Mystery military device on Gold Coast beach at The Spit an ADF training torpedo

The Australian Defence Force is being blamed for a confronting-looking torpedo washing up on a Gold Coast beach - and forcing police to set up an exclusion zone at The Spit. SEE THE VIDEO

A confronting-looking torpedo which washed up on a Gold Coast beach - sparking a 100-metre public exclusion zone - was an Australian Defence Force “training” device lost at sea, police say.

Its appearance on a popular stretch of sand at The Spit in Main Beach sparked an emergency call to police about 5.45am on Thursday - and plenty of excited speculation from locals.

As police officers assessed the scene, a Queensland Police Service spokesman said at about 7.30am the object could be a torpedo.

“We’re not sure whether it’s live or not,” the QPS spokesman said at the time as the public speculated online about its origins and generally alarmed at the sighting.

Just before 11am - after further inspection and a 100-metre exclusion zone was set up by police to ensure public safety - acting QPS regional duty officer Leon Wort said the ADF had advised “it is a training torpedo that they have lost at sea off the Coast”.

Asked what he meant by a training torpedo, Mr Wort said: “I think they deploy it but it doesn’t do anything more than just deploy - but you’d have to ask them about that.”

A torpedo on the beach at The Spit which was an Australian Defence Force training torpedo. Picture: Surf Lifesaving Queensland.

Asked if it was now safe for the public, he replied: “Absolutely. The ADF will recover that device and work out what went wrong and why they couldn’t recover it. We are really grateful members of the public did contact us which is what we ask people to do - and not handle suspect devices on the beach.

“They don’t always look like a torpedo but anything suspicious contact the police.”

ADF officials had earlier been dispatched to the Gold Coast from the base at Enoggera with a police escort.

An ADF spokeswoman said members from Joint Explosive Ordnance Support South Queensland were helping QPS after the discovery of what they called an “unexploded ordnance, an Australian Defence Force training torpedo, at Main Beach”.

“As the source of the UXO items are currently under investigation it would be inappropriate for Defence to comment further,” she said.

The ADF did not respond to whether they knew the torpedo was missing before it was found.

The Australian Defence Force said in a statement: “As the source of the UXO items are currently under investigation it would be inappropriate for Defence to comment further.”

The torpedo sat about 300m south of the dredging pier at the Spit.

Police asked the public to avoid the area for several hours before discovering it was an inert ADF device.

A veteran of the Royal Australian Navy, now based on the Gold Coast, told the Bulletin the device was likely a torpedo before the ADF confirmation.

Police at the Spit on the Gold Coast at the Main Beach stretch of beach where an ADF training torpedo had washed up. Picture: Jacklyn O'Brien

“This looks like an Mk 46 torpedo - I used to fit them to Seahawk helicopters,” he said.

“It’s likely a dummy runner, inert and just used for training … no explosives.

“The chequered markings mean it is an inert recoverable training torpedo, usually US manufactured.”

Originally published as Mystery military device on Gold Coast beach at The Spit an ADF training torpedo