Luke Neiman dived into the sea off Fort Pierce, Florida, in search of lobsters, and during such a dive, he might encounter fish, sharks, or other marine life, but he ended up discovering something he never expected to see on the ocean floor: an object resembling a torpedo that the United States Navy later identified as a suspected World War II-era ammunition.
The discovery occurred last month while Neiman was diving with his father and a friend, south of the Fort Pierce pier, when he spotted a structure on the seafloor that did not appear to be part of the reef, reported WESH 2.
"No could I really distinguish what it was, but I knew it wasn't a reef. I was inspecting it, looking at it, and I thought: 'This just looks different,'" recounted the diver.
Upon observing its shape more closely, he began to suspect what it was about.
"Before I realized it, I thought: 'This is a torpedo,' because I could make out the end and it had a conical tip," he explained.
Neiman then returned to the vessel and asked his father to mark the exact location of the discovery.
He later notified the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
The FWC later alerted the United States Coast Guard, the bomb squad of the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, and the U.S. Navy.
Explosive deactivation specialists from the Navy finally arrived at the site, and on Tuesday, September 15, they carried out controlled detonation underwater.
"The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) personnel of the Navy conducted a routine operation for the removal of underwater munitions on September 15, 2026, in the waters off St. Lucie County," confirmed the institution in a statement quoted by WESH 2.
The Navy described the object as a suspected munition from the World War II era, while Neiman said that, due to its shape and conical tip, he believed it was a torpedo.
For the diver, the surprise was even greater because the device was located exactly in an area he often frequents to catch lobsters.
"It really blew my mind, literally, to have found a torpedo down here, right where I catch a ton of lobsters and such," Neiman joked after the Navy destroyed the object.
The waters of Florida have revealed other unusual discoveries in recent years. In August 2024, a woman found in Tampa Bay a bottle with a message dated from 1945, along with a cartridge, sand, and a small cannonball, objects apparently related to the era of World War II.
A year earlier, a diver found a huge megalodon tooth measuring around 15 centimeters off the coast of Venice while exploring the seabed for shark teeth.
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