Any one know more about this ammo pier 3 miles off the New Jersy coast ?
This Trident-Shaped Munitions Rail Runs Three Miles Off the NJ Coast (msn.com)
Coming from New Jersey I certainly know about it, and the article pretty much says it all.
One thing the article left out was the REAL impetus to build the facility during WW2 was the disaster at Pearl Harbor. All those ships blowing up (Not just the USS Arizona) demonstrated it was a good idea to remove all the munitions before the ships came into harbor. The practice has been followed to this day.
Every kind of naval munition is in Earle, and I mean everything. [;)]
It would appear that the weapons center that sevices it is several miles distant. There is rail that runs to the piers. On Google Earth at present it shows one vessel docked at a pier and about 20 rail cars in various locations on the pier.
When I first saw the title for this thread I thought of Glace Bay, Cape Breton. Possible undersea coal mine trams going out 3 miles? The metalurgical coal mines, the steel mills and the wonderful surface railroading in that area are all gone now. Knowing that the mines extended under the sea, I double checked. Turns out there were 3 miles of tunnels alright but not necessarily going that distance out to sea.
If mining under the ocean sounds scary, check this out. There is apparently an enormous vein of that coal extending from Nova Scotia to Labrador. A 2010-2012 proposal was afloat (ahem) to gasify the coal by burning in situ. It would never leave the mine or perhaps more accurately, coal well, and just turn to ash.
Shades of Centralia, PA…eh?
Rick
Here’s a similar over (mostly) the waves operation: https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p07cjvmc/the-tiny-german-island-with-a-population-of-16
It is used for passengers these days, I suspect it was originally constructed to haul materials for the stone breakwaters mentioned in the piece.
Obviously the people who came up with that cockamamie idea never heard of Centralia! They probably play with matches too.
The decision would have only been reinforced by this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Chicago_disaster
The Kings Bay Naval Base near St. Mary’s, GA, is now the East Coast homeport for the Navy’s guided-missile submarines (I think; some class(es) of submarines). It was originally built as an ammunition-handling facility for the Army. I don’t know how close it is to the town, but it is separated from anything else by miles and miles of empty swampy woodland. A large explosion there would annoy some alligators and birds, but it wouldn’t damage anything but the base itself.
It’s in Sandy Hook Bay/Lower New York Bay.
According to measurement taken in Goggle Earth, the pier at Earle is a little over 2 miles long. Landside crosses over a nearby highway…
When my ship would deploy to the Med in the 1970s, before we left port we would anchor out in Hampton Roads for a “nuclear weapons handling drill.” But, they were not drills, not with guys with locked and loaded .45 pistols guarding the hangar deck.
You’re not supposed to confirm or deny that… [;)]
Believe the statute of of limitations has been exceeded.
[quote user="JC UPTON"]
According to measurement taken in Goggle Earth, the pier at Earle is a little over 2 miles long. Landside crosses over a nearby highway…
[/quote]
I suspect that it might be[have been(?) ] slightly longer(?) I’ had to back out on it several times [Ship load and Unload pier at Colt’s Neck- USNWS(?) @ area off Earle Nj.] Late 1980’s . The place was a hotbed of armed ‘security’…[:#][:^)]
Interesting…
Some unrated thoughts:
I’m pleased to see that the roads at the Naval installation are named after battle the USN has fought. Now I get to go down that rabbit hole on the internet to learn about Throckmorton Hill?
It seems like there would be a fair amount of houses located close to that rail line. I live and work about a half mile off a BNSF mainline that hauls a lot of ethanol and fertilizer. That spooks me sometimes, but at least they’re not hauling things that intentionally go boom!
MSN now uses peoples’ Twitter sites for news filler? I hope the author gets paid well for his work.
From reading the link, it appears to me that the “3 miles” includes the length of the main pier, along with the extra arms of the trident.
Found the same story in "The Drive " on line publication! @www.the drive.com authored by Kristin V. Shaw published 14 March 2021
I hand failed t gp back and read the OP’s riginal post, and story origion! [My fault [:'(] ]
I simply knew I had been there…delivered a number of times to USNWS at Colt’s Neck [Earle] NJ. Back then., the pier was used to remove and load ammo supplies to docked ships… I failed to realize that the Navy had improved and explained their, in the interveaning ( 40 or so years).facility. [oops]
Noted, in Ms. Smith’s piece that the Navy has had some problems with ammunotions on their ships and ts handl;ing. THe ex[p;losion at Black Tom in 19156 and the explosion and sinking in Jan,1943 of the Destroyer, USS Turner, at the mouth of N.Y. Harbor, [loss approx 125+ SAILORS ] to mention a couple.
FTA:"…A self-described ferroequinologist (one who studies trains), Jeremy Zorek detailed the two-mile-long pier that shuttles ammunition from Naval Weapons Station Earle to warships at the monolith. The unusual structure is packed full of incredible details and
They loved their scissors cross-overs. Nine just on the pier alone. I gave up counting the wye tracks there.
But I don’t believe the Navy’s policy on the issue has changed…
Meanwhile, over on the Delaware River just SW of New Castle, the Navy had another such facility (Army/Mill Creek south of Deemers Beach/Doddinsville) and successfully retired it - Amoco Chemical moves in and it goes BOOM! in 1980 … end of PRR/PC/CR traffic on that branch. The long piers and most of the DuPont munitions transloading facility just disappears.