LOCATION Mineral County, Nevada, USA
NEAREST POPULATION HUB Sacramento, California
SECRECY OVERVIEW High-security location: the world’s biggest ammunition storage facility.
Situated on the southern shore of Walker Lake, in the Great Basin region of west Nevada, this huge depot covers 59,500 hectares (147,000 acres) of semi-arid land and is scattered with almost 2,500 “igloos” storing army reserve ammunitions (for use after the first 30 days of a major conflict). Its other roles include renovating, demilitarizing and disposing of conventional ammunition.
The facility began operating in 1930 as the Naval Ammunition Depot Hawthorne. It came into being after enormous explosions in 1926 at the Lake Denmark ammunition depot in New Jersey led to high numbers of civilian casualties. The accident also badly damaged the neighboring Picatinny Arsenal. A subsequent court of inquiry concluded that a new depot should be built to serve the Pacific area, in a remote area within 1,500 km (930 miles) of the west coast. Hawthorne was chosen, and building got underway in 1928. The facility was brought under army control in 1977, and in 1994 ended its previous supplementary duties as a center for ammunition production.
Today, the Hawthorne Depot supports a mostly civilian community of some 4,500 people and is furnished with extensive railroad connections. At its peak toward the end of the Second World War, it employed more than 5,500 people. Hawthorne is now also used as a training base, boasting a large live-fire ordnance test facility and even a small, simulated Afghan town, used for the training of troops facing deployment to the region. The “Afghan neighborhood” is replete with multi-story structures and dummy enemy soldiers, providing an unnerving setting amid the desert lands and mountains of Nevada. In 2005, Hawthorne was listed as one of several bases to be considered for closure, but it was later removed from the list, largely on account of the unique training opportunities it offered.
Security at Hawthorne is handled by a private contractor, Day and Zimmerman Hawthorne Corporation, although the depot was protected by the Marine Corps in its earlier days. As well as permanent on-site security, the depot has its own fire and emergency rapid response departments—this is one place where you really do get more bang for your buck.
1 HEAVY METAL One of the most important tasks undertaken at the Hawthorne facility is the disabling of obsolete or decommissioned ordnance. The depot’s experience in handling dangerous chemicals means that it has also been selected as the major center for the storage of US strategic mercury reserves. The toxic metal is kept in steel flasks within large UN-approved drums.
2 UNDER COVER The hummocky “Igloo” bunkers at Hawthorne Depot are designed to store and protect enormous quantities of reserve munitions. A total of 2,427 bunkers are scattered across the site, providing some 56,000 square meters (600,000 sq ft) of storage space. Emergency services are permanently on hand to respond in the event of an accident.
