The United States Army Ordnance Training Support Facility (formerly known as the U.S. Army Ordnance Training and Heritage Center and U.S. Army Ordnance Museum) artifacts are used to train and educate logistic soldiers. It re-located to Fort Lee, outside

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines Petersburg (along with the city of Colonial Heights) with Di ...

. Its previous incarnation was the United States Army Ordnance Museum at

Aberdeen Proving Ground Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) (sometimes erroneously called Aberdeen Proving ''Grounds'') is a U.S. Army facility located adjacent to Aberdeen, Harford County, Maryland, United States. More than 7,500 civilians and 5,000 military personnel work a ...

in Aberdeen, Maryland which closed in September 2010.

History

The mission of the U.S. Army Ordnance Training and Heritage Center is to acquire, preserve, and exhibit historically significant equipment,

armaments A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, ...

and

materiel Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context. In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the specific ...

that relate to the history of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

Ordnance Corps and to document and present the evolution and development of U.S. military ordnance material dating from the American Colonial Period to the present day. Established in 1919 and officially opened to the public in 1924, to exhibit captured enemy equipment and materiel, the Museum was located in Building 314 of the

and operated by the

until 1967. Co-location with APG provided convenient access to the equipment being delivered to APG for testing after World War I. In 1965 local citizens formed the tax-free Ordnance Museum Foundation, Inc. to establish and operate a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

of these military artifacts. The Foundation is not affiliated with the U.S. Army nor the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippi ...

. The Foundation began operation of the Museum in the early 1970s, upon opening in Building 2601 on the Aberdeen Proving Ground (until its closure in September 2010) and operates the Ordnance Museum until this day. In 2005 a

Base Realignment and Closure Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) is a process by a United States federal government commission to increase United States Department of Defense efficiency by coordinating the realignment and closure of military installations following the end o ...

(BRAC) law was passed by Congress. One of BRAC's requirements was the relocation of the U.S. Army Ordnance Center and School headquarters, the Ordnance Mechanical Maintenance School, and the Ordnance Museum to Fort Lee by the end of 2011. The transfer of artifacts from Aberdeen to Fort Lee began in August 2009.

Hours and entry requirements

The collection is used exclusively for training and not available for public viewing. Currently, only soldiers with an 89, 91, or 94 series MOS are authorized entry.

Exhibits

Exterior exhibits at Fort Lee: *

M2 Bradley The M2 Bradley, or Bradley IFV, is an American infantry fighting vehicle that is a member of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle family. It is manufactured by BAE Systems Land & Armaments, which was formerly United Defense. The Bradley is designed fo ...

Fighting Vehicle *

12-inch gun M1895 The 12-inch coastal defense gun M1895 (305 mm) and its variants the M1888 and M1900 were large coastal artillery pieces installed to defend major American seaports between 1895 and 1945. For most of their history they were operated by the Unit ...

on railcar *

Pershing 1 The MGM-31A Pershing was the missile used in the Pershing 1 and Pershing 1a field artillery missile systems. It was a solid-fueled two-stage theater ballistic missile designed and built by Martin Marietta to replace the PGM-11 Redstone missile as ...

Field Artillery Missile System * 1939 Armored Recovery Vehicle *

T-12 Cloudmaker The T-12 (also known as Cloudmaker) earthquake bomb was developed by the United States from 1944 to 1948 and deployed until the withdrawal of the Convair B-36 Peacemaker bomber aircraft in 1958. It was one of a small class of bombs designed to ...

demolition bomb

References

External links

*
Website of the civilian-operated museum
External photographic catalogs / galleries
US APG OM at ''peachmountain.com''

Ordnance Collection at Aberdeen Proving Grounds

Photos of Tanks, Armored Vehicles, Artillery, and other weapons at the US Army Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Grounds {{Coord missing, Virginia Museums established in 1967 Ordnance Museum Museums in Harford County, Maryland Military and war museums in Maryland Tank museums 1967 establishments in Maryland

History

Hours and entry requirements

Exhibits

See also

References

External links