A dangerous find from the Second World War

A sizable explosive device was found by divers in the UK. They came across their find in the last days of November, but only now it has been established what exactly we are dealing with. After a thorough investigation, it turns out that it is a large German mine, dating back to World War II.

While diving near Falmouth, Cornwall, on the English Channel, Mark Milburne came across a strange object on the bottom. Luckily he was equipped with a camera and captured his find on video, then alerted the Coastguard, who in turn referred him to the Royal Navy.

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In the meantime, the Coastguard and water rescuers from Falmouth established an exclusion zone of 1,000 metres in diameter around the find. As it turned out, they were right to do so, as the unexploded ordnance lying underwater could have caused a lot of problems…

In the course of investigating what the diver encountered underwater, it was determined that it was a German World War II parachute mine, the so-called Luftmine, or by the English referred to as a parachute mine or g-mine.

These types of charges were extremely powerful and were designed to destroy targets on land. They were dropped by parachute to maximise the destructive effect they could have. Exploding before they reached the ground, they were able to destroy buildings within a radius of up to 100 metres.

A special branch of the Royal Navy – the Explosives Ordnance Disposal Unit – was called to the site and ‘took care’ of the find. On 29 November it was safely detonated.

Speaking to local media representatives, Mark Milburne, who runs the local dive centre Atlantic Scuba, admitted that he has come across similar finds before. There were many bombs dropped in the Falmouth area during World War II. As you can see quite a few of them are still lying on the bottom of the coastal waters.

Source: bbc.com Photo Mark Milburne

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