Unexploded Ordnance at Brownsville,Wa

[ghost]

Did anyone notice a lack of marine growth on the mine. I don’t know when we switched from contact mines to proximity mines but I bet it was in the 60’s. A contact mine would have been floating for years and would be an unrecognizable hunk of marine growth. The picture I saw was showing very little marine growth. Considering this thing was found just miles from Keystone, a navel torpedo testing facility, I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t an old training device that the Navy disposed of years ago that ended up in some ones garage and either by death or theft ended up in the hands of some kids who thought it would be funny to toss in the sound. I really doubt if it’s a real WWII sea mine.

Just a few years ago a building was being torn down when the contractor found 6 WWII torpedoes in the basement. The area was evacuated and a specialist flown in from San Francisco. Turned out they were old training aids and not reall but it took a specialist to figure that out.

Now really, what kind of demented youth would think that was a good idea?

 

[GoneFarrell]

Tilt, I surmise that this old mine was anchored at depth to intercept submarines, hence it would have been down in the deep dark water where the stuff that grows on my boat's bottom can't live. Just my humble opinion.

Maybe barneys don't like mines?!

 

[dhays]

Tilt, I surmise that this old mine was anchored at depth to intercept submarines, hence it would have been down in the deep dark water where the stuff that grows on my boat's bottom can't live. Just my humble opinion.

Maybe barneys don't like mines?!

Here is an excerpt from another Kitsap Sun article. The “Shannon” referred to is a DNR diver who monitors gooey duck harvests and was the person who reported the mine.

“The Navy referred to the object as an unidentified "moored contact mine," but beyond that "it's difficult to determine exactly what type of mine it was without further examination or more detailed photographs,” U.S. Naval Undersea Museum curator Mary Ryan said.

In its news release, the Navy noted heavy growth on the mine suggested it had been in the ocean for decades. Shannon, who works on the water every day, said the entire surface of the 4-foot-in-diameter, oblong object was encrusted with sea life, indicating it had been fully underwater. “

 

[tiltrider1]

If that’s the case then the news used a stock photo and not a photo of the object being discussed.

 

[Edelweiss]

Back in my early scuba diving days, we regularly dove a cove some miles South of NAS Whidbey Island for old training bombs.

The bottom was littered with lead practice bombs, which we recovered, melted down and poured into molds for diving weights. We sold some to a yard building a '60 sailboat and they poured it into keel blocks.

We were told it was a WW2 practice area, but may have just been a Navy dump site. Just silly kids unintentionally cleaning up the environment. :lol:

 

[tiltrider1]

So I was was mostly right. It was a training aid lost by the navy in 2005. The navy didn't say how they lost it or how long it was in the water. Like I said earlier the mine did not show enough marine growth to have been from WWII.

 

[kchace]

I stuck it in one of those round fire things they used to mark construction sites. Yup, it exploded big time. Scared the piss out of me.

Do you mean the old, round "bomb" looking things they used to put on the road with a little flame? I love those things. I got one at a local antique shop and cleaned it up. Don't know what I'll do with it now that I have it....

Ken

 

[HopCar]

Do you mean the old, round "bomb" looking things they used to put on the road with a little flame? I love those things. I got one at a local antique shop and cleaned it up. Don't know what I'll do with it now that I have it....

Ken

Exactly right. I miss those. The battery powered flashers aren’t nearly as cool. The blast just blew the cap off the fire pot and a piece of shrapnel hit my friend in his leg. Just made a little cut but I thought I’d killed him.

 

[johnma]

In early 1971 I was a machinist mate on the USS Santa Barbara (ammunition ship). During Operation Springboard in the Caribbean (war games) we were the enemy vessel. A Soviet sub that was in the area started to ping us and locked on. They opened their outer torpedo doors. We had no anti sub capabilities. The USS Conyngham came to our rescue and launched an ASROC. (acoustical anti submarine rocket ). We heard the launch and I asked my chief what it was. His answer: "the first shot in WWIII".
The ASROC did not explode. We had a dive team and looked for it for a week. never found it. Its still there...waiting!
John

 

[GoneFarrell]

Exactly right. I miss those. The battery powered flashers aren’t nearly as cool.

Have to agree, but I figured out how to "liberate" those yellow flashers.

We held them over our heads while "flashing" through the woods at night, very strange way to see the trees before crashing into them.

Also figured out if you throw them in the neighbor's pool they sink and keep flashing.

 

[AlaskaProf]

In early 1971... The USS Conyngham came to our rescue and launched an ASROC. (acoustical anti submarine rocket ). We heard the launch and I asked my chief what it was. His answer: "the first shot in WWIII"

Ah, yes. The Bedford Incident

 

[johnma]

Ah, yes. The Bedford Incident

Well, that was a movie. This wasn't.
John

 

[AlaskaProf]

Well, that was a movie. This wasn't.
John

Not questioning your story, merely pointing out that life imitates art...or is it the other way about?

 

[High Wire]

If you’ll please allow a little thread drift. I have a civil war canon shell that I don’t think has been made safe. I bought it almost fifty years ago from an antique store. I assumed it was safe as there was a hole drilled in the end. Later research has led me to believe the hole was for lighting the fuse, not for taking the powder out.

I’d like to get the powder out but if I can’t figure out a safe way to do it, I’ll have to give it to the bomb squad and let them destroy it. I’d hate to destroy this historical artifact.

Any ideas? There is a guy in Tennessee who drills them but I don’t know how to get it to him with out driving it myself.

Can you send him a photo to confirm fuse or drill hole?

 

[Group9]

Apparently there was no secondary explosion. If a charge didn’t set it off, bumping it sure woukdn’t have.

 

[HopCar]

Can you send him a photo to confirm fuse or drill hole?

Yes I could do that, but I’m pretty sure it’s a fuse hole. It’s only about 3/16” in diameter. A hole drilled to empty the powder would be much large, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 inch.

The shell is a thirty pound Parott Rifle shell. It weighs just under thirty pounds and is about 4” in diameter.

 

[psneeld]

https://www.scribd.com/document/67675104/Civil-War-Explosive-Ordnance

 

[klee wyck]

Have to agree, but I figured out how to "liberate" those yellow flashers.

We held them over our heads while "flashing" through the woods at night, very strange way to see the trees before crashing into them.

Also figured out if you throw them in the neighbor's pool they sink and keep flashing.

Sheez....Gone Feral seems more appropriate here.:lol: