Munitions integrity and corrosion features observed during the HUMMA deep-sea munitions disposal site investigations

Abstract

An evaluation of the current condition of sea-disposed military munitions observed during the 2009 Hawaii Undersea Military Munitions Assessment Project investigation is presented. The 69km2 study area is located south of Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii, and is positioned within a former deep-sea disposal area designated as Hawaii-05 or HI-05 by the United States Department of Defense. HI-05 is known to contain both conventional and chemical munitions that were sea-disposed between 1920 and 1951. Digital images and video reconnaissance logs collected during six remotely operated vehicle and 16 human-occupied vehicle surveys were used to classify the integrity and state of corrosion of the 1842 discarded military munitions (DMM) objects encountered. Of these, 5% (or 90 individual DMM objects) were found to exhibit a mild-moderate degree of corrosion. The majority (66% or 1222 DMM objects) were observed to be significantly corroded, but visually intact on the seafloor. The remaining 29% of DMM encountered were found to be severely corroded and breached, with their contents exposed. Chemical munitions were not identified during the 2009 investigation. In general, identified munitions known to have been constructed with thicker casings were better preserved. Unusual corrosion features were also observed, including what are termed here as ‘corrosion skirts’ that resembled the flow and cementation of corrosion products at and away from the base of many munitions, and ‘corrosion pedestal’ features resembling a combination of cemented corrosion products and seafloor sediments that were observed to be supporting munitions above the surface of the seafloor. The origin of these corrosion features could not be determined due to the lack of physical samples collected. However, a microbial-mediated formation hypothesis is presented, based on visual analysis, which can serve as a testable model for future field programs.