On Wednesday, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force conducted an underwater detonation of 315 artillery shells, grenades, and bullets, roughly a half-mile offshore at Naha Port’s Shinko Wharf, in Okinawa.
The unexploded ordnance was recovered during dredging of Naha Port between March and Nov. 2021. A total of 634 munitions were recovered during dredging operations, a city official for Naha told Stars and Stripes. In December, 319 munitions were disposed of in a similar fashion.
The munitions are one part of the ongoing legacy of the Battle of Okinawa, where Army and Marine Corps forces battled the Japanese Army for nearly three months in some of the fiercest fighting of World War II. In the last 50 years, 2,094 tons of unexploded ordnance have been recovered and disposed of in the Okinawa prefecture.
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Source: Task & Purpose