What's a torpedo doing in Port Richmond?

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.