BOMBS AWAY

Hawthorne, Nevada

You are looking at dozens of the 2,427 ammunition and bomb bunkers spread out over 226 square miles of Northern Nevada desert at the Hawthorne Army Depot. Proclaimed as the "World's Largest Weapon Stockpile," the Depot also manufactures armaments. Rather scary but one of the missions of the base is to provide ammunition "to be used after the first 30 days of a major conflict."

If you got it, flaunt it. This is the Hawthorne Ordnance Museum located in town.

It doesn't hurt to have a little humor in dealing with such a serious subject. 

Someone has married up a conning tower to what was a torpedo and added a little paint.

This is such a vast place that a wide shot can't even give you a sense of the size of it all. The very first image at top is a small segment of this image and this wide shot is only part of what can be seen. My father spent some time here in training for his role as captain of a munitions company that deployed to in Europe during WW II. This base was the staging area for most all of the bombs, rockets and ammunition for the entire war effort.

Sadly the Depot was in the news recently. 7 Marines were killed during an explosion while in training this week.