E O D staff at work

[Rheged]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-54533860

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-humber-53692104

A couple of  mildly entertaining clips

[zenrat]

The Polish explosion is a lot more impressive than the English one.

[PR19_Kit]

617 strike again. 

It was a 5 TON bomb after all!

[Old Wombat]

So, where was Lützow, in 1945, in relation to where the bomb was found?

I also wonder, how many ships & people had sailed over that bomb, completely unaware of the potential danger they were in?

[scooter]

The 177th EOD usually makes it an annual training event when they go clear sections of Warren Grove Bombing Range.  Largest piece of ordinance they destroyed was a Mark 13 torpedo that was apparently tested the feasibility of using them as bombs.

[PR19_Kit]

So, where was Lützow, in 1945, in relation to where the bomb was found?

I also wonder, how many ships & people had sailed over that bomb, completely unaware of the potential danger they were in?

It doesn't help sorting this out as there were TWO Lutzows! 

One was a cruiser that was never finished for the Kriegsmarine, and it was sold to Russia before WWII really got going, and was sunk in harbour by the Luftwaffe! She was re-floated and was eventually scrapped sometime in the 60s it seems.

The Lutzow that the Tallboy was aimed at was the lead pocket battleship, and was launched as the Deutschland, later renamed the Lutzow, just to confuse us I suspect. That ship was moored in the canal leading to Stettin from the Baltic when 617 got into the act, and a near miss sank her in the canal. Later, THAT Lutzow was re-floated too (!) and later scuttled. The Soviets re-floated here as well (it was obviously becoming a habit...) and later sunk as a target ship.

What a hectic and chaotic life it led!

[Mossie]

Cowden is about ten miles from me.  Have a few stories about the place that I've mentioned before, if anyone wants to know  I'm happy to tell again.

The bombs at Cowden would be practice bombs as it was a range but it's probably the demolition charges that are making the little.  Bombs regularly get washed up there, they can also get embedded in the soft clay cliffs, which then erode again.

[Old Wombat]

So, where was Lützow, in 1945, in relation to where the bomb was found?

I also wonder, how many ships & people had sailed over that bomb, completely unaware of the potential danger they were in?

It doesn't help sorting this out as there were TWO Lutzows! 

One was a cruiser that was never finished for the Kriegsmarine, and it was sold to Russia before WWII really got going, and was sunk in harbour by the Luftwaffe! She was re-floated and was eventually scrapped sometime in the 60s it seems.

The Lutzow that the Tallboy was aimed at was the lead pocket battleship, and was launched as the Deutschland, later renamed the Lutzow, just to confuse us I suspect. That ship was moored in the canal leading to Stettin from the Baltic when 617 got into the act, and a near miss sank her in the canal. Later, THAT Lutzow was re-floated too (!) and later scuttled. The Soviets re-floated here as well (it was obviously becoming a habit...) and later sunk as a target ship.

What a hectic and chaotic life it led!

I was aware of which Lützow, Kit; which was, from what I've heard & read, renamed from Deutschland on orders from Hitler because of his fear of the negative impact on the morale of the German people if they read the headlines "Deutschland gesunken!".

What I was more interested in was how many metres/kilometres it was from where Lützow (nee Deutschland) was moored.

[PR19_Kit]

Pretty close, from what I read of 617's raid.

It's written up in the Hayne's 'Dambusters' book, and that says all the bombs, Tallboys and 1000 lbers, fell within a few yards of the ship. 617 were using the SBS bomb sight by then of course, and it worked pretty well.

[Old Wombat]

 

[kerick]

The story says the Polish bomb exploded while trying to defuse it. I strongly doubt anyone was trying to defuse it when it exploded as the story said no one was hurt. Plus the explosives would be unstable and dangerous after all this time even with the fuse removed. I'm pretty sure they blew it in place rather than even trying to move it.

[PR19_Kit]

They were using a remote submersible robot to de-fuse it apparently.

I guess the robot is no more.............

[Knightflyer]

The story says the Polish bomb exploded while trying to defuse it. I strongly doubt anyone was trying to defuse it when it exploded as the story said no one was hurt. Plus the explosives would be unstable and dangerous after all this time even with the fuse removed. I'm pretty sure they blew it in place rather than even trying to move it.

The wording on the BBC news for the intitial story was

Naval forces used a remote-controlled device to try to "deflagrate" the bomb - a technique that if successful burns the explosive charge without causing a detonation, the BBC's Adam Easton reports from Warsaw.

"The deflagration process turned into detonation. The object can be considered neutralised, it will not pose any more threat to the Szczecin-Swinoujscie shipping channel," said Lt Cmdr Grzegorz Lewandowski, spokesman for the Polish Navy's 8th Coastal Defence Flotilla.

"All divers were outside the danger zone."

Considered neutralised - didn't realise the Poles did classic British understatement! 

[zenrat]

...Lützow...was, from what I've heard & read, renamed from Deutschland on orders from Hitler because of his fear of the negative impact on the morale of the German people if they read the headlines "Deutschland gesunken!"...

I've read that.  Possibly in Brickhills "Dambusters".

I have pondered the sensibleness of naming ships after one's royalty/leaders or one's nation for the very reason given by Corporal Schicklgruber.

[PR19_Kit]

I have pondered the sensibleness of naming ships after one's royalty/leaders or one's nation for the very reason given by Corporal Schicklgruber.

Precisely why I reckon our Sea Lords should have named our new carrier 'Ark Royal'. It has lots of precedent of course.