The Day the U.S. Navy Dropped a Bomb on Louisiana Town

Lafayette, Louisiana (KPEL) - Louisiana has a lot of pretty wild stories, but did you know that the U.S. Navy once accidentally dropped a bomb on a town in Louisiana?

Yep, that actually happened back in 1944 during WWII.

NAS Houma, Louisiana Blimp Base

During WWII, one of the most feared weapons of Nazi Germany was the U-Boat. It was extremely dangerous and stealthy boat used to sink fifty-eight ships in the Gulf during the early days of the war.

German U-Boats patrolled U.S. waters along the East Coast and in the South with the mission to disrupt American shipping.

READ MORE: 6 Buried Treasure Spots in Louisiana's Acadiana and Their Worth

From 64parishes.org -

In the spring and summer of 1942 the gulf became a battleground where German submarines easily targeted and sank largely defenseless US merchant vessels.

Oil production increased during the war to meet an astounding demand of five million barrels a day at the height of the war.

 

But getting the oil from source to refinery to where it was ultimately needed was a dangerous business, one that impacted South Louisiana.

The United State's response to the German U-Boats was armed blimp patrols.

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Although there was certainly no element of surprise with armed blimps being visible for miles, over open water like the Gulf, they were highly effective in defense against slow-moving and vulnerable targets like the German U-Boat.

The armed blimps were perfect for fighting the U-Boats because they were able to hover at low altitudes for long periods of time, carry a lot of bombs, and they were each equipped with a .50-caliber machine gun.

While Houma's blimp base played a vital role protecting the U.S. coastal waters, it wasn't without incident.

Like the time a war blimp accidentally dropped a bomb on Houma.

READ MORE: You Won't Believe What Was Caught on Video in Houma

When a WWII Blimp Dropped a Bomb on a Louisiana Town

In April of 1944, a U.S. Navy blimp accidentally dropped a bomb on Houma, Louisiana while heading out to patrol the Gulf looking for German U-Boats.

From regionalmilitarymuseum.com -

In April 1944, a U.S. Navy K‑class blimp based at Naval Air Station Houma accidentally released a bomb over the Houma Golf���Club when its rack malfunctioned.

 

The ordnance thudded into the turf, miraculously failed to explode, and sent commanders scrambling to order blimps not to fly over town again.

Thankfully the bomb didn't detonate!

This isn't the only time bombs were accidentally dropped on a Louisiana town.

Also during the early days of WWII, four U.S. bombs were accidentally dropped near Seven Mile Hill between Homer and Minden, Louisiana, almost taking out a farmer and his mule while they were tilling land.

According to claiborneparishjournal.com, the bombs left craters five to six feet deep, and six to seven feet wide where hit.

Again, miraculously, none of those bombs exploded.

Read more over regionalmilitarymuseum.com.