Canadian Forces Station Carp is a former Canadian military facility located in the rural farming community of Carp, Ontario, approximately 30km west of downtown Ottawa.CFS Carp was decommissioned in 1994. It was not until 1998 that it was reopened as a museum and designated a National Historic Site of Canada. Currently, the facility operates as a museum and is open year-round for tours.HistoryIn 1958, at the height of the Cold War and the infancy of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) threat, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker authorized the creation of close to 50 Emergency Government Headquarters (nicknamed "Diefenbunkers" by opposition parties) across Canada. These shelters were part of what came to be known as the Continuity of Government plan, which was meant to protect various members of government in the event of a nuclear attack.The original site, some 9.7km east of Almonte was abandoned when ground water proved impossible to remove. An abandoned gravel pit outside Carp was selected instead, construction began in 1959 and was completed by 1962.The Carp shelter would be the largest of such facilities (over 9,300m2) and the only one in the immediate Ottawa area. The underground 4-storey bunker required 32,000 tonnes of concrete and 5,000 tonnes of steel. The structure was capable of withstanding a nuclear blast up to 5 megatons from 1.8km away. It had massive blast doors at the surface, as well as extensive air filters to prevent radiation infiltration. Although supposedly effective against surface nuclear detonations, the facility was later found to be vulnerable to conventional Bunker buster bombs developed after its construction, as these bombs had time delay fuses that would detonate after they had penetrated deeply enough underground.
