Histories Compiled by Ewa Historian John Bond
Ammunition Ships and Ammunition Depots On Oahu
The first naval ammunition depot in the territory consisted of seven above-ground magazines located on Kuahua Island, Pearl Harbor, in the vicinity of the community and industrial areas of the Naval Shipyard, Pearl Harbor. Kuahua was used from 1916 until April of 1934, when it was decommissioned because of its un-safe Location and limited area avail- able for expansion.
In 1929, the Navy purchased 8,184 acres of the McCandless estate (then being used as a cattle ranch), the area now constituting the Headquarters. About the same time 763 acres were also set aside from the Pearl Harbor Naval Reservation for use by the Depot. Construction on these two locations was begun in 1931 and, on May 1, 1934 they were commissioned as the U,S. Naval Ammunition Depot, Oahu, Hawaii. An additional 325 acres of land adjacent to West Loch Branch was transferred from the Naval Supply Center, Pearl Harbor to the Depot in 1953, thereby in- creasing the land area to 1,088 acres. The latter now contains a greatly improved naval mine facility. The land now occupied by the Waikele Branch was acquired from the U. S. Army in 1942 after construction on the tunnels had begun. It became the second branch of the Depot and covers 520 acres.
Lualualei.--This depot was originally established by the Navy on February 5, 1931. The 7910-acre site had at one time been a forest preserve, and was transferred to the Navy by the Territory of Hawaii. No additional real property was required for expansion.
Magazine construction under the PNAB contract included fifty-three 25-by-80-foot, eleven 50-by-100-foot, and eight 20-by-25-foot concrete structures buried in the hillside, and 24 frame buildings for storage of projectiles and inert material. Other construction included housing for 600 station personnel, shops, administration buildings, roads, walks, and 15 miles of railroad track.
The 125th Construction Battalion arrived at Lualualei in April 1944 to design and construct additional facilities. Among these were 28 miles of asphalt-paved roads, 10 miles of railroad, sorting sheds, shops, utilities, and housing. this work was completed in 10 months and the 125th left in May 1945. The 52nd Battalion arrived in October 1944 and built 18 miles of roadways, additional railroad facilities, and housing. CBMU 581 arrived in March 1944 and took over all maintenance and minor construction.
West Loch.--For the expansion of the West Loch ammunition depot, 358 additional acres were purchased, which enlarged the tract to 537 acres.
New construction included twelve 25-by-50-foot, high-explosive magazines, fifteen 50-by-86-foot, assembled-mine magazines, five 10-by-14-foot and three 20-by-25-foot magazines for fuses and detonators, and 11 magazines for dispersed torpedo storage. In addition, 12 other buildings were constructed to store pyrotechnics, inert material, mine anchors, fixed ammunition, and projectiles. Work on the waterfront included extension of an old wharf and the construction of a new 1000-foot wharf. Also constructed were 9 miles of railroad and personnel structures for 600.
Additional railroad facilities, test buildings, recreational facilities, patrol roads, and sorting sheds were built by the 43rd Seabees. Station maintenance and minor construction were accomplished by CBMU 581.
Waikele Gulch.--The pressing problem presented by the vast amount of explosives stored in the open among the hills and valleys of southern Oahu crystallized in mid-June 1942, when the Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet directed that "underground ammunition storage of major proportions" be constructed in a location that would "both be readily defended by, and accessible to, Pearl Harbor."
A 350-acre site was selected where steep-banked ravines made possible tunnel construction in such a manner that no two entrances faced each other, and a railroad spur could be built to service the installation.
Most of the tunnel roofs were concreted, and the floors were built of reinforced concrete. Concrete sidewalls were carried to a 7-foot height, mainly as
gravity retaining walls. The loading platforms were of concrete.
Facilities included 120 tunnels, each 240 feet long, which required 9 miles of railroad, 10 miles of paved road, 9 miles of patrol road, four bridges, and housing and messing facilities for operating personnel. Work on this project, begun in September 1942, was completed in December 1943.
In April 1944 the 125th Battalion arrived, followed in May by the 95th, to carry out additional construction, upon completion of which the depot was turned over to CBMU 581.
AE Ammunition Ships
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/ae.htm
Explosives are primarily in divisions 1.1 and 1.5. Division 1.1 denotes a "mass explosion hazard". This means that all, or nearly all, of the explosive compound within a given load or device will detonate instantaneously, producing a blast overpressure of supersonic velocity. Detonation velocity of division 1.1 material is approximately 10k to 30k feet per second.
The term "net explosive weight (NEW)" refers to the weight of ONLY the explosive material in a given load, device, or article. For example, a military 1000-pound bomb might weigh 1000 pounds, but it contains only 385 pounds of explosive material. The bomb casing and other non-explosive parts of the device, such as guidance components, etc, account for the remainder of the weight. Hence, the total NEW of 5 such "1000 pound" bombs would be 1925 pounds.
Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point (MOTSU) in Wilmington, NC
The Army Net Explosive Weight (N.E.W.) aboard these ships is in excess of 13 million pounds. The location and situation at Diego Garcia affords the opportunity to exceed normal port anchorage restrictions. AMC sponsored a viable solution to reducing this excess N.E.W. by cross-leveling amongst three vice two ammo container ships. In order to position these ships at the desired locations with the ARFs, the N.E.W. must be reduced per ship to < 8.0 million pounds N.E.W..
The Army has a history of not using all prepositioned afloat ammo during contingencies and this data can be used to reduce the N.E.W. above and beyond the introduction of a third ship for cross-leveling. The reduction in N.E.W. below 8.0 million pounds is critical for both anchorage and portside download vice in-stream discharge.
The effects of N.E.W. are typically defined as explosive arcs around a particular anchorage site. In addition to avoiding civilian infrastructure within that arc, another major impact is proximity to commercial shipping lanes. Major global commercial seaports that can offload a deep draft ammo container ship are surrounded by ingress and egress shipping lanes which significantly reduces potential portside offloads.
