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46-404: In 1949, Picatinny Arsenal was tasked with creating a nuclear-capable artillery piece. Robert Schwartz, the engineer who created the preliminary designs, essentially scaled up the 240 mm howitzer shell (then the maximum in the arsenal) to 280 mm and used the similarly sized German K5 railroad gun as a point of departure for the carriage. (The name Atomic Annie likely derives from

92-567: A 240 mm prototype of the M65. The weapon at the museum is actually a conventional 240 mm T1 Gun, one of two produced as part of a separate design program which was abandoned in favor of the T131 280 mm Atomic Cannon program. Both the T1 and T131/M65 share T72 carriages. Picatinny Arsenal The Picatinny Arsenal ( / ˈ p ɪ k ə t ɪ n i / or / ˌ p ɪ k ə ˈ t ɪ n i / )

138-541: A gun tractor , is a specialized heavy-duty form of tractor unit used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights and calibres. It may be wheeled , tracked , or half-tracked . There are two main types of artillery tractors, depending on the type of traction: wheeled and tracked. In addition, half-track tractors were used in the interwar period and in World War II , especially by the Wehrmacht . This type of tractor

184-542: A 50-foot (15 m) strip on which to construct a road from Spicertown to the powder depot. In 1891, the army transferred 315 acres (1.27 km ) bordering Lake Denmark to the navy. The arsenal was located in a valley between two sets of hills that might shield the surrounding countryside from any accidental explosions. In 1907, the Army altered the name to the Picatinny Arsenal and established its first powder factory on

230-404: A Navy ammunition warehouse and started a fire. As a result, several million pounds of explosives detonated over a period of two or three days. This left not only structural devastation, but military and civilian casualties as well. The value of ammunition destroyed was the equivalent of a billion dollars in present-day terms. As a result of a full-scale Congressional investigation, Congress directed

276-577: A ball and socket joint so that it could be swung around the footplate. The traverse was limited by a curved track placed under the rear of the gun. On May 25, 1953, at 8:30 a.m., the atomic cannon was tested at the Nevada Test Site (specifically Frenchman Flat ) as part of the Upshot–Knothole series of nuclear tests. The test—codenamed " Grable "—was attended by the Chairman-delegate of

322-539: A demonstration model to participate in Dwight D. Eisenhower 's inaugural parade in January 1953. The gun was initially designated T131 and the carriage was T72. The cannon was transported by two specially designed tractors in the same manner as railroad Schnabel cars . Both tractors were capable of independent steering in the manner of some extra-long fire trucks . Each of the tractors was rated at 375 horsepower (280 kW), and

368-457: A period of two or three days. Captain Otto Dowling , USN was in charge at the time, and received a Distinguished Service Cross for his handling of the situation. This caused $ 47,000,000 in damage, massive structural devastation (187 of 200 buildings destroyed), and military and civilian casualties. As a result of a full-scale Congressional investigation, Congress directed the establishment of

414-501: A range of 7-20 miles. The atomic yield of the shells could be anywhere from 15-20 kilotons. They were deployed overseas to Europe and Korea, and frequently shifted around to avoid being detected and targeted by opposing forces. Due to the size of the apparatus, their limited range, the development of nuclear shells compatible with existing artillery pieces (the W48 for the 155 mm and the W33 for

460-475: Is also common to find auxiliary power units built into the gun carriage to provide power while the propulsion engine is offline. Traditional towed artillery can still be found in units where complexity and weight are liabilities: e.g. airmobile, amphibious and other light units. In such units, where organic transport is usually limited, any available transport can double as artillery tractors in order to reposition guns when needed. For example, engineer vehicles of

506-635: Is an American military research and manufacturing facility located on 6,400 acres (26 km ) of land in Jefferson and Rockaway Township in Morris County, New Jersey , United States, encompassing Picatinny Lake and Lake Denmark . The Arsenal is the headquarters of the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center . It is known for developing the ubiquitous Picatinny rail , as well as being

