The event was such a damp squib that they assumed it hadn’t worked and returned for another go at 11am.
Damn Nazis, denying us a Friday firework. I thought German engineering was supposed to be better than that.
Portsmouth bomb about to be detonated
Dredgers clearing Portsmouth harbour in the UK have found yet another unexploded Second World War bomb. The 500kg device meant Pompey’s retail and chain boozer park Gunwharf Quays was evacuated at 11pm last night as a precaution. The bomb is being towed out into the Solent where it will be destroyed by controlled explosion. …
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Friday 30th September 2016 14:57 GMT Putters
Re: Design Parameters
We can only hope that American explosives from the same era are just as crap ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery
"According to a survey conducted in 2000 by the United Kingdom Maritime and Coastguard Agency,[1] the wreck still held munitions containing approximately 1,400 tonnes (1,500 short tons) of TNT high explosive.[1] These comprise the following items of ordnance:
286 × 2,000 lb (910 kg) high explosive "Blockbuster" bombs[9]
4,439 × 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs of various types
1,925 × 500 lb (230 kg) bombs
2,815 fragmentation bombs and bomb clusters
Various explosive booster charges
Various smoke bombs, including white phosphorus bombs
Various pyrotechnic signals
An investigation by New Scientist magazine concluded in 2004, based partly on government documents released in 2004, that the cargo was still deadly, and could be detonated by a collision, an attack, or even shifting of the cargo in the tide. The bad condition of the bombs is such that they could explode spontaneously"
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Friday 30th September 2016 14:31 GMT Fortycoats
GB / US Bombs just as reliable
They still find plenty of unexploded ordnance across Germany. The departments charged with the safe disposal have a great name: Kampfmittelräumdienst
They defuse the bombs (mostly), then transport them to special facilities where the stuff is all placed in a big hole and blown up with a satisfying kaboom.
Some cannot be defused safely, and are detonated on site, like this one 4 years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idF3Nq11BcM
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Saturday 1st October 2016 07:28 GMT Tony S
Re: Blowing up Portsmouth?
My family were all from Pompey. We left in the early 60s.
My mother went back in the late 80s / early 90s (not quite sure when) and apparently was wandering around trying to find a couple of the key landmarks that she remembered. Apparently she came across the infamous Tricorn shopping centre and sat down on the steps and cried, it was so awful. (3rd ugliest building in the UK). She was often heard to say that they should invite someone over to bomb it.
When she heard that they were demolishing it, she made a point of going down to visit her sister; and they took a day trip to see what was left.
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Thursday 6th October 2016 10:50 GMT Lotaresco
Re: Blowing up Portsmouth?
"Apparently she came across the infamous Tricorn shopping centre and sat down on the steps and cried"
The "Spinnaker Tower", or "Millennium WasteOfSpace" is known in the area as "The Vertical Tricorn".
The Tricorn was special. It was not only brutally ugly but also deeply unpleasant in every way imaginable. The dank car park with water and other nastier smelling fluids gathered in large puddles on the floor and in stairways led the way to a group of run-down shops selling stuff no one wanted. The atmosphere of the place was physically threatening with added filth. Nothing was clean.
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Friday 30th September 2016 15:11 GMT Anonymous Coward
You need to finish the adage: "...without due care and attention". In this case, the best way is to literally turn them into damp squibs: water is your best friend here. Take to them at a distance with a hose for a minute or so, then approach (preferably behind something to use as a shield) with a big bucket full of water, pick up the firework with something like fireplace tongs and dunk it. After about 24 hours, it should be safe to sack it and stuff it.
In the case of the bomb, I presume they approached from some distance and at some point noted the bomb had actually been broken by the event (if it and the demo charges were still in place, they'd probably implement known protocols to deal with the issue, such as severing detonation cords--unlike fireworks, demo charges use high explosives that are designed not to spontaneously detonate--adding a fresh set of charges, and going from there).
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Friday 30th September 2016 14:21 GMT Stevie
Bah!
On the other hand, I recall the efforts to demolish the WWII-era Nazi Slave Labour-built fort in St Peter Port on Guernsey all came to naught. I seem to remember a story at the time of the whole fort lifting off its foundation and just crashing back down again otherwise undamaged after a particularly ambitious explosive "demolition".
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Friday 30th September 2016 15:23 GMT John Crisp
AFAIAA (according to my now deceased grandad) munitions can go one of two ways. Safe as putty. Or not.
Living on the coast just up from the Thames the amount of stuff still dragged up is amazing. Some of it still fizzes.....
Biggest problem is the good ship SS Richard Montgomery.... might make a mess of a few surrounding properties (would the destruction of Canvey Island be considered a loss ?) if it's found to be the touchy feely type :-)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-ss-richard-montgomery-information-and-survey-reports
I was trying to find an equivalent explosive force or some such.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_artificial_non-nuclear_explosions
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Friday 30th September 2016 16:04 GMT Chad H.
>>>>Bomb disposal officers actually detonated the bomb at 7am this morning. The event was such a damp squib that they assumed it hadn’t worked and returned for another go at 11am. They then discovered the earlier attempt had actually worked.®
The Officer in charge of the incident Marvin T Martian was quoted as saying "Where's the Kaboom? Where is the Earth shattering kaboom?"
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Friday 30th September 2016 18:35 GMT Lars
Kaboom and fish
Outside my summer cottage in the archipelago there is a channel that was made deeper one summer. All granite and fairly loud explosions. After explosions seagulls would go out to get the dead fish floating around. Later after the work was done in the autumn, the seagulls would fly out to the same place after each thunderstorm, optimists.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
