Dennis’ Mystery Quarry – Part 2

Here’s Part 2 of longtime blog contributor Dennis Thompson’s surprising story behind a mystery photo that he found and eventually identified on the Vintage Aerial website.

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The Mystery Quarry Circa 1969

The Mystery Quarry – Part 2
by Dennis Thompson

As I drove up to the mystery quarry, all I could see were the trees, the tall fence and an impenetrable gate. No signs were visible on the buildings, some of which were obviously more modern then the ones in the 1969 aerial photo. 

I finally spotted a palm-sized sign on the gate with “Halo Mechanical” on it. I knew that company; it is an industrial HVAC contractor that did work at NASA, which is where I worked before retiring.

I went back there the following Monday, and the gate was open. Several work trucks were near the building and I parked next to one where a service man was loading gear. I explained I was interested in the history of the floating building and asked if he knew what it was. He savored the moment, drawing out his response with a grin, “Would you believe cold war weapons research”?  

I was speechless. This was pretty much the last thing I expected from an small quarry in Columbia Township.

He invited me inside, and soon I was living a historian’s dream, standing at a table with a box of old photos, drawings, test reports, and even a scale model of the facility: The Clevite-Gould torpedo guidance test facility. He said no one had ever asked about the floating building; I was the first historian to contact him. 

Stacks of blueprints filled the corner behind the scale model. When Clevite-Gould was done with testing, they just abandoned the buildings and left a lot of material behind. What were they testing? The guidance system for the Mark 48 torpedo.

Display Torpedo

Scale model of the test facility (note blueprints in corner)

In the late 1930s Clevite, located on Euclid Ave in Cleveland, had acquired the Brush Corp and their electronic expertise. Clevite made bearings and WWII era torpedoes right in Cleveland. 

The torpedoes had their problems. Guidance was crude. Basically you pointed your submarine at a ship, set the running depth and fired. Many times, even if it hit the target, the trigger failed to work. Although the US progressed from the Mark 14 through the Mark 38 torpedoes, they still had rudimentary guidance at the end of the war. 

In the early 1950s the Russians developed deep water submarines. We needed torpedoes that could hit them reliably. The Mark 48 was the latest design and had many variations; the Mods 4 through 6 were probably developed on Jaquay Road.

To test the newly designed sonar guidance systems, Gould needed a nearby source of deep water with no other users. Gould purchased the property on Jaquay Rd in the 1950s. The only phone directory that lists them just states, “Clevite Ordnance” with no address. 

They built the floating test site and several support buildings. A large trapdoor in the floor of the facility allowed them to submerge the torpedoes and retrieve them without being seen by a casual observer. A smaller building across the quarry had targets that could be towed on underwater cables.

The Mark 48s are highly successful. They can hunt down a submarine deep underwater, maneuver to chase it and even circle back if unable to get close enough the first time. Like an advanced air-to-air missile they calculate where the ship is going and cut across to intercept it, they don’t just play “follow the leader.” They can elude magnetic and electrical fields designed to confuse targeting systems.

1970s Gould aerial photo showing the facility and nearby junkyard
and pony truss bridge on Osborne Road

Floating facility

Technicians working over the open trapdoor in the floor

Technicians working on a full scale Mark 48 torpedo (Above two photos) 

The owner of Halo Mechanical even told me that they had a company testing sonar mapping equipment in the quarry in the past few years, and they found there is still an old torpedo resting 100 feet down on the bottom!

Despite extensive Internet searching, I can find nothing about this test site. Although it was supposedly only used for guidance work, while wandering the grounds I found a munitions bunker buried into a hillside with the typical blow-off door the only thing exposed.

Entrance to bunker

Clevite Gould eventually merged with Westinghouse and vacated this site before 2000 after the Mod 6 was in full production. 

The present owners are fascinated with its history. Unfortunately, the floating building is listing to port and we deemed it best not to go aboard. Sadly, they are thinking of scuttling it. 

Maybe they could use a Mark 48, seen here doing what it does best:

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Special thanks to Dennis for sharing this fascinating story (and my apologies for the delay in presenting it here).