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CAMP INGRAM RECIFE * - CAMP INGRAM *

4)JIQUIA AMMO DEPOT


With an area of ​​943,000 m2, the Jiquiá field was chosen by the U.S Navy, at the beginning of World War II, as an ammunition depot. In August 1945, at the end of the conflict, the facility was transferred to the Brazilian Navy with the ammunition there. The former dock of the famous Graf Zeppelin had, therefore, another function. If not out of peace as in the days of the silver-colored cigar that for the first time felt the warmth of South American airs, waddling in the skies of Recife, now it had another not less important destination: to store ammunition to defend ourselves and allow indispensable domain of maritime routes.


There, our allies met all the requirements for an adequate establishment to receive, conserve and supply ammunition: easy access, wide and flat area, with no great temperature variations, close to the main port in the Northeast. by the way, an anchorage accessible to large draft ships (except for large oil tankers and bulk carriers), without much dependence on the tides. All the conditions for the purposes that the naval technicians demand were found there. After the analysis of the area, the location of the storage and respective constructions were passed. Obviously, nothing escaped the pros and cons of an ammunition depot. Even the conditions of distance between the places of storage and shipment, the humidity and temperature of the subsoil, everything had been studied and predicted.


The walls built in such a way that, in the event of an explosion, the force of the gases would expand in the vertical direction, and not laterally. In view of the mathematically calculated reinforcement, the walls that confine each deposit hinder the lateral expansion of the gases. That is why our military authorities were not very concerned about accidents. They only fulfilled the technical requirements in guarding explosives. In the event of an accident, even the houses built in the vicinity of the deposit, would be undamaged. So without collective risks, hundreds of tons of explosives were stored there during the war.



The index  above shows all buildings erected at Jiquia. The US Army stored all explosives used by  the US Navy ships of 4th Fleet.


U.S. Army built bunkers, and an ammunition-storage base. The installation consisted of 13 steel arch magazines, three concrete magazines. Two fuse and detonator and the barrack buildings.


Also a system of radio transmitters, whose station, the powerful NKM, was also erected at the Jiquia Field, with its multiple devices transmitting simultaneously in four waves.



American radio operators working at NKM. 



The picture above shows one concrete magazine at Jiquia Ammo Depot.



Fuse and Detonator building. 2 by 7x9 feet were erected at Jiquia Ammunition Depot.



Arch Magazines above. 3 of that same model were at Jiquia each one measuring 22x53 feet. 16 other magazines with various dimensions were also erected at Jiquia Ammunition Depot.


 

 

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