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Poland's largest WW2 bomb explodes during attempt to defuse it

Discussion in 'WWII Today' started by Kai-Petri, Oct 14, 2020.

  1. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    WW2 bomb explodes during attempt to defuse it

    The largest unexploded World War Two bomb ever found in Poland has detonated during an attempt to defuse it.

    The RAF dropped the Tallboy or "earthquake" bomb in a raid in 1945 which sank the German cruiser Lützow.

    The Polish Navy said there had been a 50:50 chance the bomb would explode and all the divers were unharmed.

    The bomb was at the bottom of a Baltic Sea shipping canal, and about 750 residents near the port city of Swinoujscie were evacuated.

    Swinoujscie was part of Germany and called Swinemünde at the time of the bombardment.

    The shock of the latest detonation was reportedly felt in parts of the city and a video shows the blast throwing up a large column of water into the air.

    The bomb was 6m (19ft) long and weighed 5.4 tonnes, nearly half of which was its explosives.

    The bomb was embedded at a depth of 12m and only its nose was sticking out.
     
  2. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    I remember watching "Danger! UXB" when I was in grade school. Crazy brave dudes.
     
  3. HESH

    HESH Member

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    Could I also point out that they did it with a remote control device.
    Quote from the spokesperson... "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,"

    Well yeah if it blew up I suppose it can be considered neutralized...
    Better that they did do it then that it blowing up underneath a boat... Although I do wonder how high the boat would go...
     
  4. bronk7

    bronk7 Well-Known Member

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    ....that's a lot of bomb to have not exploded on impact....a ''big'' fail ......I thought some of the ''big'' [ 4000 lbs ] ones dropped on Germany were set to explode after the initial bombing --delayed fuses
    ..with something as big/important as the Tallboy, I would think they should've had a secondary fuse
     
  5. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    Read in the wikipedia the Tallboy had three type 47 long time fuses inside the rear of the bomb. Seems like malfunction of them all?
     
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  6. ColHessler

    ColHessler Member

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    My Dad loved that show. I got the DVDs for him one Christmas and he was ecstatic.
     
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  7. bronk7

    bronk7 Well-Known Member

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    ..thanks....wow......impact damaged them?
     
  8. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    Possible. That is why there was three of them. Then again it was meant to go deep in the ground and the explosion would cause a huge earthshake effect.
     

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