Fort Pierce Inlet Fort Pierce Florida. Image credits: Wikimedia Commons
In August 2026, diver Luke Neiman went lobster diving with his father and a friend off Florida’s coast, and CubaHeadlines, citing WESH 2 News, reported that he found an object he believed was a torpedo. Navy explosive ordnance disposal personnel then carried out an underwater detonation on September 15, 2026, which the Navy’s statement called a routine underwater munition disposal operation. The Department of Defense’s November 2016 report to Congress, Research Related to Effect of Ocean Disposal of Munitions in U.S.
The area was a United States Navy amphibious training site during World War II, and divers there have reported finding old ordnance before. He reported the object to Florida wildlife officers, and CubaHeadlines reported that the Navy later destroyed it in an underwater detonation. CubaHeadlines reported that the commission informed the US Coast Guard, the St.
That uncertainty is why the department advises people to use its “Recognize, Retreat, Report” safety program instead of trying to retrieve a suspected munition themselves: recognize that it is dangerous, retreat without approaching, touching, moving, or disturbing it, and report it by calling 911. Fort Pierce sits on Florida’s Atlantic coast in St. Lucie County, on a stretch known as the Treasure Coast. Its inlet and nearby reef ledges draw recreational divers who hunt lobster. They were working south of the Fort Pierce jetty, an area Neiman visits often for lobster. The Navy described it as a suspected munition from World War II. As CubaHeadlines described it, Neiman inspected the object and noticed an end and a cone, which led him to think it might be a torpedo. He returned to the boat, marked the exact location with his father, and informed the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission about the discovery. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad and the Navy. That wording describes the Navy’s operation, not the discovery itself. The statement identified the object as a suspected World War II-era munition. The statements cited here give no type, model, or origin for the object. There is a technical explanation for the warning. Coastal Waters , examines the challenges of assessing and managing munitions disposed of at sea. The department’s Ordnance Reef pages say that sea disposal of unserviceable munitions was an accepted practice until the 1970s, so the location and condition of such munitions are often uncertain. Whether Neiman’s object was a result of disposal or training is not mentioned anywhere in public sources.
The appendix of the above-mentioned study summarises the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2007 Ordnance Reef Survey Project Report . The military had done a survey of this area in 2002 in which they had found more than 2,000 military ordnance, all of which were under 60 feet in depth, that are unfuzed, unfired, and not chemical in nature, according to the FAQ. Because the sources consulted do not say it came from a disposal site, the report’s general advice to leave disposal-site munitions in place therefore does not explain the Navy’s decision to detonate the object,.
The study conducted by NOAA will use seafloor imaging technology, a remotely operated vehicle, and independent testing of fish, sediments, and water. The report concluded that the effects of sea-disposed munitions in US coastal waters appear to be minimal, and that removing them would do more harm to marine life and the ocean environment than leaving them in place. It based these conclusions on research at two Hawaii sites. They also state that the department will dispatch explosive ordnance disposal staff if there is a threat to public safety from the munitions.