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552-624: Is the center for the DOD's research, development and acquisition of guns and ammunition, with a workload more than an order of magnitude greater than any other DOD facility in this area. It also is home to the DOD's single manager for conventional ammunition. Since 1976 the Army conducted numerous environmental studies on Picatinny; in March 1990 it was declared a superfund and placed on the National Priorities List . 176 sites are to be addressed under

598-759: The 203 mm ), and the development of rocket- and missile-based nuclear artillery (such as the Little John and Honest John tactical nuclear missiles), the M65 was effectively obsolete soon after it was deployed. However, it remained a prestige weapon and was not retired until 1963. In that same year, the W48 155mm nuclear artillery shell came into service with the US Army. Of the twenty M65s produced, at least seven survive on display. Most no longer have their prime movers . The Virginia War Museum in Newport News, Virginia has been erroneously identified as possessing

644-580: The Combat Capabilities Development Command - Armaments Center (CCDC-AC). In 1891, the navy acquired 317 acres (1.28 km ) 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

690-481: The Morris "Quad" , Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) "Quad" and AEC Matador throughout World War II, rather than adopt a general purpose vehicle. Artillery tractors were different from "General Service" (GS) vehicles by having a compartment for the gun detachment immediately behind the cab and separated from the cargo space containing ammunition and gun stores. German forces used half-tracks as artillery tractors, such as

736-565: The Patriot Missile warhead that was used as a countermeasure to the Iraqi SCUD missile . In 1992, Picatinny Arsenal was tasked to develop a standardized mounting system after the U.S. Army was dissatisfied with the products on the market. The Picatinny team was headed by mechanical designer Gary Houtsma (who was awarded the Order of Saint Maurice Award in 2014 for this contribution ), who took

782-457: The Sd.Kfz. 7 . Half-tracked tractors were not commonly used in this role in other nations. Compared to wheeled vehicles they had better off-road capabilities, but were slower on roads and were more prone to breakdowns. However, for Germany horses remained the most common way of towing artillery throughout the war. In modern warfare , towed artillery has given way in part to self-propelled artillery . It

828-603: The Armed Forces Explosives Safety Board to provide oversight on every aspect of explosives under the control of the US Armed Forces. In 1960, the army resumed control of land it had given the navy, bringing the installation to its current size and shape. The primary transportation in the early days of the arsenal was by rail. The early Wharton & Northern Railroad (succeeded by the Jersey Central )

874-689: The Army's center of expertise for small arms cartridge ammunition. 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 . 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

920-599: The British Army it allowed the heavy guns of the Royal Garrison Artillery to be used flexibly on the battlefield. In World War II the draft horse was still the most common source of motive power in many armies. Most nations were economically and industrially unable to fully motorise their forces. One compromise was to produce general purpose vehicles which could be used in the troop transport, logistics and prime mover roles, with heavy artillery tractors to move

966-563: The Installation Restoration Program. Picatinny had established a Technical Review Committee in 1989 and met every other month. It became a Restoration Advisory Board , and public meetings are advertised in the Star Ledger and Daily Record. 40°57′33″N 74°32′30″W  /  40.95917°N 74.54167°W  / 40.95917; -74.54167 Artillery tractor An artillery tractor , also referred to as

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1012-514: The Joint Chiefs of Staff , Admiral Arthur W. Radford and United States Secretary of Defense Charles Erwin Wilson ; it resulted in the successful detonation of a 15  kt (63  TJ ) shell ( W9 warhead) at a range of 7 miles (11 km). This was the first and only nuclear shell to be fired from a cannon. (The Little Feller 1 test shot of a W54 used a Davy Crockett weapon system , which

1058-598: The M855A1 EPR round, an environmentally friendly, improved version of the M855 5.56x45mm standardized ammunition. In 2014, Picatinny Arsenal obtained its first all-female command pairing, with Lt. Col. Ingrid Parker and Sgt. Maj. Rosalba Dumont-Carrion. In 2019, the United States Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center became a center under the new Army Future's Command and became known as

1104-701: 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. The United States War Department established the Dover Powder Depot on September 6, 1880. Four days later, it changed the name to the Picatinny Powder Depot "after the Lenape -named peak overlooking

