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Torpedo found on seabed linked to sinking of Royal Oak in Scapa Flow
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Must be one of Prien's torpedoes that missed; I think he shot off six or seven before got out of Scapa Flow that night."There is never enough time to do or say all the things that we would wish. The thing is to try to do as much as you can in the time that you have. Remember Scrooge, time is short, and suddenly, you're not there any more." -Ghost of Christmas Present, Scrooge
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That's nothing compared to the "unexploded" Japanese torpedo dredged up where the Oklahoma used to be during the Pearl Harbor attack. It wasn't found until they were dredging out the area for Pier Foxtrot 5 for the Battleship pier where the Missouri is now berthed. I'm sure the local clothing store in Honolulu had a great sale on new skivvies shortly afterwards.Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.
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Well then try this for unexploded bombs. Allied bombers, Germany, 1000 lb bombs with special chemical fuses. Couple of ads to get through but a damn interesting article as I get Smithsonian.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histor...957680/?no-ist
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Originally posted by tbm3fan View PostWell then try this for unexploded bombs. Allied bombers, Germany, 1000 lb bombs with special chemical fuses. Couple of ads to get through but a damn interesting article as I get Smithsonian.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histor...957680/?no-ist"There is never enough time to do or say all the things that we would wish. The thing is to try to do as much as you can in the time that you have. Remember Scrooge, time is short, and suddenly, you're not there any more." -Ghost of Christmas Present, Scrooge
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Originally posted by Stitch View PostYeah, I read that article last month, too; poor guy lost his house. I guess UXO is practically a weekly thing in Germany, even 70+ years later.
Also reminded me of a terrific British TV series "Danger UXB" starring Anthony Andrews as a British bomb disposal officer. Allistair Cook was the moderator of the show and when an episode ended about the small German "Butterfly" bombs, Cook said that after that episode aired in England, dozens of calls went in to the local Police or nearest Army Base from people who had collected them and were either displaying them on their mantel or using them as door stops. Cook also recalled a time when he was playing golf with some friends and one of his foursome had a difficult chip to make from the base of the tree. The ball took off all right, as well as the club and the golfer as there was still a Butterfly bomb lying there under the mulch.Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.
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I also watched Danger UXB, looks like someone has all of the episodes up on Youtube if you don't have the DVD's. I agree with Rusty, a terrific series to watch. Now if you have 13 free hours to watch it...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danger_UXB#Episodes
https://youtu.be/hoaV-4uGBc4Last edited by Ken_NJ; 06 Mar 16,, 15:22.
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Rusty & Ken both nailed the Danger UXB show. Highly recommend it.
So 2 UXO stories I experienced.
In the early 1980s I was stationed on a base in Germany about halfway between Stuttgart & Ulm. It was a night fighter base in WW 2. One day some German workers were doing some excavating outside the door of the battalion mess hall to get to some sewer lines. About an hour after they started the MPs showed up with sirens screaming and we go the word to evacuate the battalion area. My company’s barracks were right next to the mess hall. We had to move everybody to the airfield, about an hour away. They then moved us into the gym and we were sitting in the bleaches. I was talking with the company commander (I was XO) and the platoon leaders when the Battalion XO came in and called the commanders together. After their meeting he told all of us that the German workers had found some large metal item in their digging. It was a USAAF 2000 lb bomb. The EOD guys defused it and then dug it to take it for disposal elsewhere. Per the local history the base had been bombed twice during the war. We always wondered if there were any others around.
Fast forward to 1986. It was at FT Stewart, GA in a mechanized battalion. Our anti-tank company had a TOW missile hanging off chains on a stand in front of the company. I was talking to the company XO one day and asked where they got the training missile to hang there. He told me….”It’s not a training missile." Somebody picked it up from an AT missile range a few years before. I immediately told the battalion XO and we called EOD in to check. Turns out it was a service TOW missile with a live HE warhead that had been hanging thee for 3 years. It was removed and multiple ass chewing followed.“Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
Mark Twain
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/2008/05...all-blast.html
http://www.americandigger.com/SamWhiteAccident.htm
This happened a few years back- even Civil War ordnance can still kill.
