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| Mark Krieg posted USS Wisconsin (BB-64) on-loading ammunition at Pier 4 in Naval Weapons Station Earle, NJ, March 1990. Jan Renstead fear of munitions explosions in port is not unwarranted.“Seventy five years ago, on the evening of July 17, 1944, an explosion at a Naval base on Suisun Bay ignited 10,000 tons of munitions, killing 320 and injuring hundreds more. It was the worst home port disaster of World War II, destroying two ships and destroying the nearby town of Port Chicago.” https://www.sfchronicle.com/.../Port-Chicago-disaster... [paywall, see below for some videos] Marc Kaplan shared Clyde Hendrickson shared Railroad loading of Navy ships. Matthew Fish: The largest finger piers in the world. Matthew Fish: It’s 4 miles long to provide blast protection to shore properties and people. Gilbert Porter: Is that little barge next to it for all the empty spent casings? Jim Colvert: Gilbert Porter Most likely Navy Divers inspecting her hull and providing underwater security. It was common for the guys to work off barges doing these jobs. Brooke Balbach: I worked for the Santa Fe and we used to haul unit trains of Ammunition in boxcars in and out of the Naval Weapons Station Port Chicago Ca. It was a great experience to be a part of. Matthew Fish: Brooke Balbach part of the reasons these piers were built was the Port Chicago disaster. |
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| Jay Narvell commented on Clyde's share [They moved the access from the sides of the turret to the back of the turret after the Royal Navy had a flash into their magazines.] |
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| Vincent Gong commented on Clyde's share, cropped Caught USS Bataan leaving NWS Earle two years ago! |
This map shows that the circular woods up by Sandy Hook Bay is part of the Naval facility. But the main facility is south of NJ-18.
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| USGS |
The pier is three miles long. My first thought was it had to be that long to get into the deep water needed by big ships. But some comments on the post speculated that it was to protect the shoreline in case there was an accident while loading a ship.
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| Satellite |
Looking at the base itself, we see many clusters of bunkers such as this one.
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| Satellite |
Different clusters have different spacings of the bunkers. The reason for the spacing is so that if one bunker explodes, it won't cause adjacent bunkers to explode. So evidently more powerful explosives need a bigger spacing.
When I looked at some topo maps, it appears that this was the original base. It looks like this part is now used to park railcars. The railroad that connects the storage facility with the pier facility follows Normandy Road.
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| Satellite |
The first sign I found was unreadable. But this sign verifies that civilians are not allowed on Mormandy Road.
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| Street View |
Update:
This article states that the reason for the long pier is to keep the loading of explosives far from the shore.
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| safe_image for This Trident-Shaped Munitions Rail Runs Three Miles Off the NJ Coast |
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