New Jersey is known for its casinos, beaches, and business districts. But did you know that it also has a secret nuclear plant that has been turned into a tube town?
During the Cold War, the building in Picatinny Arsenal was part of the U.S. nuclear weapons program. It was one of 13 places in the country where nuclear weapons were kept, and at one point it held hundreds of nuclear bombs.
For the Soviet Union, it was also a target. It was as high as No. 4 on their list of places to destroy in case of a nuclear war.
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A Brief History of Picatinny Arsenal
In 1880, Picatinny Arsenal was built as a place for the U.S. Army to do research and development. It worked on several projects, including rockets, missiles, and explosives.
Under the code name Project 76, it was turned into a place to store nuclear bombs in 1951. The Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP) and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) got together to do it.
At one point, it was used as a storage area for war supplies during World War II. There were two parts to the site: the “A” part had the management and support buildings and the “Q” part held the nuclear weapons and was where they were stored and put together.
A double fence circled the “Q” area, which was watched over by armed guards and secured with alarms, cameras, and dogs, among other things. The “A” area wasn’t as safe, but only allowed people could get in.
There were both citizen and military workers at the site, and they had to follow strict rules and processes when they were around nuclear weapons. They also had to keep a lot of secrets because both the presence of the site and its position were secret.
The workers lived in places close by, like Dover and Rockaway, and drove to the job site every day. From 1951 to 1969, the site was open for business and kept and put together different kinds of nuclear weapons, like bombs, warheads, and rockets.
Some of the guns were moved to other places to be used, while others were put back as backups. The guns were also inspected, maintained, and tested at the spot.
Closure and Abandonment of Picatinny Arsenal
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks led the U.S. government to decide in the late 1960s to consolidate and lower its nuclear weapons supply.
One of the places that was chosen to close was Picatinny Arsenal because it was thought to be outdated and unnecessary. The spot stopped being used for military purposes in 1969, and the nuclear bombs were taken away and put in other places.
The land was then given to the Army, which used it for training, storing things, and getting rid of trash. Some houses and structures were also torn down by the Army, and some caves and bunkers were filled in.
On the other hand, the Army did not get rid of all signs of the site’s nuclear past. The walls, gates, signs, roads, and bridges were just a few of the things that were left on the spot.
Conclusion
The information reveals the narrative of Picatinny Arsenal, a covert nuclear site in New Jersey that was once a Soviet target.
From 1951 until 1969, the complex stored and constructed hundreds of nuclear bombs, but it was shuttered and abandoned after the Cold War. Some relics of its nuclear history may still be found on the site.