Nazi Munitions, Torpedoes and Naval Mines: How Ocean Creatures Flourishes on Discarded Weapons

In the slightly salty sea off the German coast sits a graveyard of Nazi bombs, torpedoes and mines. Thrown off barges at the end of the World War II and forgotten about, countless munitions have accumulated over the decades. They create a rusting carpet on the shallow, muddy ocean floor of the Bay of Lübeck in the western part of the Baltic.

Over the decades, the explosive stockpile was overlooked and forgotten about. A growing number of visitors flocked to the coastal areas and tranquil sea for jetskiing, kiteboarding and amusement parks. Underwater, the munitions deteriorated.

We initially anticipated to see a lifeless zone, with nothing living there because it was all toxic, states Andrey Vedenin.

When the initial researchers went searching to see what they were affecting to the ecosystem, researchers thought they would find a lifeless zone, with no organisms because it was all poisoned, explains the lead researcher.

What they discovered amazed them. Vedenin recounts his colleagues exclaiming in amazement when the submersible first relayed pictures. That moment was a memorable occasion, he says.

Countless of marine animals had settled amid the weapons, creating a regenerated habitat richer than the seabed nearby.

This underwater metropolis was testament to the persistence of marine life. It is actually remarkable how much marine organisms we discover in areas that are considered hazardous and harmful, he explains.

Over 40 sea stars had gathered on to one exposed fragment of explosive material. They were dwelling on metal shells, detonator compartments and transport cases just centimetres from its volatile core. Marine fish, crustaceans, anemones and bivalves were all found on the historic weapons. It resembles a marine reef in terms of the amount of animal life that was there, notes Vedenin.

Remarkable Creature Concentration

An average of more than 40,000 organisms were residing on every square metre of the weapons, scientists documented in their research on the discovery. The surrounding area was much less diverse, with only eight thousand organisms on every meter squared.

It is surprising that objects that are meant to kill everything are hosting so much life, explains Vedenin. You can see how the natural world adjusts after a major disaster such as the second world war and how, in certain respects, marine life establishes itself to the most risky locations.

Artificial Features as Marine Habitats

Artificial features such as sunken vessels, wind turbines, drilling platforms and pipelines can offer substitutes, restoring some of the destroyed habitat. This investigation reveals that munitions could be similarly positive – the bloom of life on those in the Lübeck Bay is likely to be duplicated in other locations.

Between 1946 and 1948, 1.6m tonnes of arms were dumped off the German shoreline. Thousands of people transported them in boats; a portion were dropped in allocated locations, others just discarded at sea during transport. This is the initial instance scientists have recorded how ocean organisms has responded.

Worldwide Examples of Marine Adaptation

• In the United States, decommissioned energy installations have transformed into marine habitats
• Sunken ships from the first world war have become homes for marine life along the Potomac in the state of Maryland
• Tank tracks that have become habitat to coral off Asan in the Pacific island

These areas become even more valuable for wildlife as the seas are increasingly stripped by fishing, bottom trawling and boat mooring. Sunken ships and munitions areas practically act as refuges – they are not national parks, but nearly any kind of human activity is banned, says Vedenin. As a result a lot of marine species that are usually scarce or decreasing, such as the cod fish, are flourishing.

Coming Considerations

Anywhere warfare has happened in the last century, nearby oceans are often littered with munitions, says Vedenin. Millions of tonnes of dangerous substances lie in our marine environments.

The sites of these weapons are insufficiently mapped, in part because of international boundaries, secret defense data and the situation that documents are buried in historic archives. They create an explosion and safety danger, as well as danger from the ongoing leakage of hazardous substances.

As the German government and other countries embark on removing these relics, scientists hope to preserve the habitats that have formed in their vicinity. In the Lübeck Bay weapons are already being extracted.

It would be wise to replace these metal carcasses left from weapons with some more secure, some safe materials, like maybe man-made habitats, says Vedenin.

He currently hopes that what happens in Lübeck creates a example for substituting material after weapon clearance elsewhere – because including the most destructive explosives can become scaffolding for ocean ecosystems.