SOUTH TOMS RIVER, NJ — A pair of training torpedoes uncovered in the ground during the demolition of a dilapidated building in South Toms River are inert and posed no danger to workers or anyone near the site, officials said Wednesday.

The torpedoes were uncovered as workers removed the building formerly called the Shanty House, which was an old gardening and antiques business on Atlantic City Boulevard in South Toms River. The property, which also includes the Meineke Car Care Center next door, is owned by Mark Ott.

An employee at Meineke who didn't want her name used said Ott had owned the site since the early 1980s.

It's unknown how long the torpedoes, which are post-World War II, according to explosives experts at Naval Weapons Station Earle in Wall, may have been in the ground. Bob Addison, the public affairs officer for NWS Earle, said the torpedoes were 12 inches in diameter and 7 feet long. Members of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal Mobile Unit 12 Detachment Earle were able to determine at the scene that the torpedoes were safe because they were hollow, Addison said.

The Meineke employee said the torpedoes were discovered as the demolotion crew began working on knocking down the Shanty House.

The Shanty House, a garden center, fell into disrepair and had to be demolished. The torpedoes were found during the demolition. Photo via Google Maps

"All of a sudden he (the crew foreman) came in here and said, 'We've got a problem,'" the employee said.

The South Toms River Police Department, Ocean County Sheriff's Department and New Jersey State Police also responded to the site and kept onlookers away until the explosive ordnance team declared the torpedoes safe.

The site is less than half a mile down the road from the Jersey Shore Base Submarine Memorial in Marine Park in South Toms River, where ceremonies are held annually to honor sailors who've lost their lives serving in the U.S. Navy's submarines.

The site, the centerpiece of which is a larger inert torpedo painted to look like a live one, was chosen because of Toms River's rich naval history.

The Jersey Shore Base Submarine Memorial in South Toms River. Behind it is the Toms River, where early submarine ideas were tested. Karen Wall photo

Some of the earliest submarine testing was conducted in the Toms River by Simon Lake. The area also was home to Admiral Farragut Academy, the former military preparatory school that sat on the banks of the Toms River in Pine Beach for decades before closing in 1994 as enrollment dwindled. It boasted a few prominent alumni, but none more famous than astronaut Alan Shepherd, the first American in space and the fifth person to walk on the moon. A heavy chain that surrounds the torpedo and commemorative granite blocks came from the school, officials with Jersey Shore Submarine Base have said.



In addition, there are stories that some U.S. Navy operations were conducted out of the Toms River area during the World War I era.

Addison said the torpedoes caused some initial concern because they looked like live ones, but the ordnance crew soon discovered the blue paint that designates training rounds had been painted over so they looked like live torpedoes, he said.

Whether the torpedoes found in the ground Wednesday have any historical significance, given their proximity to the former Admiral Farragut site and to the Toms River, is unknown. It's not uncommon for people to discover all manner of inert ordnance that has been kept as a souvenir, so their original source may never be determined.

Addison said the torpedoes were taken back to Naval Weapons Station Earle, but what would be done with them was unclear.

"If they had been live, obviously we would have destroyed them, but since they're inert, that's not necessary," he said.

Torpedo photos and photos of police and Navy personnel via the Meineke employee.