Torpedo found at Philly construction site
Read this entire story to see if the torpedo was real or a replica!
Video of witness who says he saw people “dump” the torpedo.
Link to raw video of torpedo removal.
Torpedo found at Philly construction site
2010-08-27 | 6abc.com wireless News
There was a bit of a scare Friday morning at a construction site in the Kensington section of Philadelphia.
It was around 9:15 a.m. when the crew working in the area of Richmond and Cumberland came across buried 12-foot long torpedo.
PennDOT spokesman Charles Metzger says a transportation department archaeological team found two men sitting on a torpedo drinking beers.
A police bomb squad had to be called in.
However, they determined that the torpedo was inactive.
Metzger says PennDOT would have had to shut down traffic on nearby Interstate 95 if the torpedo had been active.
A Philadelphia police spokeswoman says the torpedo was discovered on property owned by Conrail.
The PennDOT crew was working on the site of an interchange expansion nearby.
No evacuations were needed and the situation was declared under control around 10:00 a.m.
There is no word yet on where the torpedo came from.
Chopper 6 HD was overhead as workers removed the torpedo. There were a few heart-stopping moments when the torpedo fell from the crane being used to lift it.
Fortunately, there was no danger since the torpedo was deactivated.
The crane was used to pick the torpedo up again and place it onto the bed of a truck.
Now here’s the followup
Philadelphia_PA_A Conrail worker gives an alleged torpedo a kick before walking away from it near a construction site near Richmond and Cumberland St. in Philadelphia on Friday, August 27, 2010. ALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS
What’s a torpedo doing in Port Richmond?
Philly.com | By Allison Steele, Inquirer Staff Writer | Sat, Aug. 28, 2010
The bizarre discovery of what appeared to be a 20-foot-long steel torpedo at a Port Richmond construction site sent the police bomb squad into high gear Friday morning – until investigators realized the device was a dud.
When members of the bomb squad evacuated the area and X-rayed the item, they found it was hollow. It also appeared to be welded and had no screws, as a torpedo would, said Chief Inspector Joseph Sullivan.
“Our best guess is, this was some type of novelty item,” Sullivan said. “It’s decorative in some way, if that’s your taste.”
Police don’t know how the torpedo replica ended up at the site at Richmond and Cumberland Streets, but Sullivan said they suspected someone dumped the 800- to 1,000-pound item in a wooded area there to get rid of it.
The item was in good shape, its paint bright, he said. Police do not think it had been buried, and Sullivan said it did not appear to have been in the woods long.
Police also do not think it was meant to cause panic and will not pursue charges against anyone who may have left it there, Sullivan said.
“No doubt, they never expected it to generate this kind of attention,” he said.
The replica was found at the site of a new Girard Avenue interchange with I-95. The area is near the site of the former Cramp’s Shipyard, which built submarines and other warships during World War II.
Members of a state Department of Transportation archaeological team arriving at the site about 7 a.m. found two men sitting on the replica, which had the number “56″ painted on its side, said PennDot spokesman Charles Metzger.
The men told the crew they had found the fake torpedo in the river and spent six hours dragging it about 1,000 feet to the worksite, Metzger said.
Police believe the men planned to sell the replica to a scrapyard.
Once the item was deemed safe, police had it taken to a junkyard to be destroyed. Construction resumed at the site shortly after the scare, police said.
Getting a call about a torpedo, Sullivan said, was a first in his 27 years on the force.
“We approached it,” he said, “with extreme caution.”
Anyone who has information about the replica may call the bomb-disposal unit at 215-685-8013.