Mine warfare ship to be deployed to Great Barrier Reef to hunt bombs dropped by US Marine Harriers

A specialist mine detector ship will be brought in to search for four bombs dropped last week in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park by US Marine Corps Harrier jets.

The vessel would need to travel either from the 7th Fleet's home base in Japan or Fleet Base East in Sydney Harbour if a request was made to deploy a Royal Australian Navy Mine hunter fitted with a towed magnetometer.

While US Navy sources said the chances of the weapons exploding were virtually nil the US Navy says it will support whatever course of action Australia decides to take in regards to retrieval.

Read more