The Santa Cruz County Sheriff bomb team recovered an unexploded WWII-era U.S. Navy practice bomb that washed ashore on the Parajo Dunes on New Year's Eve after powerful storms in the Pacific Ocean sent massive waves slamming along the California coast.
Images captured by the sheriff's office show an old, rusty bomb covered in sea debris on the sands between Santa Cruz and Monterey that authorities "determined to be an inert military ordnance."
"As a precaution our bomb team responded, deemed it safe, and had it removed from the beach," the sheriff's office said in a Facebook post.
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The sheriff's office said personnel from Travis Air Force Base — located about 140 miles northeast of the coastal area where authorities discovered the bomb — had later collected the artifact.
Fox News Digital contacted the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office for comment on Tuesday but has not yet received a response.
Travis Air Force Base told Fox News Digital in an email that military personnel recovered the ordnance that washed ashore on Dec. 31.
"After safely performing an on-site visual inspection and x-ray scan, the item was deemed free of explosives and safe to transport to Travis AFB," a spokesperson said. "The item was determined to be a U.S. WWII era Navy practice bomb, model Mk 15, Mod 2. It is currently being retained with Travis [Explosive Ordnance Disposal] and will remain in place to prevent future concerns."
Artifacts of war, such as bombs, grenades, and mines, rarely turn up on U.S. shores — unlike European and Asian countries that were subjected to aerial bombardment during World War II.
However, such devices still pose a risk of detonation decades after defense groups discarded the munitions, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In 2002, the U.S. Navy's Explosive Ordnance Disposal Detachment reportedly discovered an underwater field of discarded munitions off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii.
IN 2020, military personnel detonated two 100-pound World War II-era gravity bombs and removed other ordnance in the channel between Lanikai Beach and Mokulua North on Oahu, according to The Associated Press.
More than 400 underwater environments used as defense sites containing unexploded ordnances have also been identified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has led to the discovery of the munitions found on beaches from Hawaii to Maryland, according to the civil and engineering department at the University of Delaware.
The disposal of unexploded munitions was an accepted international practice until 1970, when it was prohibited by the Department of Defense. Two years later, Congress passed the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act, which banned the disposal of munitions and other pollutants in the ocean.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said exposure to military munitions has resulted in fatalities and severe injuries, including a number of chemical exposures and health effects, with some related to chemical warfare agents.
