U.S. Army Ordnance Museum
The Aberdeen Proving Ground is a 75,000-acre U.S. Army installation on the Chesapeake Bay, about 30 mi northeast of Baltimore's Inner Harbor. On its premises is the U.S. Army Ordnance Museum, one of the world's foremost military museums. If you thought that the Sherman tank in your hometown's square was fun, wait until you see the largest collection of armored fighting vehicles in the country—230 at last count, spread over 25 acres. A huge 16-inch American gun from World War I is on display, as well as the first surface-to-air missile, devised by the Germans in 1945 along with "Anzio Annie," the giant Nazi railroad cannon used to shell Allied beachheads. The collection of small arms includes a 15th-century matchlock—a musket whose powder ignites from a slow-burning wick.
