USS Bennington, we have found your amunition

[JohnDillworth]

http://gothamist.com/2010/10/25/divers.php

[Lifer]

Interesting.  I like the first comment posted below the story

[tc464]

Well it certainly won't be the first time ammo has been dredged up. I worked a job in Buckroe Beach (Virginia) for a few months after a dredge doing beach reclamation tapped into a 105mm projectile dump site offshore, sending hundreds of rounds on to the beach. Story was you could hear the rounds clanking all the way in [:D].  Jacqueline Bisset didn't make it to that one either [:(]

[wdolson]

What would the Bennington be doing carrying 5 foot shells?  That sounds like BB ammunition. 

Though I think the risks to oil refineries in the area from an explosion during dredging is a bit extreme.  Even a 16 inch shell doesn't have the umph to do any damage to a shore installation from an underwater explosion.  Such an explosion could damage or even sink the dredging vessel though.

[afspret]

I like how the Navy said it wasn't their problem.  Now if was an aircraft they would have jumped in with cease and desist orders and claimed it was still their property even though it had been sitting underwater for 50+ years, which they've done in the past.

[YankeeAirRat]

Well there have been instances where live ammo has been found and thought to be inert only to injury years later, such as this one.

The round in the OP looks like could have been for two or three different weapons. One is the 5/38 gun, the other could be a 40mm AA round, finally it could have been a 3/50 round as well.

[tc464]

ORIGINAL: afspret

I like how the Navy said it wasn't their problem.  Now if was an aircraft they would have jumped in with cease and desist orders and claimed it was still their property even though it had been sitting underwater for 50+ years, which they've done in the past.

It is their problem, sort of. They just don't know it yet. Military ordnance belongs to the military and it becomes their responsibility. Someone from Navy EOD will show up, look at the situation and determine whether or not it is "life threatening". If it is then they will take care of it then and there. Since there are no chemicals involved, they've been there for 50 years, and there isn't any decent lobster or volleyball... the navy will declare it non life threatening. Then responsibility passes to the Army Corpse of Engineers, who are charged with cleaning up all the former bases, ranges and dump sites. They'll evaluate, come up with some sort of determination and "expedite" it. Initial cleanup should start within the next 3-5 years.

If NYC is smart, they'll tell both of them to pound sand and do it themselves. I know of a contractor who specializes in that work who is right there at the Jersey Shore. I have no doubt he was mailing out brochures five minutes after the story broke. [:D]

[JohnDillworth]

How big are the 5 inch shells? Those might be a few feet long. BTW, they changed the way ammo is off and onloaded ships in this area. Since warships often come to visit (Fleet Week) they are required to off-load all their nuclear ordnance (and maybe conventional stuff too)at Naval Weapons Station Earle before proceeding into New York Harbor. They have this 2 mile pier where the ships pull up, load their ammo on rail cars, and the rail cars go to a naval base inland. The pier is pretty impressive on Google earth. Here is the Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Weapons_Station_Earle
This has action/adventure movie written all over it.

[Iridium]

Is it just me or does anyone else see ships that look sunk next the the piers on Google maps?

Maybe they're just faded out for some odd reason but it looks like objects/ships underwater at pier.