© 2026. The Trustees of Indiana University
Copyright Complaints
1229 East Seventh Street, Bloomington, Indiana 47405
News, Arts and Culture from WFIU Public Radio and WTIU Public Television
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Incident At Crane Naval Base Leads To Investigation

A map of Crane Naval base in southern Indiana. It is unclear where on the property the object was found.
A map of Crane Naval base in southern Indiana. It is unclear where on the property the object was found.

Officials at the Crane Naval Base are investigating an incident that led them to issue a warning to shelter in place.

The alert went out around 2 o’clock Wednesday. 

Multiple agencies responded to the base after construction workers unearthed an unidentified object .

It’s unclear whether the object posed a threat or compromised the safety of people on the base, but the personnel at the facility were directed to seek shelter while the object was handled by explosives teams and local police and fire.

Crane officials say the object was destroyed within an hour.

Public affairs officer Jeff Nagan says the response was handled correctly by everyone involved.

"It’s a good validation of what we train for, what we exercise for," Nagan says. "It really couldn’t have gone any better."

Nagan says there could potentially be more material buried in the area and they're working to determine what the object was and how it got into the construction area.

This story has been updated.

Brock E.W. Turner is a reporter for Indiana Public Media covering COVID-19, politics, and Indiana's urban-rural divide. Brock has been awarded regional Edward R. Murrow Awards each of the past two years. A native Hoosier, Brock is a graduate of DePauw University.