Hundreds evacuated as Polish divers begin high-risk bomb defusal
RAF crew loading Tallboy bomb for an air raid
Recent dredging operations turned up a 12,000 pound WWII bomb lodged (and still active) in the mud of a channel in the Baltic Sea on the Polish coast. The bomb, a “Tallboy” of British design and use, was an “earthquake” bomb, what we’d now call a bunker buster. The bombs were hardened with a thick casing that would allow the bomb to survive the impact with a hardened (or armored in the case of warships) surface before detonating. The bombs carried 5,200 pounds of Torpex D1, which is 50% more powerful than TNT by weight.
In a first, the 75 year old bomb is remarkably well preserved.
Hundreds of residents were evacuated on Monday as Polish military divers began a delicate operation to defuse a massive World War II bomb in a channel near the Baltic Sea.
The five-tonne device — nicknamed “Tallboy” and also known as an “earthquake bomb” — was dropped by the Royal Air Force in an attack on a Nazi warship in 1945.
It was discovered last year during dredging close to the port city of Swinoujscie — formerly Swinemunde, a part of Germany — in the far northwest of Poland.
“It’s a world first. Nobody has ever defused a Tallboy that is so well preserved and underwater,” Grzegorz Lewandowski, spokesman for the Polish Navy’s 8th Coastal Defence Flotilla based in Swinoujscie, told AFP.
More at the source.
Source; Yahoo!
Category: Who knows
God bless and Good Luck!
Let’s hope that there is no Earth Shattering Ka-Boom. “…damage a bridge 500 meters away.” Danger close is a whole nother zip code away.
Open the small hatch in the rear.
There is a switch labeled “bomb goes off/ bomb does not go off”
Makes sure it is in the correct position before dismantling.
I’m pretty sure the labels have worn off by now so be careful!
The Tallboy was designed to destroy hardened targets without a direct hit. The term “earthquake bomb” is not hyperbole; Barnes Wallis designed it to burrow its way hundreds of feet underground before detonating, where the energy released by the blast would generate a localized earthquake. They were successfully used against a number of hardened targets, including the V-2 assembly line in the La Coupole complex at Saint Omer. They were also used to sink the battleship Tirpitz in Norway.
Found some footage of the Polish bomb squad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-4iOOfgBQo
I couldn’t resist.
Me either:
Seven unexploded bombs were found early in the construction of Tesla’s factory 35k south-east of central Berlin.
Common still in Berlin, I’m afraid.
Just read a news report that said it went KaBlooooey!!
No injuries to divers.
Yeah, nobody hurt:
https://www.startribune.com/wwii-bomb-explodes-as-it-is-made-safe-in-poland-no-injuries/572725481/
Robot/remote work?
As depicted in Rambo IV: