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The incident happened after US jets on a training exercise began running low on fuel.
The jets were supposed to drop four bombs each, two live and two dummies on an island.
But the exercise was aborted due to civilian boats in the are and the pilots concluded they wouldn’t be able to make it to the USS Bonhomme Richard without dropping their bombs.
Two AV-8B Harriers dropped eight total bombs with four being live.
So the jets dropped the 500-lb. bombs in an area estimated to be 165 feet deep and as far away from the reef as possible. It was also determined the area would not cause a problem with shipping.
The location is a part of a World Heritage-listed marine park, angering some Australians.
"Have we gone completely mad,” one man asked?
The bombs didn’t explode and the navigation charts will be updated to show the new hazards. The Navy has said they would be willing to recover the bombs if asked.
The US and the Australian armed forces were both involved in the training.
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