Posted on 01/07/2024 5:01:22 PM PST by Libloather
World War II depth charges, smoke floats and munition cases are among the latest eerie relics to be discovered on a deep-water survey ten miles off the coast of LA.
High–resolution cameras found a massive dumping ground of munitions from the Pacific War which were tossed overboard warships before they could endanger the ports they were returning to.
A team from the University of California's San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography found the objects up to 3,000ft down between LA and Catalina Island, in the same area where thousands of barrels of the outlawed pesticide DDT were discovered three years ago.
'We started to find the same objects by the dozens, if not hundreds, consistently, it actually took a few days to really understand what we were seeing on the seabed,' said expedition leader Eric Terrill.
'Who knew that right in our backyard, the more you look, the more you find.'
The latest discoveries were found across a 135 square mile survey field, and included Hedgehog and Mark 9 depth charges which were typically used by the US Navy to attack enemy submarines.
Also spotted were Mark 1 smoke floats which used white phosphorous or other reactive chemicals to identify or conceal a ship's position.
Dumping munitions at sea was outlawed by international treaty in 1975, and a Congressional investigation identified 32 instances of it by the US military in American waters between 1918 and 1970.
But hundreds of thousands of tons of mustard gas along with compounds including Adamsite, Lewisite and Tabun are thought to have been tossed overboard with no record between the 1940s and 1960s.
The US Navy, which worked with the Scripps team admitted the discoveries 'are likely a result of World War II-era disposal practices'.
'Disposal of munitions at sea at this location was approved...
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Nobody should tell them there are many thousands of ships that were sunk in WWII that are rusting at the bottom of the ocean.
Life is going on.
Government is the biggest polluter of all.
For the munitions, what ignore them or destroy them in place?
Because they, really, know that DDT is, both, harmless and beneficial?
Not until we properly self flagellate over a common practice since men first went to sea.
As far as my limited research has found, DDT isn't the boogeyman that people try to make it. People are immune to it, but it is deadly to insects. After WWII we basically fumigated Europe to prevent insect infestations- lice and bed bugs. DDT was actively used in mosquito control in the 1960s. I remember when the "Bug trucks" used to drive through the streets gassing the neighborhood. Many thousands of people die of malaria and other serious diseases, because they are not allowed to use DDT.
In this instance, it is probably safer to let it deteriorate in place than to try to remove it. I do not know if DDT affects marine animals, but why possibly allow it to flow in currents, due to leaking barrels being raised from the ocean floor.
Maybe in light quanitities, but countless barrels of it in a concentrated area is surely not. As they noted and as noted over the years, DDT is showing up in the fish and animals, cancers are up, etc. Sorry, can’t sweep that under the rug or, here, bury it at sea. They need to clean it up and explain why that haven’t already done so.
Just like Clinton who had thousands of cases of BAR’s and M!4’s still in cosmoline thrown in the drink.
Interesting. Now just leave the stuff alone, since it’s not doing any harm down there at 3,000 feet. Most marine life is within 20 meters of the surface, or so I heard somewhere.
I think this is what you’re looking for. DDT is not a villain.
The Mosquito Killer
By Malcolm Gladwell
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/07/02/the-mosquito-killer
Viet Nam. One of my buddies said the same thing happened. Had to do with budget cuts if new stuff wasn’t needed. I remember milk price supports-mid 70’s. Ranchers threatened to to kill off a massive number of cattle. Gerald Ford pleaded for them not to. How did it look, the idea of destroying food when there were hungry folks out there? The conditions the bring that stuff about are out there. We won’t always hear about it. What about the equipment left behind in Afghanistan? Replaceable for a price? We need more whistleblowers. Put folks on the spot and make them think about doing the right thing, not always possible before it’s too late.
See, boating accidents do happen!!
Way back in the fifties when we lived on Louis the 14th street out near Lake Pontchartrain, my mom used to pull me inside when the mosquito fogger trucks went through the neighborhood.
“... my mom used to pull me inside when the mosquito fogger trucks went through the neighborhood.”
In my neighborhood, we used to ride our bikes behind them. Yikes!
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LOL!
Really, though, this is chump change.
Several thousand barrels of DDT in the ocean? We should have used it through the Seventies and Eighties up until today to eliminate the scourge of Malaria, which it was well suited to.
Send it to Zalinsky and tell him to get lost
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