Incredible footage shows massive dump of Second World War munitions discovered in 3,000ft of water off the coast of LA

Daily Mail ^ | 1/07/24 | Dominic Yeatman

[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...

[SunkenCiv]

At war's end, hundreds of aircraft and other equipment was surplus. Often it was brand new, but there was little incentive to spend the money to transport it back to the US as salvage. So it was dumped in the western Pacific.

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