Inside USA's secret Greenland nuclear base 'three times the size of Denmark' as Trump looks to seize control

The 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump, has firmly set his sights on making Greenland part of the American future in controversial move that has soured international relations in an already turbulent time.

But such a move by President Trump wouldn't be the first time the USA has ventured in to the semi-autonomous territory that forms part of the Kingdom of Denmark. As it stands, Trump says Greenland is needed 'for national security and international security'; a statement he made to the US Congress after winning back the White House.

During the speech, he said the people of Denmark had a right to choose on the issue and said they would be 'welcomed in to the United States of America'. Whether they want to become part of the US remains up for significant debate.

As for Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, he issued his own warning after Trump made his ambitions clear in another turbulent step to rock the international political economy.

USA and Greenland

There is a common history between the USA and Greenland going back decades. To this day, the States' Pituffik Space Base exists on its northwest coast as part of a defense agreement between Denmark and the United States.

Home to missile warning sensors and space surveillance, it plays a critical role in alerting the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) if such an alarming situation were to arise.

And while it was publicly built back in 1943 and has remained in place ever since, other US plans on Greenland remained covert in the 1950s and 1960s.

Building Camp Century (US Army/Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

Camp Century and Project Iceworm

Set up back in 1959, the 'city under the ice' officially known as Camp Century was part of the top secret US programme known as Project Iceworm, created by the US Army.

The purpose behind the project? Create a huge network of nuclear missile launch sites underneath the Greenland ice sheet that could survive being hit first in a nuclear strike.

Huge trenches in the snow being cut out to create Camp Century back in 1959 (US Army/Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

See, at the time the USA was at the height of the Cold War against Soviet Russia and there was a huge focus on contingency plans in case an event like the Cuban Missile Crisis ever came to, well, very real blows.

Found 150 miles east of Pituffik Space Base, the American army disguised Camp Century as a scientific research base when in reality, it had plans to create a nuclear site that would be three times the size of Denmark.

What happened to Camp Century?

There were a total of 21 tunnels in place across the camp running 9,800 feet in length. All of this was dug in to the ice, making it a mammoth project powered by a nuclear reactor.

The aim was to place 600 missiles underneath the ice ready to be fired in the case of an attack by the USSR. Overall, the firepower was big enough to have destroyed 80 percent of targets in Soviet Russia and eastern Europe, should the USA need to retaliate.

A hatch to get in to Camp Century (US Army/Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

But the entire project was abandoned in 1967 due to scientific analysis of the Greenland ice sheet showing it was not stable enough for the project to continue in full. What was left on the site was all the nuclear waste that remains a significant concern to this day.

It is now covered in 30 metres of snow and ice due to the years that have passed since, with the site only visible via radar from the likes of the NASA Gulstream III research jet that found the site towards the end of last year.

Documents about Camp Century were only declassified in 1996 and after the Cold War had ended, meaning it was very much a rumour until that point in time.