2017 April 28 - Tinian / Dump Coke
The third day of diving with Cmlc Artha found us heading back to Tinian Island for two more dive sites. Dump Cove (or Dump Coke) was our first destination. . The 2nd and the 4th marine divisions were assigned to take the Tinian Island. It would be the fourth round for the 2nd marine division in just over 18 months. They started out in Feb of 1943 at Guadalcanal and then in November they had 72 hours of combat on Tarawa. The 4th started their island campaign in the Marshall Islands at Roi-Namur before heading to join the 2nd in the Battle of Saipan. . The entire Japanese garrison of 9000 were eliminated and up to 4000 civilians also died. Some figures place that number at 5000. The majority were also suicides. US casualties number 326 killed and about 1600 wounded. . After US soldiers took over Tinian, they turned this cove into a dumping ground - a place to temporarily hide and discard the remnants of the war and life underwater. I didn’t see any coke bottles or cases (that’s where the name of the dive site comes from), but I did see parts of jeeps and tanks, and other bits of military detritus. It all has to stay underwater though, because a lot of the bomb casings and other items are covered in phosphorus which has been leaching out over the years. It can burst into flames when reaching the surface. White phosphorus (Willie Pete) would be used in other places and other wars too: Vietnam, Korea, Chechnya, the Falkland Islands, Iraq, etc. . The US first employed the use of napalm incendiary bombs in the European theater on March 6 of 1944 on the city of Berlin. It is said that the first use of napalm in the Pacific Theater began on Tinian - in the form of bombs (the M-69) and flamethrowers. When the B-29s that were targeting cities in Japan ran out of conventional bombs, General Curtis LeMay turned to napalm for the bombing raids. . One firebomb released from a low-flying plane can damage an area of 2,500 square yards (2,100m2) . “Napalm is the most terrible pain you can imagine. Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. (212˚F) Napalm generates temperatures of 800 to 1,200 degrees Celsius (1,500-2,200˚F)” (Kim Phúc, a survivor from a napalm bombing). . It wasn’t until 1981 that the use of napalm (and WP) against civilian populations became banned by the UN (Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons). The United States signed Protocol III on the 21st of January, 2009 which was President Obama’s first full day in office. .
