Naval Weapons Station Earle, originally known as the Naval Ammunition Depot Earle, is a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

base in Monmouth County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, United States. Its distinguishing feature is a pier in Sandy Hook Bay where ammunition can be loaded and unloaded from warships at a safe distance from heavily populated areas. The station is divided into two sections: Mainside, located in parts of Colts Neck,

Howell Howell may refer to: Places In the United States * Howell, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Howell, Evansville, a neighborhood in Indiana * Howell, Michigan, a city in Livingston County * Howell County, Missouri * Howell, Missouri, a ...

, Wall Township, and Tinton Falls at ; and the Waterfront Area (which includes the pier complex), on Sandy Hook Bay, located in the Leonardo section of Middletown, at . The areas are connected by Normandy Road, a military road and rail line that crosses and bypasses multiple public roads.

History

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

operations demanded an ammunition depot near the greater

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropo ...

but away from high-population sectors. Planning was hastened in early 1943 after the ammunition ship '' SS El Estero'' caught fire while moored in

Bayonne, New Jersey Bayonne ( ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey, in the Gateway Region on Bergen Neck, a peninsula between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York ...

. If the stowed and dockside explosives had detonated at once, in the manner of the great

Halifax Explosion On the morning of 6 December 1917, the French cargo ship collided with the Norwegian vessel in the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. ''Mont-Blanc'', laden with Explosive material, high explosives, caught fire and exploded, devastat ...

, the blast could have damaged parts of Bayonne and even

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...

. A board was established to locate a suitable site, and chose Sandy Hook Bay, which featured a safe, sheltered, and nearby port where ships could take on ammunition. Rail lines could bring in the ammunition from the west, where the majority of ammunition shipments originated. The rural area meant few local residents would be affected. On August 2, 1943, construction began on Naval Ammunition Depot Earle, named after

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

Ralph Earle, the chief of the

Bureau of Ordnance The Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) was a United States Navy organization, which was responsible for the procurement, storage, and deployment of all naval weapons, between the years 1862 and 1959. History The Bureau of Ordnance was established as part ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The depot was commissioned on December 13, 1943, though work continued on the military road and railway connecting the mainside complex, the waterfront complex and the pier, which stretches into the Sandy Hook Bay. Earle continued to develop after World War II, keeping pace with the changing needs of the navy. In 1974, the depot's name was changed to Naval Weapons Station Earle. School-aged children of active military personnel at the station in grades K through 8 attend the schools of the Tinton Falls School District. Since the start of the 2016–17 school year, students in grades 9 through 12 started attending

Colts Neck High School Colts Neck High School is a four-year comprehensive high school, comprehensive state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school located in Colts Neck Township, New Jersey, Colts Neck Township, in Monmouth County, New Je ...

, as part of a

sending/receiving relationship A sending/receiving relationship is one in which a public school district sends some or all of its students to attend the schools of another district. This is often done to achieve costs savings in smaller districts or continues after districts hav ...

with the

Freehold Regional High School District The Freehold Regional High School District is a public regional school district established in 1953, that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from eight communities in western Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The di ...

, before which they had attended

Monmouth Regional High School Monmouth Regional High School is a regional, four-year public high school and public school district based in Tinton Falls, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Eatontown, Shr ...

in Tinton Falls. NWS Earle is also the homeport to USNS Supply (T-AOE 6), USNS Arctic (T-AOE-8), and

Combat Logistics Squadron 2 Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is resorted to either as a method of ...

. In 2015, the largest solar farm in New Jersey, the Ben Moreell Solar Farm, a 28.5 MW system on , was completed at the station.

Facilities

*Mainside: The in Colts Neck house most of Earle's departments and facilities. The Navy Munitions Command, Detachment Earle, performs the station's primary mission: storing and providing ammunition to the fleet. Military and civilian personnel operate the inland storage, renovation, transshipment and demilitarization facilities. *Waterfront: At the Waterfront Complex, the Navy Munitions Command provides ammunition for nearly every class of ship operated by the navy and

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

as well as commercial vessels from other countries. *Pier Complex: The station's pier complex is one of the longest "finger piers" in the world. A two-mile (3 km) trestle connects to three finger piers. One mile from the shore the trestle branches off to Pier 1. At the junction of Piers 2, 3 and 4, a concrete platform supports a forklift/battery-recharging shop and the port operations building. This area is known as the "wye."

References

External links

Naval Weapons Station Earle
at the Commander, Navy Region Mid-Atlantic official website *

Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS). It administers three programs established to document historic places in the United States: Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American E ...

(HAER) documentation, filed under Sandy Hook Bay, Colts Neck, Monmouth County, NJ: ** ** ** ** ** {{Authority control Weapons and ammunition installations of the United States Navy Military installations in New Jersey Buildings and structures in Monmouth County, New Jersey Historic American Engineering Record in New Jersey Raritan Bayshore Piers in New Jersey Colts Neck Township, New Jersey Howell Township, New Jersey Middletown Township, New Jersey Tinton Falls, New Jersey Wall Township, New Jersey Earle Earle 1943 establishments in New Jersey Military installations established in 1943

History

Facilities

See also

References

External links