Sea life and sea bed munitions.

[Foo Fighter]

I know this may seem like a daft question but I have seen many times, sea life clustered on the explosive ordnance from the loss of military ship in conflict. It has been stated numerous times that some sea life eats the long exposed explosive elents of these munitions but now when I try to find a single mention of this on the net, cannot find anything.

Am I going nuts? Senile? Or is there a factual basis within my recollections?

 

[Jemiba]

Don't know, if this is, what you're looking for, but here is an article from the German Spektrum magazine, a quite
reliable source about news in all scientific fields :

https://www.spektrum.de/magazin/biologische-sanierung-von-ruestungsaltlasten/821135

It's from 1993 already, so there may be already some results. For short, there are anaerobe bacteria, able to split
TNT into less dangerous components, which then can be reduced by other types of bacteria.
May be a good idea, because in the North Sea and especially the Baltic, there are still millions of tons of Ammo,
and with proceeding deterioration of the old casings, its becoming more and more an acute danger.

 

[Mark Nankivil]

Don't know, if this is, what you're looking for, but here is an article from the German Spektrum magazine, a quite
reliable source about news in all scientific fields :

https://www.spektrum.de/magazin/biologische-sanierung-von-ruestungsaltlasten/821135

It's from 1993 already, so there may be already some results. For short, there are anaerobe bacteria, able to split
TNT into less dangerous components, which then can be reduced by other types of bacteria.
May be a good idea, because in the North Sea and especially the Baltic, there are still millions of tons of Ammo,
and with proceeding deterioration of the old casings, its becoming more and more an acute danger.

Are there any known incidents of old munitions going "boom"? Don't recall seeing anything along those lines but it may show up in regional news and not national/world news.

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[riggerrob]

During the aftermath of World War 2, the Royal Canadian Navy dumped hundreds of tons of ammo in deep waters off the shores of Nova Scotia. Since those weapons were never fitted with detonators, it is unlikely that they will ever explode.

To train divers, the RCN had been slowly removing explosives from an RCN ship that sank in shallow waters after WW2.

Another problem is that barnacles, etc. vastly complicate the work of trying to remove bombs by EOD (explosives ordinance demolition) experts decades later.

 

[PMN1]

Don't know, if this is, what you're looking for, but here is an article from the German Spektrum magazine, a quite
reliable source about news in all scientific fields :

https://www.spektrum.de/magazin/biologische-sanierung-von-ruestungsaltlasten/821135

It's from 1993 already, so there may be already some results. For short, there are anaerobe bacteria, able to split
TNT into less dangerous components, which then can be reduced by other types of bacteria.
May be a good idea, because in the North Sea and especially the Baltic, there are still millions of tons of Ammo,
and with proceeding deterioration of the old casings, its becoming more and more an acute danger.

Are there any known incidents of old munitions going "boom"? Don't recall seeing anything along those lines but it may show up in regional news and not national/world news.

Enjoy the Day! Mark

Baltic Sea September 26 2022......

 

[Jemiba]

....

Are there any known incidents of old munitions going "boom"? Don't recall seeing anything along those lines but it may show up in regional news and not national/world news.

Enjoy the Day! Mark

More of a problem, than old ammo going boom on the high sea, are residues, washed upon the shore and
then lying on the beach, especially in cases of substances like phosphorus.

 

[TomS]

Are there any known incidents of old munitions going "boom"? Don't recall seeing anything along those lines but it may show up in regional news and not national/world news.

Enjoy the Day! Mark

North Sea: Fishermen lucky to survive after line set off WW2 bomb

Fishermen were hauling crabbing pots out of the sea when the line disturbed a World War Two bomb.

www.bbc.com

Fishermen were "fortunate not to be killed" when their boat was thrown about by the blast from a World War Two bomb, a report states.

The 15m (49ft) Galwad-Y-Mor was hauling in crab pots off the Norfolk coast when the line disturbed an unexploded bomb on the seabed on 15 December 2020.

Five crew members were injured, including one left blinded in one eye.

 

[Nigelhg]

Don't know, if this is, what you're looking for, but here is an article from the German Spektrum magazine, a quite
reliable source about news in all scientific fields :

https://www.spektrum.de/magazin/biologische-sanierung-von-ruestungsaltlasten/821135

It's from 1993 already, so there may be already some results. For short, there are anaerobe bacteria, able to split
TNT into less dangerous components, which then can be reduced by other types of bacteria.
May be a good idea, because in the North Sea and especially the Baltic, there are still millions of tons of Ammo,
and with proceeding deterioration of the old casings, its becoming more and more an acute danger.

Are there any known incidents of old munitions going "boom"? Don't recall seeing anything along those lines but it may show up in regional news and not national/world news.

Enjoy the Day! Mark

When they laid an electricity interconnector across the Beaufort dyke they could hear explosions going on- loads of surplus ammo was dumped there for WW2.... Also some low grade nuclear waste I've be told.

 

[Hood]

SS Richard Montgomery - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Stovepipe]

When both the RN and Irish Naval Service were dumping surplus munitions after WW 2, initially the ships crews were diligent and would go all the way out to the posted dumping areas. Before long, they would get lazy and would tip the stuff over the side, much nearer the land, when they thought it was easier to do so and get away with it. Fishermen were soon pulling up artillery shells and bits of guns, much nearer the home port than in the approved dumping area. A colleague of mine was once on an INS vessel that left port and went to the dumping area and the entire crew turned out to blast off as much small arms ammunition as they cared to. They dumped a lot of artillery and antiaircraft ammunition that had been supplied by Britain and the manufacturer did not want it back. they also dumped older surplus small arms and time expired explosives and pyrotechnics.