Picatinny Arsenal: Difference between revisions

The facility was founded in 1880 as the ''Picatinny Powder Depot''. Soon afterward, the Navy acquired a portion of the arsenal to establish the '''Lake Denmark Powder Depot''', later known as '''Lake Denmark Naval Ammunition Depot'''.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=zYEtAAAAYAAJ&dq=lake+denmark+naval+ammunition+depot&pg=RA2-PA78 General Orders of the Navy Department, No. 254, 6 Dec 1916]</ref> It manufactured [[gunpowder]] until after [[World War I]], at which time the facility also began producing heavy munitions and grew more involved in [[research and development]] activities. During [[World War II]], Picatinny was a major large-caliber-round loading plant with 18,000 employees. Today, the facility develops new technologies for the [[US Armed Forces]] and builds various [[munition]]s, weapons and armor systems.

Prior to the [[American Civil War]] gunpowder was stored by the [[United States Army]] at various powder facilities throughout the eastern United States. Many of these facilities were located in the South and were confiscated by the [[Confederate States of America]] at the beginning of the war. The federal government began looking for a central storage depot to be located near the large cities of the northeast.

In 1891, the navy acquired {{convert|317|acre|km2}} of the arsenal to establish the Lake Denmark Powder Depot, later known as the "Lake Denmark Naval Ammunition Depot". On July 10, 1926, lightning struck one of the explosives storage structures during a thunderstorm and started a fire. As a result, several million pounds of explosives detonated over a period of two or three days. Captain [[Otto Dowling]], USN was in charge at the time, and received a [[Distinguished Service Cross (United States)|Distinguished Service Cross]] for his handling of the situation.<ref>{{cite magazine|date=August 16, 1926|title=Army & Navy: Report|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|publisher=[[Time Inc.]]|location=[[New York City]]|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,722300,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110131190441/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,722300,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 31, 2011|access-date=March 17, 2010}}</ref> This caused $47,000,000 in damage, massive structural devastation (187 of 200 buildings destroyed), and military and civilian casualties.<ref>{{cite journal|date=August 26, 1926|title=Naval Court Finds No Blame in Blast; Wants Peril Abated|journal=[[The New York Times]]|location=[[New York City]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/08/04/archives/naval-court-finds-no-blame-in-blast-wants-peril-abated-no-human.html|access-date=March 11, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ammoschool.us/SumTotal/lang-en/management/LMS_CNT_LaunchCourse_LXS.asp |title=Defense Ammunition Center Ammo-18 safety course |access-date=November 8, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528013944/http://www.ammoschool.us/SumTotal/lang-en/management/LMS_CNT_LaunchCourse_LXS.asp |archive-date=May 28, 2013 }}</ref><ref name="Images_of_America">{{cite book |author1=Rae, John W. |title=Images of America: Picatinny Arsenal |date=1999 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=0-7385-0196-4|location=Charleston, SC |pages=33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VJ8MCC8xO-sC&q=Picatinny+Arsenal+book |chapter=Chapter 2, The Big Bang: The Lake Denmark Explosion}}</ref> As a result of a full-scale Congressional investigation, Congress directed the establishment of the Armed Forces Explosives Safety Board to provide oversight on every aspect of explosives under the control of the US Armed Forces.