A lazy Sunday at Point Mugu State Beach turned tense in a hurry when lifeguards spotted an unexploded "super bazooka" round buried in the sand, triggering an evacuation of the shoreline. Navy bomb technicians were called in to blow up the device where it lay, and authorities temporarily shut down a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway while they made sure the scene was safe.
According to the Ventura County Sheriff's Office, the ordnance turned up during a routine patrol, and beachgoers were cleared out at about 10:30 a.m. The sheriff's bomb squad decided the round might still be live and brought in U.S. Navy specialists, who dug a pit, placed the rocket inside and took it out with a controlled blast on the sand. As reported by SFGATE, the explosion destroyed the round, and the beach stayed closed for several hours while crews picked through debris and inspected the area.
The device was identified as a 1950s-era "super bazooka" rocket about a foot long, a type of ordnance used during the Korean War, and was "completely destroyed" in the small explosion, according to the New York Post. The outlet also noted that the Ventura County Sheriff's Office posted video of the detonation on Instagram and that the Pacific Coast Highway was briefly closed while the disposal unfolded.
Why Old Munitions Are Washing Ashore
Point Mugu sits beside Naval Base Ventura County, and that slice of coastline doubled as a training ground in the 1940s and 1950s, which helps explain why vintage ordnance still pops up in the surf zone. A staff report from the California Coastal Commission notes that erosion and shifting tides have begun to uncover long-buried munitions. The report documents multiple Super Bazooka rocket discoveries and calls for emergency surveys, excavation, and demolition work to cut the risk to the public.
Detective Dan Turock of the Ventura County Sheriff's bomb squad has been clear that decades-old explosives can still be very much alive, urging anyone who stumbles across a suspicious object to back away and call 911 instead of trying to move it. SFGATE quoted Turock saying incidents like Sunday's have happened roughly 10 times in recent years as the beach loses sand and previously buried rounds surface.
What Beachgoers Should Know
Point Mugu State Park reopened once crews finished clearing the blast site. The California Department of Parks and Recreation lists the park at 9000 West Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. The Coastal Commission's staff report outlines the Navy's plans for more surveys and demolition work aimed at preventing future encounters with hidden ordnance, and officials are reminding visitors to report, not handle, any unfamiliar metal on the sand.
