Nike Hercules missiles in the storage bunker at the SF-88 Nike Missile base at the Marin Headlands north of San Francisco. Between 1953 and 1979 the U.S. Army operated 280 Nike sites in North America as a last line of defence against a foreign air attack. The SF-88 Launcher area is now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and is open to the public on a regular basis.