Call to Inspect Suspicious Item Leads to Explosive Discovery

Whitsand Beach, United Kingdom The Royal Navy's Plymouth bomb disposal team executed a controlled explosion on a two-inch WWII mortar on a popular beach which they ironically discovered while responding to a call for another item which turned out to be non-explosive.

Plymouth-based EOD, Southern Diving Unit 1, found the British mortar, deemed it hazardous, and blew it up on-site. This unit has been called in to deal with a number of historic items of ordnance South West, an area heavily proliferated with munitions as part of preparations for potential invasion and the mounting of Operation Overlord to retake Europe via Normandy WWII.