US Naval Ordnance Testing Facility Observation Tower No. 2, also known as Queen's Grant Tower, is a historic building located at

Topsail Island Topsail Island (, TOP-sill) is a 26-mile (41.8 km) long barrier island off the coast of North Carolina, roughly equidistant between the barrier islands of the Crystal Coast and the beaches of the Cape Fear (region), Cape Fear region, lying ...

Pender County, North Carolina Pender County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 60,203. Its county seat is Burgaw. Pender County is part of the Wilmington, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. History The county ...

. It was built in 1946 by

Kellex Corporation The Kellex Corporation was a wholly owned subsidiary of M. W. Kellogg Company. Kellex was formed in 1942 so that Kellogg's operations relating to the Manhattan Project could be kept separate and secret. "Kell" stood for "Kellogg" and "X" for se ...

, and is a reinforced concrete structure. The interior stairs have been removed. It was one of seven observation towers built to house carefully calibrated monitoring equipment for "

Operation Bumblebee Operation Bumblebee was a US Navy effort to develop surface to air missiles (SAMs) to provide a mid-range layer of anti-aircraft defence, between anti-aircraft guns in the short range and fighter aircraft operating at long range. A major reason f ...

." It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1993.

References

Military facilities on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Buildings and structures completed in 1946 Buildings and structures in Pender County, North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Pender County, North Carolina {{PenderCountyNC-NRHP-stub