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Era Comes to an End at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS110707-14
7/7/2011

By Mark O. Piggott, Naval Weapons Station Yorktown

YORKTOWN, Va. (NNS) -- The Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Indian Head Division, Det. Yorktown, ended its experimental explosive development, June 30, bringing more than 70 years of weapons research to a close.

NWSC Det. Yorktown is located at Naval Weapons Station (WPNSTA) Yorktown-Cheatham Annex (CAX), Va., and is scheduled to transfer operations to NSWC Indian Head Division in Maryland by late August 2011.

The relocation is part of the Base Re-alignment and Closure (BRAC) recommendations.

"This brings a major chapter in the history of Yorktown Weapons Station to a close," said Capt. Lowell Crow, commanding officer, WPNSTA Yorktown. "We will continue to support the warfighters and the Navy's mission as a 'Global Force for Good' by providing to the best ordnance support to the fleet."

The Yorktown detachment has been working with a variety of experimental explosive materials for many years. Their formulations and experiments have been under the oversight of the New Explosive Material Review Committee (NEMRC). YKT-79, new explosive formulation with potential as an improved booster material, is the last new formulation to be developed on board WPNSTA Yorktown-CAX.

Prior to 1940, Naval Mine Depot Yorktown was used for the receipt, reclamation, storage and issue of mines, depth charges and related materials.