Watch the Royal Navy blow up a WWII-era bomb at sea
SUMMARY
An unexploded World War II bomb that forced a London Airport to close was detonated at sea by the Royal Navy on Feb. 14, 2018.
The 500-kilogram, 1.5-meter-long tapered-end shell was blown up with high-grade military detonators off the coast of Essex, where the bomb was transported.
The explosion took place around midday. The navy released video footage of its bomb disposal experts blowing up the device with high-grade military detonators.
Watch @RoyalNavy bomb disposal experts blow up the World War II bomb that shut down London City Airport earlier this week (story: https://t.co/GGY2f7qqxp) pic.twitter.com/cs8TJIc2um
— Alexandra Ma (@AlexandraMa15) February 14, 2018
The device was first discovered buried in dense silt on Feb. 11, 2018 near London City Airport's runway, located by the River Thames.
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The airport closed that night and all of Feb. 12, 2018 so Royal Navy bomb disposal experts could remove the device.
Divers removed the ordnance with a lifting bag on Feb. 12, dragged it down the Thames overnight, and took it to Shoeburyness, a coastal town 60 kilometers east of the bomb's original location.
The area where London City Airport stands used to be an industrial center, and it came under heavy bombardment from German planes during the war. Unexploded bombs still occasionally turn up during construction work.