1150-582: The arsenal and giving it responsibility for developing small caliber weapons and munitions. In 1983, the Army disestablished the Armament Research and Development Command and Picatinny became the home of the Armament Research and Development Center (ARDC). In 1986, the name again changed to the "Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center" (ARDEC). In 1991, during the Persian Gulf War , Picatinny Arsenal provided support in their development of

1196-629: The arsenal is just a memory with only a disused stub line into the arsenal and scattered traces of the once busy narrow gauge railway. Some of the remaining track has been covered with macadam and turned into pedestrian walking paths. Base Realignment and Closure, 2005 directed the department of defense to establish Picatinny as the DOD specialty site for guns and ammunition, and to relocate Navy technical experts to Picatinny. It recommended: This recommendation realigned and consolidates those gun and ammunition facilities working in weapons and armaments research, development and acquisition. Picatinny Arsenal

1242-620: The arsenal made important contributions to progress in the areas of radar , pyrotechnics, missiles, time fuzes, and nuclear munitions (including the M65 atomic cannon 280mm howitzer known as " Atomic Annie "). When war broke out again, it gave troops in Vietnam a complete family of 40 mm ammunition for grenade launchers and helicopter gunships. In 1977, the Army recognized Picatinny's leadership in weapons and munitions development by headquartering its Armament Research and Development Command (ARRADCOM) at

1288-663: The development of a delay fuze for skip bombing and special bombs for dams and oil fields. It also pioneered production processes later transferred to munitions manufacturers around the country. In the 1960s, Picatinny was the site of the United States' Army Munitions Command. After World War II , Picatinny refocused its efforts on developing new weapons and munitions. Its support to the American forces in Korea included an improved bazooka and an illuminating rifle grenade. In periods of peace,

1334-577: 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. The review led to creation of a remote, safe depot to serve the West Coast , which became the Hawthorne Naval Ammunition Depot in Nevada, opened in 1928. The arsenal continued to realize its potential as a research and development facility in

1380-577: The forge located there during the Revolutionary War, became the central area of the arsenal. In 1880 and 1881, the government also purchased tracts from Uel H. Wiggins, Edward C. Fiedler and other, Henry and Michael Doland, and John E. Kindred. These initial purchases, including the Middle Forge Tract, covered 1,866.13 acres (7.5520 km ) and cost a total of $ 62,750.00. At the same time, the government gave $ 200.00 to Lewis Spicer and his wife for

1426-517: The heaviest guns. The British Army had fully mechanized prior to war. During the 1920s and 30s it had used the Vickers Medium Dragon and Light Dragon fully-tracked artillery tractors, but they had been mostly replaced with wheeled vehicles, starting with the Morris CDSW . The Royal Artillery persisted with specialist artillery tractors – known as "Field Artillery Tractors" (FAT) – such as

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1472-415: The measurements from about twenty different Weaver rail products from weapons bunkers at Picatinny (and even local sporting goods stores) and came up with an average set of numbers set on a 45-degree angled surface. Houtsma then took the specifications over to the production facility and requested they design a dimensioning style so the rail could be easily produced and inspected. The factory recognized

1518-541: The next major expansion came in 1941, just before the United States entered World War II. At this time, the Army purchased the land between the Cannon Gates and the present main entrance near Route 15 . This included Spicertown, an unincorporated village in Rockaway Township. Spicertown had declined from a relatively thriving 19th-century community of small but profitable farms to a rather depressed area in 1941. Many of

1564-553: The nickname Anzio Annie given to a pair of German K5 guns which were employed against the Allied landings in Italy .) The design was approved by the Pentagon, largely through the intervention of Samuel Feltman , chief of the ballistics section of the ordnance department's research and development division. A three-year developmental effort followed. The project proceeded quickly enough to produce

1610-462: The old forge, loosely translated to mean 'rugged cliff by water' or 'water by the hills.'" A deed dated June 26, 1880 records the first land purchase for the future Picatinny Arsenal. George E. Righter transferred 1,195.8 acres (4.839 km ) centered on Lake Picatinny to the United States government in return for $ 35,874.00. This area, afterwards known as the Middle Forge Tract because of