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Originally posted by Albany Rifles View PostRusty & Ken both nailed the Danger UXB show. Highly recommend it.
So 2 UXO stories I experienced.
In the early 1980s I was stationed on a base in Germany about halfway between Stuttgart & Ulm. It was a night fighter base in WW 2. One day some German workers were doing some excavating outside the door of the battalion mess hall to get to some sewer lines. About an hour after they started the MPs showed up with sirens screaming and we go the word to evacuate the battalion area. My company’s barracks were right next to the mess hall. We had to move everybody to the airfield, about an hour away. They then moved us into the gym and we were sitting in the bleaches. I was talking with the company commander (I was XO) and the platoon leaders when the Battalion XO came in and called the commanders together. After their meeting he told all of us that the German workers had found some large metal item in their digging. It was a USAAF 2000 lb bomb. The EOD guys defused it and then dug it to take it for disposal elsewhere. Per the local history the base had been bombed twice during the war. We always wondered if there were any others around.
Fast forward to 1986. It was at FT Stewart, GA in a mechanized battalion. Our anti-tank company had a TOW missile hanging off chains on a stand in front of the company. I was talking to the company XO one day and asked where they got the training missile to hang there. He told me….”It’s not a training missile." Somebody picked it up from an AT missile range a few years before. I immediately told the battalion XO and we called EOD in to check. Turns out it was a service TOW missile with a live HE warhead that had been hanging thee for 3 years. It was removed and multiple ass chewing followed.
It was early one morning when one of our rookies wandered around and found himself a real neat "collector's item". Here is this kid walking around with a LIVE 90mm HE tank round. He was poking some of his buddies with the nose of the projectile (still fitted in its propellent filled case with possibility of a LIVE PRIMER still in it).
Then, two sergeants ran up to him and one of them said, "That's a LIVE round. Gently hand it over to me."
The dumb ass stepped back and said, "No. I found it and I'm going to keep it."
With some quick eye contacts among the two sgts, one swung a round house hook to the kid's jaw while the other one grabbed the round so if dropped the primer would not hit a sharp rock.
The kid was with the medics bandaging up his dislocated jaw while the sgts carefully carried the round out to another impact crater, had red flags placed all around and posted guards until we could get the Ordnance personnel up there.
Now, some of the above was just verbal descriptions after the fact because when I saw two sergeants in near panic running up to this teenager "playing around" with a LIVE 90mm HE (yes, Olive drab with a Yellow band) I decided to inspect the drain plugs underneath my tank, as fast as possible.Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.
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Originally posted by Stitch View PostYeah, I read that article last month, too; poor guy lost his house. I guess UXO is practically a weekly thing in Germany, even 70+ years later.
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Originally posted by RustyBattleship View PostIt was early one morning when one of our rookies wandered around and found himself a real neat "collector's item". Here is this kid walking around with a LIVE 90mm HE tank round. He was poking some of his buddies with the nose of the projectile (still fitted in its propellent filled case with possibility of a LIVE PRIMER still in it).
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Originally posted by tbm3fan View Postand that kid was National Guard material!? Sounds more like someone the Russians would have used to clear mine fields.
Ignorance, whether intentional or not, can be very dangerous.Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.
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We had a corporal with three years under his belt who was home-building live hand grenades - fragmentation body and all that - and testing them when at bivouacs with us during basic. "Hand grenades" might be understating it though, i got to swallow quite some sand hunkering down in a trench 15-20 meters from it going off.
Then again that was the same bivouac where two sergeants on opposite teams discovered that misaiming a flare rocket launcher just so could nicely replace a grenade launcher at short to medium distances, earning us a mid-exercise timeout so both teams could put out the fires. After a first time-out that occured because when properly aiming that flare rocket one of those two at least had the good sense to jump to the side when the tree he was standing under came crashing down in flames on him.Last edited by kato; 20 Apr 16,, 20:57.
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During our signal battalion field exercises we often had one platoon act as aggressors. Had to call a safety cease fire one night when they threw artillery simulators into a real gas pit.
At an annual range qualification had a deer run across the range after ammo issue but before the fire order. A lot of shame faced Alabama guardsmen after a lot of bullets but the deer escaped. 50 man range.
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