A World War II-era bomb whose discovery prompted one of the largest peacetime evacuations in British history has been detonated at sea, the Ministry of Defense said on Saturday.
The 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) explosive was discovered Tuesday in the backyard of a home in Plymouth, a port city on the southwestern coast of Britain. More than 10,000 residents were evacuated to ensure their safety as a military convoy transported the unexploded bomb through a densely populated residential area to a ferry slipway, from which it was taken out to sea.
How did it take them 80 years to find a bomb in a back yard? Is it a large yard? Was the bomb buried?
They usually are buried. Bombs were usually dropped from over a mile up. If the soil was soft enough, duds could be completely buried on impact.
The also used carpet bombing techniques. So if one bomb didn’t blow, the nearby explosion would help bury it and hide the soil disturbance.
They find these all the time in Europe.
Plymouth, home to major naval bases for centuries, was one of the most heavily bombed cities in Britain during the World War II. Fifty-nine separate air raids killed 1,174 civilians, according to local officials. The raids destroyed almost 3,800 homes, and heavily damaged another 18,000.
There would’ve been a lot of destruction and rubble. It isn’t hard to imagine that some of it would have been built over.
The ground is also not static, things move from their original position over time.
UXOs are no joke. Imagine how long that was just sitting there before it was discovered!
This still happens with regularity in Japan. Cities that were firebombed but still have pre-war buildings that tend to be found to have undetonated incendiary bombs under the floorboards / in the garden / sitting IN STORAGE with junk that hasn’t been sorted through in generations…
This is the best summary I could come up with:
LONDON (AP) — A World War II-era bomb whose discovery prompted one of the largest peacetime evacuations in British history has been detonated at sea, the Ministry of Defense said on Saturday.
The 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) explosive was discovered Tuesday in the backyard of a home in Plymouth, a port city on the southwestern coast of Britain.
More than 10,000 residents were evacuated to ensure their safety as a military convoy transported the unexploded bomb through a densely populated residential area to a ferry slipway, from which it was taken out to sea.
Plymouth, home to major naval bases for centuries, was one of the most heavily bombed cities in Britain during the World War II.
Fifty-nine separate air raids killed 1,174 civilians, according to local officials.
The raids destroyed almost 3,800 homes, and heavily damaged another 18,000.
The original article contains 165 words, the summary contains 137 words. Saved 17%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
An opa almost randomly illuminates in Argentina
