Royal Navy detonate WWII bomb in River Mersey

[Anth]

A World War II German bomb was discovered in the Mersey estuary late on Monday night, 15 May 2006, during a routine survey of the waters by Royal Navy warships and underwater search teams.

The German air-dropped ground mine being towed out of the River Mersey using an emergency mine-lifting bag.
[Picture: Royal Navy]

A 300 metre exclusion zone was immediately imposed around the bomb – estimated by RN divers to weigh 1,000lb - after the Liverpool Coastguard, police and Liverpool Port Authority were informed.

The bomb was lying only 80 metres from the 12 Quays jetty on the Birkenhead side of the Mersey port, posing a threat to the roll-on, roll-off ferry terminal, to shipping and to the Mersey Tunnels.

Divers from a diving team attached to the Royal Navy task group operating in the area raised the bomb from the sea bed with an inflatable device at 0930 the following morning and started a prolonged tow to move the device to a position where it could be disposed of safely.

During the tow, the Mersey tunnel was closed for just over an hour to ensure public safety. A number of ships, including two ferries, were prevented from entering the port as a precautionary measure. The tow was halted in the mouth of the river to allow the ferries and a further five ships to enter the port safely.

The estuary was then closed again to allow a Royal Navy RIB (rigid inflatable boat) to continue to tow the bomb further out to a location approximately seven miles off the mouth of the Mersey – a position identified by the Crosby Coastguard.

Once in position, the bomb was lowered to the sea bed and a Royal Navy diver attached an explosive charge to it. When the naval personnel had retired to a safe distance, the explosive charge was detonated. The explosive within the bomb is over 50 years old and when detonated caused a large explosion.

A high definition sonar picture of the World War II bomb at the bottom of the River Mersey.
[Picture: Royal Navy]

The officer in charge of the Task Group, Commander Chris Davies, who co-ordinated the Royal Navy aspect of the combined operation, said:

"The Royal Navy is trained to deal with a range of ordnance and hundreds of cases are reported every year in UK waters. Having said that, we are operating in difficult conditions here. The water is full of sediment and visibility is zero. The bomb - which is over 50 years old - has been identified by our divers working by touch alone.

"Lifting, lowering and disposing of the mine are conducted in the same tactile way. As with all such operations, we are acting methodically with extreme caution and our focus at all times is on public safety. We are working closely with the police and the coastguard."

The Royal Navy is responsible for ordnance disposal found below the high water mark around the United Kingdom. There are two diving groups – Northern and Southern. Divers from the Northern Diving Group, based in Faslane, Scotland, are attached to this particular task group. Three of the Royal Navy’s Mine Counter Measures Vessels – HMS Middleton, Walney and Atherstone – assisted with the operation.

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