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​World War II Bomb Exploding Underwater As Navy Attempt To Defuse It Is Amazing Video

​World War II Bomb Exploding Underwater As Navy Attempt To Defuse It Is Amazing Video

The 5.4-ton Tallboy bomb was found beneath a waterway leading to the port of Szczecin, in the northwest of the country

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

An incredible video shows the moment a World War II bomb exploded underwater in Poland as the Navy tried to defuse it - a hairy moment if ever there was one. Watch the footage here:

The 5.4-ton Tallboy bomb was found in September 2019 beneath a waterway leading to the port of Szczecin, in the northwest of the country.

Navy demolition experts attempted to neutralise it on Tuesday 14 October 2020, but - as the video shows - the bomb containing 2,400kg worth of explosives went off, causing a huge blast.

Thankfully, things could have been a lot worse, with Navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander Grzegorz Lewandowski confirming nobody was hurt.

Divers were a safe distance away as they attempted to defuse the bomb through remote deflagration, whereby the explosive charge is burnt without causing a detonation - well, if successful, that is.

More than 750 residents had to be evacuated from the area near the Piast Canal, outside the town of Swinoujscie, with authorities imposing a 2.4 kilometre exclusion zone around the bomb.

Lt. Cmdr. Lewandowski said: "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.

"All divers were outside the danger zone."

The blast could even be felt though by residents in Swinoujscie, which was part of Germany when the RAF dropped the bomb in 1945.

This occurred during a raid which sank the Lützow warship.

Speaking at a press conference prior to the detonation mission, Lt. Cmdr. Lewandowski said the dangerous mission was a 'world first'.

He said: "Only its nose is sticking out. It's a world first.

"Nobody has ever defused a Tallboy that is so well preserved and underwater.

"The bomb is dangerous because it contains a lot of explosives.

"The chemical processes that have been taking place in the bomb over time means that any impact, any vibration, any change of pressure caused by moving it could cause it to explode."

Well, he wasn't wrong there, eh?

Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock

Topics: World News, News, World War II