Unexploded Bombs lie in waters

[LucidElement]

I thought you all may find this interesting. beneath the world's oceans are an estimated 200 million pounds of unexploded and potentially dangerous explosives -- from bombs to missiles to mustard gas.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/10/08/millions-unexploded-bombs-lie-in-waters-off-us-coasts/

[Hasina]

Not a huge shock. I always figured many countries looked at the ocean and thought 'well, it's not like anyone can see them, let's dump there!'

[synchronomy]

During the second world war, allied bombers returning from European raids dumped all remaining bombs in the English Channel so they could land safely.

The totals, of course, are unknown. Conservative estimates are a scary number.

For many years it was standard practice for aircraft returning to carriers in the ocean.

Edited October 8, 2012 by synchronomy

[Ashotep]

This isn't a shock really, there is unexploded ordinances anyplace there has been conflict.

[Doug1029]

I thought you all may find this interesting. beneath the world's oceans are an estimated 200 million pounds of unexploded and potentially dangerous explosives -- from bombs to missiles to mustard gas.

Not a big surprise. Some kids found mustard gas cartridges at Great Salt Plains State Park back in 2007. The Army recovered 171 canisters and about a dozen incendiary bombs when they swept it.

And unexploded Civil War shells, some of them still live, keep turning up.

And four 500-pound "earthquake" bombs disappeared in 1997 when a pilot went off the deep end and decided to commit suicide. He flew the plane into the Colorado wilderness and crashed it against a mountain. They found the wreckage, but there were no bombs. They're still out there - somewhere.

A half-dozen sarin canisters were found in a dump just north of Denver in 2000 and 2001. And the Navy rolled a truckload of torpedoes in the middle of the I-25/I-70 interchange back in 1984 - something was leaking from one of them and there was nobody at the designated phone number to answer questions.

In January 1966, the US accidently dropped an atomic bomb off the coast of Spain- they recovered it, but... In 1968 a B-52 crashed on the Greenland ice cap. The non-nuclear bomb fuses exploded, raining plutonium all over the glacier. When the Air Force reconstructed the bombs from debris found on site, they discovered a nuclear warhead was missing. It has never been found. In April 1989, the Russians lost two nuclear torpedoes. And the Scorpion had two nuclear warheads on it when it sunk. They're still down there (We hope.). The USS Ticonderoga lost a plane, pilot and nuclear bomb over the side in 1965. The US govt estimates that about 50 atomic warheads are missing around the world; eleven of them are ours and seven of those are somewhere right here in the USA.

On May 22, 1957, the USAF dropped a nuclear bomb on Albuquerque. The TNT charges exploded killing a cow. Five of the six safety latches failed, leaving only one latch protecting some nearby schoolchildren from vaporization.

And then there was one that turned up missing in an inventory of nuclear weapons. While the Pentagon brass sweated, a desperate search turned up nothing. Then a lietenant doing a routine ordinance inventory in a conventional weapons depot found a bomb with strange code numbers that he didn't recognize. Turns out they had just misplaced it.

Could terrorists find and refurbish one of these? There's no consensus on this. Some think yes and some think no. If we're lucky, we'll wake up some morning to find that some OTHER city got blown up.

If we can't trust the military to take care of its toys, we should take their toys away from them.

Doug

Edited October 8, 2012 by Doug1029

[LucidElement]

Not a huge shock. I always figured many countries looked at the ocean and thought 'well, it's not like anyone can see them, let's dump there!'

LOL, "DISLIKE Response" -(

[LucidElement]

Hey Synch, I graduated witth a history major. I totally concur with what your saying. But, Im curious, if their is an article or something that can help me read further into your response?

[LucidElement]

Not a big surprise. Some kids found mustard gas cartridges at Great Salt Plains State Park back in 2007. The Army recovered 171 canisters and about a dozen incendiary bombs when they swept it.[/left]

And unexploded Civil War shells, some of them still live, keep turning up.

And four 500-pound "earthquake" bombs disappeared in 1997 when a pilot went off the deep end and decided to commit suicide. He flew the plane into the Colorado wilderness and crashed it against a mountain. They found the wreckage, but there were no bombs. They're still out there - somewhere.

A half-dozen sarin canisters were found in a dump just north of Denver in 2000 and 2001. And the Navy rolled a truckload of torpedoes in the middle of the I-25/I-70 interchange back in 1984 - something was leaking from one of them and there was nobody at the designated phone number to answer questions.

In January 1966, the US accidently dropped an atomic bomb off the coast of Spain- they recovered it, but... In 1968 a B-52 crashed on the Greenland ice cap. The non-nuclear bomb fuses exploded, raining plutonium all over the glacier. When the Air Force reconstructed the bombs from debris found on site, they discovered a nuclear warhead was missing. It has never been found. In April 1989, the Russians lost two nuclear torpedoes. And the Scorpion had two nuclear warheads on it when it sunk. They're still down there (We hope.). The USS Ticonderoga lost a plane, pilot and nuclear bomb over the side in 1965. The US govt estimates that about 50 atomic warheads are missing around the world; eleven of them are ours and seven of those are somewhere right here in the USA.

On May 22, 1957, the USAF dropped a nuclear bomb on Albuquerque. The TNT charges exploded killing a cow. Five of the six safety latches failed, leaving only one latch protecting some nearby schoolchildren from vaporization.

And then there was one that turned up missing in an inventory of nuclear weapons. While the Pentagon brass sweated, a desperate search turned up nothing. Then a lietenant doing a routine ordinance inventory in a conventional weapons depot found a bomb with strange code numbers that he didn't recognize. Turns out they had just misplaced it.

Could terrorists find and refurbish one of these? There's no consensus on this. Some think yes and some think no. If we're lucky, we'll wake up some morning to find that some OTHER city got blown up.

If we can't trust the military to take care of its toys, we should take their toys away from them.

Doug

Hey Doug, very interesting, is it possible for you to LINK me any source(s) in which I could could further about this? I believe what your saying, I just would like to read more in depth =).. Thanks for the heads up!

[synchronomy]

Hey Synch, I graduated witth a history major. I totally concur with what your saying. But, Im curious, if their is an article or something that can help me read further into your response?

It was a long time ago.

I was researching musician Glen Miller, who's plane went missing over the English Channel in December 1944. One of the theories is that his plane was smashed out of the sky by bombers at higher altitude dumping their bombs prior to returning to base after an aborted bombing run to Siegen, Germany.

Here's a link to Wikipedia which mentions the bomb raid and his death.

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Glen_Miller

I remember linking to another article which also discussed bomb disposal in France and Germany after the war. Apparently they still occasionally find UXB's today. I'm not sure if I linked directly to it from that Wiki article.

You could also try a search on UXB's which is the term used for unexploded ordinance.

You may also get some leads visiting this site:

http://www.uxb.com/

Edited October 11, 2012 by synchronomy

[Doug1029]

Hey Doug, very interesting, is it possible for you to LINK me any source(s) in which I could could further about this? I believe what your saying, I just would like to read more in depth =).. Thanks for the heads up!

I had to dig up each of them indiviually using Google.

I was making regular trips to the Salt Flats when those mustard gas shells were found, so when they closed the park I couldn't go there anymore. Burying the shells was considered proper disposal at the time, even though live WWI gas shells were (and are) still being found. Why anybody would think a state park was the proper place is beyond me.

And I was living in Longmont when those sarin bomblets were found. It was all over the newspapers. Same with that guy who flew his plane into a mountain.

Doug