The Naval Ammunition Depot Hastings (NAD Hastings) near
Hastings, Nebraska
Hastings is a List of cities in Nebraska, city and the county seat of Adams County, Nebraska, Adams County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 25,152 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is known as the town where Kool-Aid ...
was the largest United States World War II naval
munitions
Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...
plant operating from 1942 to 1946 and produced over 40% of the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
's munitions.
History
World War II and accidents
![Hastings NAD Crater](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Hastings_NAD_Crater.jpg)
The former Naval Ammunition Depot (NAD) is one of Nebraska's four major former ammunition plants: the
Cornhusker Ordnance Plant, the
Nebraska Ordnance Plant The Nebraska Ordnance Plant is a former United States Army ammunition plant located approximately ½ mile south of Mead, Nebraska and 30 miles west of Omaha, Nebraska in Saunders County. It originally extended across producing weapons from 1942-45 ...
and the
Martin Bomber Plant.
Its construction began in July 1942 on and was completed in early 1943 with over 2,000 buildings,
bunkers
A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...
, and various other types of structures.
[ibiblio.net. Hyperwar. US Navy.]
''Building the Navy's Bases in WWII''
Chapter 13, Page 342. The cost of construction was over $71 million.
[Adams County (Nebraska) Historical Society]
"The Naval Ammunition Depot"
from ACHS ''Historical News'', Vol. 25 No. 4, and Vol. 27 No. 4. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
The Navy built in this location due to the proximity to the area's three railroads, the abundance of underground water, cheap natural gas and electricity, the stable work force, and the distance from either coast (being well beyond the range of Japanese or German bombers). At one point during World War II the facility was producing over 40% of the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
's munitions. It manufactured 40 mm shells, 16-inch projectiles, rockets, bombs, depth charges, mines, and torpedoes. Production peaked in June–July 1945, when the depot employed 125 officers, 1,800 enlisted men, and 6,692 civilians.
The impact on the city of
Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
was a 40% population increase from just over 15,000 in 1940 to 22,252 at its peak during the war. By 1944, workers' base wages at the depot were 74 cents an hour with time-and-a-half for overtime beyond 54- to 64-hour workweeks, considerably higher than the 40- to 50-cents per hour in town and maybe a dollar a day for a hired man on the farm.
[ Farmers experienced a severe labor shortage, schools were overcrowded with 50-60 children, and new homes were scarce.][
Four accidental explosions took place during the war, of which two were officially reported. All occurred in 1944, and together resulted in the deaths of 22 people.] The first accident left a crater 550 feet long, 220 feet wide, and 50 feet deep.[ The most severe accidental blast killed nine people and injured fifty-three on September 15, 1944.] It was caused by human error while a train was being loaded. The loading depot and the train were totally destroyed. Part of the roof at a high school in Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, about east of Hastings, collapsed as a result of the explosion; injuring 10 children.
After World War II
In April 1945, the work week was reduced from 60 to 54 hours, and then in August 1945 to 40 hours while the number of employees was reduced to 3,000. By 1949, personnel numbered 1,189. The depot was reactivated in August 1950 to supply munitions for the Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
. During this period, employment peaked in January 1954 with 2,946 civilians.
Air Force presence
During the Vietnam War, a portion of the NAD was turned over to the U.S. Air Force. This became a radar bomb scoring detachment that helped train pilots in electronic bombing techniques that were used in southeast Asia.
Closure and transfer
Closure of the site was ordered in December 1958 to be concluded no later than June 1966. , the land was occupied by Central Community College, which uses some of the former buildings, Hastings East Industrial Park (HEIP), a golf course, the Greenlief Training Facility for national guardsmen and reservists, and the United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...
Meat Animal Research Center, which was granted part of the site in 1964.
Other naval munititions plants
Three smaller inland naval munitions plants were located at Naval Ammunition Depot, Crane in Burns City, Indiana, McAlester Naval Depot in McAlester, Oklahoma
McAlester is the county seat of Pittsburg County, Oklahoma, Pittsburg County, Oklahoma. The population was 18,363 at the time of the 2010 census, a 3.4 percent increase from 17,783 at the 2000 census,Shuller, Thurman"McAlester" profile ''Encyclop ...
and the Hawthorne Naval Ammunition Depot
Hawthorne Army Depot (HWAD) is a U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command ammunition storage depot located near the town of Hawthorne, Nevada, Hawthorne in western Nevada in the United States. It is directly south of Walker Lake (Nevada), Walker Lake. ...
in Hawthorne, Nevada
Hawthorne is a census-designated place (CDP) in Mineral County, Nevada, United States. At the 2010 census, the population was 3,269, a decrease since the 2000 census, when it was 3,311. It is the county seat of Mineral County. The nearby Hawtho ...
.
See also
* Lake Denmark Naval Ammunition Depot, New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, which blew up in July 1926.
*
References
External links
"The Naval Ammunition Depot"
– Adams County (Nebraska) Historical Society
*Naval Ammunition Depot
* ttp://www.visithastingsnebraska.com/assets/site/web/documents/Final%20NAD%20Brochure.pdf NAD facility map{{coord, 40, 31, 57.12, N, 98, 11, 16.72, W, scale:100000_type:landmark_region:US-NE, display=title
Hastings Depot
Ammunition Depot
An ammunition dump, ammunition supply point (ASP), ammunition handling area (AHA) or ammunition depot is a military storage facility for live ammunition and explosives.
The storage of live ammunition and explosives is inherently hazardous. The ...
Buildings and structures in Hastings, Nebraska
Military installations in Nebraska
Disasters in Nebraska
Military installations closed in 1966
Closed installations of the United States Navy