I'm sure they looked for dive flags first....

[billt4sf]

Bombs dropped on Great Barrier Reef marine park | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Two American fighter jets dropped four unarmed bombs into Australia'sGreat Barrier Reef Marine Park last week, when a training exercise went wrong, the US Navy said, angering environmentalists.
The two AV-8B Harrier jets, launched from the aircraft carrier USS Bonhomme Richard, each jettisoned an inert practice bomb and an unarmed laser-guided explosive bomb into the World Heritage-listed marine park off the coast of Queensland state on Tuesday, the US 7th Fleet said in a statement on Saturday. The four bombs, weighing a total 1.8 metric tons (4,000 pounds), were dropped into more than 50 meters (164ft) of water, away from coral, to minimize possible damage to the reef, the statement said. None exploded.

 

[3D diver]

Hmmm...if they had enough control to choose where to drop 'em...why drop 'em? And more to the point, why in a Marine Park? And...silly me...why too deep for us to look at and smirk?

 

[thirdcoastdiver]

Hmmm...if they had enough control to choose where to drop 'em...why drop 'em? And more to the point, why in a Marine Park? And...silly me...why too deep for us to look at and smirk?

The official explanation cited lack of fuel. By dropping the bombs they used less fuel returning to their ship. The bombing range was not available to drop the bombs on.

 

[Mike.D]

All aircraft have a maximum landing weight and the aircraft did not drop it bombs on the range within its time window. The US Navy aircraft would have hit bingo fuel (low fuel) and would have not been able to make it back to the carrier with enough fuel and reserve fuel in case something went wrong and it had to depart to an onshore runway.
Cheers
Someone who knows

 

[bracko]

hmm... article I read states that they were completely recoverable and would be recovered.

at +50m you'd think that you'd do it with a submersible rather than dropping divers in the water.

although what do the army care, they are there to defend a nation, not nature.

 

[Mike.D]

It was the is navy and those bombs would be worth a bit so i'm sure they will send in their divers to recover them. Btw the US military aren't a defending force like the Australian Defence Force otherwise they'd be the United States Defence force.

 

[Kharon]

The US military is effing up a lot of reef territory lately. Why do exercises that close to the GBR. Surely they could find a better venue. I love our service men & ladies but the admin leaves something to be desired.

 

[Jon_R]

It is not in war so maybe some smart people can plan these things out a little better so they can not just dump expensive HW into the ocean or risk putting a multimillion dollar jet into the ocean because they ran out of fuel... I assume they are not just flying around for fun without a detailed mission plan. Just seems pretty sloppy overall.

All aircraft have a maximum landing weight and the aircraft did not drop it bombs on the range within its time window. The US Navy aircraft would have hit bingo fuel (low fuel) and would have not been able to make it back to the carrier with enough fuel and reserve fuel in case something went wrong and it had to depart to an onshore runway.
Cheers
Someone who knows

 

[bracko]

^^ war games generally push the 'envelope' more than actual missions given the reduced actual stress.

while the location of the games is just madness, the pure outrage in some Australian media is a bit over the top.

 

[BVickery]

If you read the article there was a reason they had ditch them in the ocean:

"It was not safe to drop the bombs. There were civilian boats right below them," fleet commander William Marks told Australian ABC radio on Monday.

Also, seems the bombs were dropped in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and not on the reef itself.