[Born to Conserve]

...suddenly, after fifty years...

[Brad from Tennessee]

Most of this stuff comes in iron or steel casings which is subject to rust and eventual disintegration. I would imagine the fuses would have been removed from most of it but maybe not.

[fella]

Trolling for dollars.

[The Cajun]

Bryant explains. "My first thought when I saw the news reports of the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf two years ago were, 'Oh my gosh, I wonder if some of the bombs down there are to blame.'"

No jerk, it was BP breaking every standard operational procedure in the books and the OBummer administration watch dog agency letting them get away with it by way of exemptions.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Millions of pounds of bombs.I call bullshite right there.We dropped the majority on our enemies not in the ocean.Somebody is trolling for dollars,our dollars.

[vpintheak]

After all this time, suddenly it’s important! Millions if not billions must. E spent on studies and investigations at once!

[Veggie Todd]

I wonder if BamBam is worried that Iran has mined the Gulf and they’re just planting the cover story about old unexploded bombs. (Tinfoil hat firmly in place!)

[x1stcav]

What of bunch of f*ckwits (as the Aussies would say).

As anybody who has sailed, or motored about the ocean, knows, saltwater is an incredibly corrosive environment. I would doubt that little, if any, of the millions of pounds of ordinance could actually detonate after fifty years.

These clowns should be embarrassed.

[Tainan]

old bombs underwater EOD ping

[theBuckwheat]

Notice that the SacBee article originated as a press release. Is someone trying to stir up a grant or two via alarmism?

My only concern is to what extent a pile of 500 pound bombs will gradually be spread around by strong storms. Mustard gas is a whole issue itself, but IIRC it is denser than water so when its canister degrades and starts to leak, the gas will be in the form of pool of liquid on the bottom. However, should a net come in contact with it, it might be contaminated and harm those who subsequently handle it.

Maybe someone with sufficient NBC expertise can comment on this threat.

[Eye of Unk]

Sounds like someone is looking to fund an effort to eradicate cat juggling, from a scene of “The Jerk”.

[wildbill]

Ok, lets assume for a moment that these bombs are still able to explode.

Here are questions I want to know:

1. What could cause them to explode? Is Spontaneous explosion possible? Doesn’t water (from a rust leak) effectively render the explosives or mustard gas ineffective?

2.Do trawlers drag the bottom and if they do, isn’t the trawl way behind the ship due to the depth necessary to reach the sea floor?

3. How deep are they and what kind of damage could a bomb exploding 100’ or more deep on the sea floor actually do to a surface ship.

4. Wouldn’t any surface damage be dependent upon something like a ship actually being directly over the bomb at the time it exploded.

5. What would be the cost of a grant to study the problem?