Post by fyl on Oct 28, 2011 8:11:52 GMT 12
From Stuff...
Royal New Zealand Navy ship Resolution has found a sunken wartime submarine of unknown nationality in the waters of Papua New Guinea.
HMNZ ships Resolution and Wellington are at Rabaul in PNG on Operation Render Safe aimed at unexploded World War Two ammunition (UXO).
A Royal Australian Navy statement said Resolution, a survey ship, and Australian minehunter HMAS Gascoyne found the wreck in Simpson Harbour, which was an area known for submarine operations during World War II.
"As with any wreck discoveries, immediate identification is not possible and work will continue over the coming days to identify both the type and the nationality of the vessel," the statement says.
Authorities from the USA, Japan, PNG and New Zealand have been informed of the discovery.
Sonar and unmanned submarine pictures suggest the submarine may be American.
Rabaul was a major Japanese naval base and while it never actually fell to the Allies during the war, it suffered sustained bombing – including one of the largest bombing operations ever mounted by the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
Last month the Pacific Forum summit in Auckland received a detailed report on the forgotten "unexploded ordnances"; high explosive bombs, sea mines, hand grenades, torpedoes and artillery, mortar and small arms ammunition.
"Without seeking to overstate the issue, it was evident from the research that UXO impacts development, endangers lives and restricts social and economic activities," the report says.
"At the conclusion of hostilities in 1945, the foreign military forces of both sides, for the most part, returned to their homelands leaving the islands littered with sunken ships, burnt out tanks, abandoned pill boxes and large empty gun emplacements."
Operation Render Safe will also involve a tasking to clear unexploded ordnance from the Kokoda Track, across the mountains of PNG, north of Port Moresby.
Rabaul's Simpson Harbour is a vast volcanic crater and it is regularly rocked by eruptions from Tavurvur and Volcan and severe earthquakes.
The Pacific Forum report said of the thousands of tons of bombs and shells used by Americans "softening up" atolls ahead of landing, up to 30 per cent never exploded.
Today, the material plagues Pacific nations, notably Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
As well as the Solomons civil war, the bullets defined the Bougainville civil war now they claim hundreds of lives in Papua New Guinea Highland tribal fights.
For decades Pacific Islanders left the debris of war alone; now collectors are arriving looking for souvenirs.
"There is a demand for gun powder, scrap metal and other remnants of war increasing the risk of interaction between the public and dangerous UXO material."
Gunpowder extracted from bullets and shells goes for around S$1500 (NZ$240) a litre bottle in Honiara's markets.
People get hurt or killed looking for ammunition; or sometimes just when they are clearing land.
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After Honiara's 2006 riots, China Town was rebuilt, only to reveal a large number of bombs under it.
"UXO and abandoned arms have impacted on development in Solomon islands by causing a number of fatalities and injuries and impeding infrastructure development," the report says.
"UXO continue to be used to commit illegal activities such as dynamite fishing or violent crime, and are a drain on public resources."
Places like Kiribati's Betio - the size of the Auckland Domain - remain heavily littered.
In the 1943 Battle of Tarawa, 1000 US Marines and 4600 Japanese were killed in the three day battle in which the US dropped 2400 tons of ordnance - and a third of it didn't explode at the time.
As the forum report team were on the islet, a man who tried to plant a banana tree instead dug up a high explosive projectile in an unstable condition.
The local police station at the time had 2495 UXO items in storage, including two 100lb bombs.
www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/5867489/NZ-Navy-finds-sunken-submarine
Royal New Zealand Navy ship Resolution has found a sunken wartime submarine of unknown nationality in the waters of Papua New Guinea.
HMNZ ships Resolution and Wellington are at Rabaul in PNG on Operation Render Safe aimed at unexploded World War Two ammunition (UXO).
A Royal Australian Navy statement said Resolution, a survey ship, and Australian minehunter HMAS Gascoyne found the wreck in Simpson Harbour, which was an area known for submarine operations during World War II.
"As with any wreck discoveries, immediate identification is not possible and work will continue over the coming days to identify both the type and the nationality of the vessel," the statement says.
Authorities from the USA, Japan, PNG and New Zealand have been informed of the discovery.
Sonar and unmanned submarine pictures suggest the submarine may be American.
Rabaul was a major Japanese naval base and while it never actually fell to the Allies during the war, it suffered sustained bombing – including one of the largest bombing operations ever mounted by the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
Last month the Pacific Forum summit in Auckland received a detailed report on the forgotten "unexploded ordnances"; high explosive bombs, sea mines, hand grenades, torpedoes and artillery, mortar and small arms ammunition.
"Without seeking to overstate the issue, it was evident from the research that UXO impacts development, endangers lives and restricts social and economic activities," the report says.
"At the conclusion of hostilities in 1945, the foreign military forces of both sides, for the most part, returned to their homelands leaving the islands littered with sunken ships, burnt out tanks, abandoned pill boxes and large empty gun emplacements."
Operation Render Safe will also involve a tasking to clear unexploded ordnance from the Kokoda Track, across the mountains of PNG, north of Port Moresby.
Rabaul's Simpson Harbour is a vast volcanic crater and it is regularly rocked by eruptions from Tavurvur and Volcan and severe earthquakes.
The Pacific Forum report said of the thousands of tons of bombs and shells used by Americans "softening up" atolls ahead of landing, up to 30 per cent never exploded.
Today, the material plagues Pacific nations, notably Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
As well as the Solomons civil war, the bullets defined the Bougainville civil war now they claim hundreds of lives in Papua New Guinea Highland tribal fights.
For decades Pacific Islanders left the debris of war alone; now collectors are arriving looking for souvenirs.
"There is a demand for gun powder, scrap metal and other remnants of war increasing the risk of interaction between the public and dangerous UXO material."
Gunpowder extracted from bullets and shells goes for around S$1500 (NZ$240) a litre bottle in Honiara's markets.
People get hurt or killed looking for ammunition; or sometimes just when they are clearing land.
Ad Feedback
After Honiara's 2006 riots, China Town was rebuilt, only to reveal a large number of bombs under it.
"UXO and abandoned arms have impacted on development in Solomon islands by causing a number of fatalities and injuries and impeding infrastructure development," the report says.
"UXO continue to be used to commit illegal activities such as dynamite fishing or violent crime, and are a drain on public resources."
Places like Kiribati's Betio - the size of the Auckland Domain - remain heavily littered.
In the 1943 Battle of Tarawa, 1000 US Marines and 4600 Japanese were killed in the three day battle in which the US dropped 2400 tons of ordnance - and a third of it didn't explode at the time.
As the forum report team were on the islet, a man who tried to plant a banana tree instead dug up a high explosive projectile in an unstable condition.
The local police station at the time had 2495 UXO items in storage, including two 100lb bombs.
www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/5867489/NZ-Navy-finds-sunken-submarine
