A total of 2,348 bombs weighing 41 tons were disposed of during fiscal year 2023, the Reuters news agency reported, citing the Self-Defense Force.
Holy shit. Other than the obvious, I never learned much in school about the Allied bombing campaign in Japan during WWII… which, now that I think about it, was probably on purpose.
A few years ago, near where my family lived in New Jersey, there was a small newspaper article mentioning that construction on a set of mid-rise condominiums on the Delaware River was being notably delayed, with the vague implication that there was some trouble with financing or construction or something. [To be fair, both of these were true, but for very not-obvious reasons.] But then you start tracing back through the history of the site:
They had selected the site for the condos because it had been the site of a large flea market from the late 1970s to early 2000s, so all they’d have to do was dig up the parking lots, lay in utilities, and compact the soil to be ready to build. The flea market was there because it was the site of a massive drive-in movie theatre built in the early 1950s, so all they had had to do was put up some cheap buildings that were eventually condemned and torn down. The drive-in movie theatre was there because the land had already been cleared and flattened by the US government, so it was cheap to put in a parking lot and big screen.
Why had the government so kindly cleared and flattened the ground? Well, the site was right next to a small bridge across the Delaware; on the other side of the bridge was Frankford Arsenal, where they produced munitions during both World Wars. And they had to test the munitions, so they’d drive over the bridge and test them at this site in New Jersey. And it turns out that sometimes they were either high or lazy or careless or something, because sometimes they didn’t bother driving across the bridge, they’d just shell New Jersey from across the river instead.
The shelling led to a bunch of unexploded ordinance being in extremely unexpected places, until it started showing up eighty years later, when the condo people actually started digging up the ground to lay in their utilities. Of course, the condo association was quietly and casually referencing vague construction delays, because if people knew it was a munitions testing site and they’d recently found a bunch of UXO, no one would buy the condos.
[Also, while trying to look up details for this comment, I discovered three other cases of UXO in New Jersey in the past couple years. This is all very weird to me.]
Damn, I’m from Jersey, though Central, and this is all news to me. And I’m aware of the Frankfurt Armory explosion and all of that, but never did any research beyond. Very interesting.
I used to live in an area that was one of the biggest targets for bombers in Germany during WW2. I remember every few months there was a bomb alarm. We had to leave the house for a few hours while it was being defused. No bomb ever blew up luckily and it just became routine.
There’s potentially up to a few kilotons worth of munitions (about half a hiroshima bomb) sitting right next to Kent (England) in a sunken liberty ship.
Sounds like a good movie story line where aliens invade and we need older ordinances to fight them off and we have to go to this bomber to get them and win the fight
That’s close to the original Space Battleship Yamato. By the time earthlings got FTL travel and super weapons, they ran out of proper shipyards and material. They did have enough to retrofit the sunken battleship Yamato from the underside(they already had underground cities to escape the orbital bombings).
This is going to be one of the horrors of Ukraine. A legacy of landmines that will not be cleared in most of our lifetimes, even if the war ended today.
Not the same as unexploded airdropped ordinance, but significantly worse.
They’re referring to landmines, leftover from that region’s wars of the mid-20th century: America’s Vietnam & Cambodian war, French-Indochina war, Cambodian civil war, etc.
The legacy of landmines and chemical warfare is still regularly killing, maiming, and causes significant increases in fetal birth defects and other rare illnesses.
The Doolittle raids are fairly well know but the fire bombings carried out after that were not. The E-46 cluster bomb was pretty terrible 3 - 5 seconds after hitting the ground a small explosion would ignite and spread flaming napalm. The updraft from the fires was so bad some bombers lost control and crashed.
Japanese cities were primarily built using wood as it was better suited for their climate and earthquakes. The fire bombing of Tokyo with a single deadliest attack on the Japanese mainland, killing even more than either atomic bomb drop.
Holy shit. Other than the obvious, I never learned much in school about the Allied bombing campaign in Japan during WWII… which, now that I think about it, was probably on purpose.
Not just in Japan, in Europe as well.