1656-411: The residences housed military families until the early 2000s (decade); the last were demolished in 2007. Near Parker Road is property acquired from the estate of John E. Larson for $ 16,000.00. The purchase price included 24 acres (97,000 m ) of land. Another former Spicertown property consisting of 12 acres (49,000 m ) cost the government $ 19,769.00. Property on the opposite side of Parker Road

1702-536: The similarity of the purposed rail interface to the existing rail design on 105 mm howitzers , so they chose to scale down the howitzer rail design and co-opted the production and inspection procedures. It was adopted and fielded in 1995 with the designation MIL-STD-1913 , dated February 3, 1995. In 2007, Picatinny Arsenal's largest tenant, ARDEC, received the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award . In 2010, Picatinny Arsenal developed

1748-549: The site. While continuing to produce munitions , the arsenal moved into research and development work with the start of a school to instruct officers in weaponry sciences in 1911, the establishment of testing and control laboratories during the World War I era, and the beginning of a small, experimental plant for the design and development of artillery ammunition in 1919. In 1921, the arsenal took over responsibility for experimental work on fuzes . On July 10, 1926, lightning struck

1794-409: The somewhat awkward combination could achieve speeds of 35 miles per hour (56 km/h) and negotiate right-angle turns on 28-foot (8.5 m) wide paved or packed roads. The artillery piece could be unlimbered in 12 minutes, then returned to traveling configuration in another 15 minutes. The gun was deployed by lowering it from the tractors onto levelled ground. The whole gun assembly was balanced on

1840-665: The use of weapons on a robot platform and the SWORDS robot. Their building has been recently renamed in honor of one of their deceased soldiers, SFC Scott "Smitty" Smith, who was killed in Iraq in July 2006. 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

1886-452: The years between the two world wars. Major accomplishments of this period included better methods for storing smokeless powder , improved processing of cyclonite (more commonly called RDX), and the discovery of a new explosive, then known as haleite but later known as Ednatol . (The discoverer was George C. Hale, the arsenal's chief chemist.) Over the years, the Army continued to make small land purchases to round out arsenal boundaries, but

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1932-610: 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 munitions , weapons and armor systems. Picatinny Arsenal is also home to the US Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Directorate . This group is responsible for the creation of tools, equipment, and procedures for US Army EOD personnel. Some of their more recent inventions were

1978-458: Was a recoilless smooth-bore gun firing the warhead mounted on the end of a spigot inserted in the barrel of the weapon.) After the successful test, at least 20 cannons were manufactured at Watervliet and Watertown Arsenals , at a cost of US$ 800,000 each. The cannons weighed 83.3 tons, were 84 feet long, 16.1 feet wide, and 12.2 feet tall. Operated by a crew of 5-7 artillerymen, the cannon fired 280mm caliber shells that weighed 600 pounds and had

2024-573: Was acquired from Helen Jane Larsen with 1.5 acres (6,100 m ) for $ 10,534.00, as well as the former home of Clarence and Agnes Burdette, constructed around 1919. At the time, the government appraiser praised the landscaping and the grassy knoll location. World War II interfered with the arsenal's efforts to concentrate on research and development. As one of the few facilities with the ability to manufacture munitions, it employed 18,000 people and ran three shifts turning out bombs and artillery shells . However, it still had its research triumphs, especially

2070-631: Was laid from Wharton to Green Pond through the heart of the valley in which Picatinny Arsenal now resides. This line connected the various railroads serving the Wharton area with the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad at Green Pond. Picatinny maintained as much as 49 miles (79 km) of its own narrow and standard gauge Picatinny Arsenal Railroad to service its many transportation needs (fuel, raw materials, ammunition, etc.) for almost every manufacturing and warehouse building. Today, rail service through

2116-462: Was mostly discontinued postwar. The first artillery tractors were designed prior to the outbreak of World War I , often based on agricultural machines such as the Holt tractor . Such vehicles allowed the tactical use of heavier guns to supplement the light horse drawn field guns . "Horseless artillery" available prior to World War I weighed 8 tons, had 70 horsepower and could go 8 mph. For example, in

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