Senior Ammunitions Technical Officer Victoria Maj Daniel Rowe inspects the WW2 Navy Shear Horn sea mine.Photo by Sgt Dave Grant, PACC Victoria

Sea mine beached

By Peter Johnson
THE discovery of a WW2 sea mine at Point Cook recently reinforced the message that anyone finding what they believed to be an explosive device should not touch it but report it immediately.

The contact-type moored mine, known as a Shear Horn mine, had been covered by sand, but became partially exposed during recent erosion.

Maj Daniel Rowe, the Senior Ammunition Technical Officer Victoria/Tasmania, was advised of the discovery and went to the site with an EOD team.

They examined the mine but couldn't determine whether it still contained its 100kg of explosive.

A 1500m-safety zone was established around the mine and then a 500g explosive charge was detonated on it to punch a hole in the casing and detonate any explosive remaining inside.

The result was a small explosion from the charge. Examination by the team confirmed the mine was empty.

"Luckily the inside has corroded away and the explosives have leached out.

"Now it's just a lump of metal we can take away," Maj Rowe said.

"Our main concern with all explosive devices we find is the safety of the public, after which our second concern is disposal of the ordnance."

Maj Rowe said under no circumstances should anyone finding possible unexploded ordnance try to touch or move it, but report the find as soon as possible either to superiors or the nearest police.

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