We’re still finding random shit from all sides, IIRC there is a fully loaded German heavy bomber on the bottom of the lake near where I grew up
A few years ago, near where my family lived in New Jersey, there was a small newspaper article mentioning that construction on a set of mid-rise condominiums on the Delaware River was being notably delayed, with the vague implication that there was some trouble with financing or construction or something. [To be fair, both of these were true, but for very not-obvious reasons.] But then you start tracing back through the history of the site:
They had selected the site for the condos because it had been the site of a large flea market from the late 1970s to early 2000s, so all they’d have to do was dig up the parking lots, lay in utilities, and compact the soil to be ready to build. The flea market was there because it was the site of a massive drive-in movie theatre built in the early 1950s, so all they had had to do was put up some cheap buildings that were eventually condemned and torn down. The drive-in movie theatre was there because the land had already been cleared and flattened by the US government, so it was cheap to put in a parking lot and big screen.
Why had the government so kindly cleared and flattened the ground? Well, the site was right next to a small bridge across the Delaware; on the other side of the bridge was Frankford Arsenal, where they produced munitions during both World Wars. And they had to test the munitions, so they’d drive over the bridge and test them at this site in New Jersey. And it turns out that sometimes they were either high or lazy or careless or something, because sometimes they didn’t bother driving across the bridge, they’d just shell New Jersey from across the river instead.
The shelling led to a bunch of unexploded ordinance being in extremely unexpected places, until it started showing up eighty years later, when the condo people actually started digging up the ground to lay in their utilities. Of course, the condo association was quietly and casually referencing vague construction delays, because if people knew it was a munitions testing site and they’d recently found a bunch of UXO, no one would buy the condos.
[Also, while trying to look up details for this comment, I discovered three other cases of UXO in New Jersey in the past couple years. This is all very weird to me.]
Strange, because the idea of shelling New Jersey seems very natural to the rest of us
Damn, I’m from Jersey, though Central, and this is all news to me. And I’m aware of the Frankfurt Armory explosion and all of that, but never did any research beyond. Very interesting.
And it turns out that sometimes they were either high or lazy or careless or something
No they were just normal people from Philly
I used to live in an area that was one of the biggest targets for bombers in Germany during WW2. I remember every few months there was a bomb alarm. We had to leave the house for a few hours while it was being defused. No bomb ever blew up luckily and it just became routine.
There’s potentially up to a few kilotons worth of munitions (about half a hiroshima bomb) sitting right next to Kent (England) in a sunken liberty ship.
Is that the one in the Thames, or another one? I wouldn’t be surprised if there are several around GB
Sounds like a good movie story line where aliens invade and we need older ordinances to fight them off and we have to go to this bomber to get them and win the fight
That’s close to the original Space Battleship Yamato. By the time earthlings got FTL travel and super weapons, they ran out of proper shipyards and material. They did have enough to retrofit the sunken battleship Yamato from the underside(they already had underground cities to escape the orbital bombings).
Does it still fly?
This is going to be one of the horrors of Ukraine. A legacy of landmines that will not be cleared in most of our lifetimes, even if the war ended today.
Not the same as unexploded airdropped ordinance, but significantly worse.
They will have tractors that run on explosive charges I’m sure. The Ukrainians get ruzzian lemons and they’ve been making lemonade 🍋.
Wait til you hear about Cambodia…
And western Europe and the Middle East
They’re referring to landmines, leftover from that region’s wars of the mid-20th century: America’s Vietnam & Cambodian war, French-Indochina war, Cambodian civil war, etc.
The legacy of landmines and chemical warfare is still regularly killing, maiming, and causes significant increases in fetal birth defects and other rare illnesses.
The Doolittle raids are fairly well know but the fire bombings carried out after that were not. The E-46 cluster bomb was pretty terrible 3 - 5 seconds after hitting the ground a small explosion would ignite and spread flaming napalm. The updraft from the fires was so bad some bombers lost control and crashed.
Japanese cities were primarily built using wood as it was better suited for their climate and earthquakes. The fire bombing of Tokyo with a single deadliest attack on the Japanese mainland, killing even more than either atomic bomb drop.
If you’re interested in the worst of it you should look up firebombing and why it was so effective against Japan.
The best history of this is “the bomber mafia” by Malcolm Gladwell.
He really tells the whole complex story.
The one thing that Commodore Perry didn’t trade them was copies of The Three Little Pigs.
/s
It may have got mentioned in passing in relation to the nukes, but most people only remember those.