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Hawthorne Ordnance Museum

Once a staging site for World War II munitions.

Hawthorne, Nevada

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Jack Martin
Hawthorne Ordnance Museum   Xtonx / Atlas Obscura User
Mark 25 mine, 1960s vintage.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
Shells with a section of 16-inch naval gun barrel (the gray cylinder in the foreground.) You can see the rifling (spiral grooves) inside.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
Mark 6 mine.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
Hawthorne Ordnance Museum   Xtonx / Atlas Obscura User
Hawthorne Ordnance Museum   Xtonx / Atlas Obscura User
Hawthorne Ordnance Museum   Xtonx / Atlas Obscura User
Hawthorne Ordnance Museum   Xtonx / Atlas Obscura User
Missiles, one for Tonopah Test Range.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
WW II 250 and 500 lb bombs.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
Electronics control system for DASH, ca. early 1960s.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
Another view of the Gyrodyne helicopter drone.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
Various shells near the main entrance.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
WW II vintage 14-inch projectiles flanking the museum entrance.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
U.S. Navy Gyrodyne helicopter drone (DASH, Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter). Interpretive sign shows the drone armed with MK 44 acoustic homing torpedos.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
Assorted machine guns.   slgwv / Atlas Obscura User
Hawthorne Ordnance Museum   Xtonx / Atlas Obscura User
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About

After a lightning strike set off millions of pounds of explosives at the Navy's Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, the remote town of Hawthorne Nevada was chosen to host the Navy's West Coast ordinance supply.

First operational in 1930, this depot was the staging site for most of the munitions used by the United States during World War II. The landscape now pockmarked by over 2400 bunkers serves to store a tremendous amount of reserve ammunition and supplies for the US Military.

With an M247 Sergeant York SPAAG standing vigil by the road, the Hawthorne Ordnance Museum stands as a monument to this massive depot and how it came to be. The museum features a wide range of weaponry and ordinance from missiles and bombs to shells for battleship guns.

Related Tags

War History Weapons World War Ii

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Added By

Xtonx

Edited By

julianfkeller99, slgwv

Published

November 10, 2022

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