want some bombs...

    You could try this..

    http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=usk&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=13.074846,39.375&ie=UTF8&ll=51.708284,-2.943757&spn=0.006688,0.019226&t=h&z=16&iwloc=addr

    Meep.. they be watching!

  99. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Bullseye

    When the GCHQ Doughnut (or D'OHnut to give its alternate spelling) was being built, we (employees) were asked for ideas for what would go in the empty bit in the middle. I wanted a big bullseye target, but for some reason that didn't go down too well :-)

    Still, that was better than the architect's original suggestion, which was to have a pond... right above the computer rooms in the basement.

    Oh, and Bill - the circles to the north of Faslane are oil storage tanks.

  100. E

    @Oliver Mayes

    What are you talking about? There are no mountains in the UK! A few hills, sure. So your military is hiding beneath the hills, is that what you are saying?

  101. E

    @Paul

    Concrete sets via a chemical reaction that consumes water. It works fine under water, makes better concrete under water.

  102. Dave
    Black Helicopters

    These places are signposted anyway

    I used to live in Wiltshire.

    The Military bases round there weren't hidden from view. RAF Lynham being a case in point.

    I've driven along the M4 past there numerous times. You can tell you are close as the Hercules transport planes use the motorway to remind them where they are. Cue a fat albert coming in low, then veering off at the last minute.

    Couple that with tanks being a bloody hazard on Salisbury plain, you don't need Google old chap

  103. Geoff Johnson

    Soory, I just have to get this ot of my system.

    GOOGLE: ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US.

  104. Lionel Baden

    @AC

    Still, that was better than the architect's original suggestion, which was to have a pond... right above the computer rooms in the basement.

    Oh noes ...

    youve just released classified info !!!!

    now they know where to attack !!!!

  105. Bill
    Alien

    @Bullseye

    "Oh, and Bill - the circles to the north of Faslane are oil storage tanks."

    Our alien overlords drink oil?? My God, things are worse than I thought!!

    .. off to check what the SAS aliens drink

  106. Andus McCoatover
    Black Helicopters

    Nah T'is nothing... Try the piccie here...

    http://www.sofoca.cl/pebre/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/1031531187_c1ae77030e.jpg

  107. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    They're Here !!!!

    And the Alien Driving test centre by the Nuclear Power Station. 50°55'46.07"N 0°50'27.37"E

  108. Paul
    Black Helicopters

    If "they" really wanted to cause havok, google earth isn't required.

    Using their own reasoning, why are the sun reporters (I use the term loosely) not outraged at wikipedia?

    Plenty of explosives and weapons info, details of bases, and plenty other sensitive and less defended areas. For example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery

    If someone decided to blow the ship up in the Thames it would cause a lot of damage.

    Don't get me wrong, I think the info should be there, part of being an open society (or at least one part the government havent taken away YET) . It just annoys me that the suntards really think that censoring google maps/earth will stop terrorism.

  109. druck Silver badge

    Fly over GCHQ

    GCHQ is on the approach path for runway 27 at Gloucester Airport, and we fly over it on almost every trip and when doing circuits, it's an excellent landmark for getting lined up on the runway in low visibility and especially at night. So there is absolutely no difficulty getting overhead shots like on google earth, just ask for a pleasure flight at Staverton Flying School!

  110. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So there

    Here's Groton Submarine Base in CT, just to make the Brits even.

    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=groton+naval+ct&sll=41.389302,-72.08426&sspn=0.013136,0.02738&ie=UTF8&ll=41.395435,-72.091438&spn=0.005722,0.009613&t=h&z=17&iwloc=addr

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