The Royal Navy has released new images of the submerged Second World War bomb that was uncovered in Falmouth last week.
Thousands of homes were evacuated following the discovery of the ordnance at Falmouth Docks, which was safely moved from the docks to a disposal site at sea. The device was finally detonated on Tuesday - six days after it was removed from the dock area.
Lt Cdr Ben Brown, Commanding Officer of Bravo Squadron, which led the removal operation, said: “Following detailed assessment last week, the duty crew from Bravo Squadron successfully lifted the ordnance from the seabed and towed it to a pre-designated area at sea which has been cleared as a suitable site for disposal.
Credit: Royal Navy
“To ensure maximum safety for the public and for my team, the device was then left to settle for a period of six days.
“A small team of Royal Navy bomb disposal experts conducted a dive down to inspect the unexploded WWII bomb on Tuesday, September 29. They then attached a small charge and conducted a small, controlled explosion to neutralise the device.”
Credit: Royal Navy
Lt Cdr Brown added: “Whilst this type of historic ordnance was unusual in that it was American, my team trains to deal with different unexploded devices every day, tackling each on a case-by-case basis.”
Bravo Squadron, part of the Diving and Threat Exploitation Group, is a specialised unit of Royal Navy clearance divers and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) experts based at HMNB Devonport in Plymouth and Horsea Island in Portsmouth.
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