Moment Royal Navy detonates Second World War bomb near Guernsey’s QE2 Marina

Moment Royal Navy detonates Second World War bomb near Guernsey’s QE2 marina after divers discovered the 3ft anti-submarine weapon on the seabed

  • Recreational divers found the large unexploded bomb during an outing last week
  • The Royal Navy established 200m exclusion zone off the east coast of Guernsey
  • Explosive experts from the Navy moved in today to detonate the WW2 device 

This is the moment members of the Royal Navy detonated a Second World War anti-submarine bomb off the coast of Guernsey.

The explosive, thought to be a depth charge, was found last Wednesday by recreational divers on a routine outing near the island’s QE2 harbour.

The explosion sent huge plumes of water and smoke into the air as spectators watched from the shore. 

A 200-metre exclusion zone was put in place ahead of its destruction when specialist Navy scuba divers carried out the detonation.

A Royal Navy team arrived today to destroy the unexploded bomb off the coast of Guernsey

A Royal Navy team arrived today to destroy the unexploded bomb off the coast of Guernsey

Harbour master Captain David Barke said the bomb was thought to be an American-made anti-submarine depth charge, containing about 100kg (220lb) of explosives. 

Describing today’s explosion, Captain Barker said: ‘It was awesome, actually. 

He told the Guernsey Press: ‘This is the largest I’ve seen in almost three years, we have had some shells discovered but this is a reasonably large detonation. 

‘The Navy light a long fuse which has about five minutes of delay until it goes off. We then saw them all move out of the area. 

‘When it went off I could feel it in my feet, before the plume came up.’

Depth charges were deployed by planes and destroyers during the war and were designed to detonate once they reached a certain depth at sea to destroy submarines. 

The bomb has been left undisturbed for 75 years and was likely unearthed due to the constant movement of the seabed and the changing tides.

The navy sent a team to inspect the bomb on Sunday and they placed a marker above it before establishing the exclusion zone. 

A 200m exclusion zone was put in place ahead of the explosion near the island's QE2 port

A 200m exclusion zone was put in place ahead of the explosion near the island’s QE2 port

Suspected US unexploded bomb on the seabed measured 1m in length with a 45cm diameter

Suspected US unexploded bomb on the seabed measured 1m in length with a 45cm diameter

They were supported today by Guernsey vessels Sarnia and Leopardess while staff from Guernsey Coastguard and Bailiwick Law Enforcement assisted from the ground. 

The Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey were the only British territories to be occupied by German forces during the Second World War.

German troops bombed the island’s harbour for 48 hours after mistaking tomato trucks for troops before they invaded.

Around half of the Islands’ population including four-fifths of school children were evacuated to the UK for almost five years.

Guernsey was officially occupied from June 30, 1940, right up until 1945. Many of the German fortifications can still be seen today.