WW2 torpedo

**Alan M** · 12-06-2010, 09:07 PM

i just came across this , it`s amazing how much WW2 ordnance get`s unearthed still ! :-

Friday, February 19, 2010 9:36 AM
Police Destroys WW2 Torpedo

The Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RISPF) EOD team successfully destroyed a WW2 naval torpedo early this week, discovered dangerously close to Veuru village on West Guadalcanal.
The torpedo was discovered by villagers in the shallow waters approximately 200 meters from the village. The discovery was immediately reported to the Police.

An EOD surveillance team was dispatched to the location and they conducted a meticulous assessment on the torpedo and its immediate surroundings. "It was concluded after the assessment that the torpedo poses serious danger to the lives and property of the villagers in that community," said EOD Team leader, Senior Sergeant Emmanuel Maepurina.

"After almost five hours of painstaking preparation, the EOD team successfully destroyed the torpedo," he said. "The place has been rendered safe and the people of Veuru village can now safely go about their daily business," Senior Sergeant Maepurina said.

The waters between Guadalcanal and the Central Province are referred to as 'the Iron Bottom Sound' because of the amount of ships destroyed by the Allied Forces. Countless torpedos have been destroyed by the police, as some often gets washed close to shore. There are also stockpiles of WWII arsenals scattered throughout the thick jungles of Guadalcanal.

**Whitehunter** · 12-06-2010, 09:16 PM

Thanks for sharing.

When my old man was a fisherman bombs were a daily find. The bomb squad told them to pile them in a area, after a while the pile got so high it stuck out of the water

**Alan M** · 12-06-2010, 09:30 PM

that`s frightening , these must be so unstable !

**tampalam** · 12-06-2010, 09:33 PM

Glad to see that it was found and destroyed before somebody got killed or maimed by it. I can't begin to imagine the tonnage of high explosives that are still out there all over the world from all the wars over the last 2 centuries. I didn't see if they identified the torpedo in the article. I wonder if it was Allied or Japanese.

I would love to go exploring the jungles of the South Pacific islands where there were garrisons of Japanese, but I am always afraid of the munitions still out there and now more dangerous than ever.