The Kings Bay Plowshares are a group of seven Catholic peace activists who broke into the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base and carried out a symbolic act of protest against nuclear weapons. The name of the action and the wider anti-nuclear Plowshares movement comes from the prophet Isaiah’s command to "beat swords into plowshares."
10-467: Kings Bay Naval Base is the home port to Submarine Squadron 20 , with at least five Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, each of which is capable of carrying 24 Trident II missiles with nuclear weapons. On April 4, 2018, the group, dressed in black, cut a hole in a security fence and entered the naval base while singing and praying, and recording the action with body cams. They hung a banner that read "The Ultimate Logic of Trident: Omnicide", attached
20-560: A poster of Martin Luther King Jr. to a model of a Trident II D5 ballistic missile, festooned the area with crime-scene tape, spray-painted "Love One Another" on the pavement, pounded a display of a Tomahawk missile with a hammer, and poured their own blood on an official seal of the base. One of them left an indictment against the United States, another left a copy of Daniel Ellsberg ’s 2017 book The Doomsday Machine , and
30-409: A third read Pope Francis ’s statement denouncing nuclear weapons. The activists were willingly arrested two hours after entering the base. They were jailed and charged with conspiracy, destruction of government property, depredation of a naval installation, and trespassing. Four of them were released on bail after two months, the other three remained in jail for more than a year. On October 21, 2019
40-476: Is currently stationed at the Kings Bay Naval Base , Georgia , and operates alongside the guided missile submarines of Squadron 16 under the broader umbrella of Submarine Group Trident. The five Ohio -class submarines under the command of Squadron 20 are USS Alaska , USS Tennessee , USS West Virginia , USS Maryland , and USS Wyoming . These submarines carry
50-673: The Trident missile and act as components of the United States' global presence for strategic deterrence. As a result, the Squadron is responsible for the continued operation, maintenance and certification of all U.S. ballistic missile submarines in the Atlantic fleet. In December 2011, two of the Squadron's submarines, USS Georgia and USS Wyoming , become some of the first US submarines to include women officers in their crews. Though women had been allowed to serve in combat roles in
60-457: The far more severe crime of nuclear war. They could also not mention international law or treaties restricting nuclear weaponry. On October 24, 2019, a federal grand jury found the seven guilty on three felony counts and a misdemeanor charge. Home Submarine Squadron 20 Submarine Squadron 20 is a United States Navy unit responsible for the maintenance and operation of five Ohio -class ballistic missile submarines . The Squadron
70-589: The future (and did begin in January 2015). Beginning in 2016, the Navy planned to add female non-commissioned officers to submarine crews that already included female officers with the intent to eventually bring the number of women among the enlisted crew up to 20%. Despite a few setbacks, including allegations that male sailors had secretly videotaped female shipmates in dressing areas, this process of integration continued. The first group of enlisted female sailors joined
80-555: The group went before a jury in a U.S. District Court in Brunswick, Georgia . They pled not guilty and the Seven insisted that they, in fact, had not entered the base to commit a crime, but entered in order to prevent one from occurring, the crime of " omnicide ", the destruction of the human race which is possible in a nuclear war. In the face of this threat that the US nuclear arsenal poses to
90-425: The rest of the Navy since 1993, there was concern that the cramped spaces onboard and long tours of submarine crews were unsuitable for women. This was the first step in the plan to fully integrate women onto all US Navy submarines. It was begun on the ballistic missile submarines because of their larger size as compared to the attack submarines, though there was the intent to eventually include those vessels as well in
100-502: The world, they believed what they had done was not illegal, but a "symbolic disarmament", an act of civil resistance . The seven were barred from citing their religious motivations in their defense. Judge Lisa Godbey Wood prevented all mention of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act . The seven were also prevented from mounting a " necessity defense ", claiming that lawbreaking was necessary to prevent
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