Marine Mammal Evacuation Precedes Detonation

Doggers Bank, North Sea The Royal Netherlands Navy mine hunter HNLMS Makkum cleared a 4,000-pound bomb found by fishermen at the Doggers Bank, a shoal in the North Sea about 200 miles off the Dutch coast in the North Sea. The WWII-era UXO, known as a "Blockbuster," was designed to blast away a dwelling.

Before detonating the bomb, marine mammals were encouraged to swim away from the site by a sonar system generating a high-frequency response. The bomb was lifted up to 10 meters below the waterline to reduce the damage of the blast.

A diver was sent down to inspect the ordnance. It was concluded from this observation that the Blockbuster's 1800 kg of explosives had leaked away during the munition's 70 years underwater.

WWII Era Photo Flash Bomb Detonated Off Passage Key

Manatee County, Florida The Tampa Bay Regional EOD Bomb Squad successfully detonated a WWII photo flash bomb found in the water just north of Anna Maria. U.S. Fish and Wildlife officers found the device in two feet of water off Passage Key. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers contacted MCSO's Marine Unit for additional assistance. Passage Key, a sand bar north of Bean Point, is uninhabited.

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Beach "Toy" Turns Out To Be Sea Mine

Burry Port, Wales A family beach trip was made even more exciting when they discovered a large "buoy" onshore at Burry Port. Mom took pictures and videos of her 6-year-old and 4-year-old posing with the barnacle-covered item, which her son even knocked on and touched.

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Parts of Vero Beach Closed for UXO Disposal

Vero Beach, Florida Federal officials plan to close parts of some beaches and neighborhoods in the south part of Indian River County to clean up dozens of munitions unearthed along the coast of Vero Beach. The USACE will order evacuations of nearby homes for about six hours each day during the operations.

Contractors for the Army Corps found five, 500-pound bombs, four warheads, and two rockets more than 100 yards offshore while they were removing military-associated debris from the coastal waters. The contractors will lift the items from the sea bed and transport them one mile offshore to a designated disposal area for underwater detonation.

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Beachgoers Cheer WWII Bomb Blast

St. Pete's Beach, Florida Beachgoers at a popular Florida beach in the Tampa area cheered from a distance as MacDill Air Force Base EOD detonated a barnacle-encrusted WWII M122 photoflash bomb.

The old munition (shown below) was described by several beachgoers as resembling a log, was cause for concern for one man who noticed the item in the surf and notified authorities.

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Residents Along Oregon Coast Issued a Marine Marker Warning

Oregon State Police have issued a warning about the potential hazards associated with MK 25 marine markers. Three of the devices have washed up along the Oregon coast within the past week. Officials want residents to understand that these devices are extremely dangerous and should not be touched. The alert instructs anyone who finds a flare to evacuate a 100 feet radius around the area and call the Oregon State Police Explosives Unit to report the find.

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Man Mistakenly Transports WWI Mine

Hollywood, Maryland A man visiting his father's house along Cuckold Creek found what he thought was an old buoy floating near the shore. He put his find in the back of his truck and left for his house on the other side of town. It wasn't until he unloaded the device that he saw the placard on its outer shell, stating it was a U.S. Navy mine.

Concerned, the man then called the police to report the find. The Maryland State Fire Marshal's office responded and since the item was already in the truck and had been transported, the Fire Marshal's officers drove the truck with the mine to Newtown Neck State Park. The park was selected since it offered a wide open area and was closed to the public for ironically enough, munitions finds along the shoreline. The 55th Army EOD unit of Fort Belvoir responded and safely disposed of the item which was reportedly live.

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WWII Era Sea Mine Found During NATO Patrol

WWII Era Sea Mine Found During NATO Patrol

Sardinia, Italy The British mine hunting ship HMS Ledbury was on patrol as part of a NATO task force when its sonar picked up a target on the sea floor just off the coast from Cagliari. An ROV was dispatched to investigate the target. When the video image came back of the find, the sailors had trouble at first identifying the target due to an excessive amount of sea growth. A decision was made to dispatch divers to manually investigate the target.

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WWI Era German V2 Rocket Used As a Boat Mooring

Suuffolk, United Kingdom Local boaters off the Harwich Coast between Felixstowe and Harwich have reportedly known about an old WWII era German V2 rocket embedded nose down in the mud flats 600 feet from shore. Boaters in the area have even been known to moor their boats to it. It's unclear why the rocket was never officially reported to the police but nearly 67-years after being fired, a Royal Navy bomb disposal team from Portsmouth responded to investigate the suspect rocket.

V-2 Rocket

The bomb disposal team initially set-up a 120-foot exclusion zone around the area. Due to the sheer size of the rocket and the muddy conditions, it was impossible to tell how much of the rocket remained. The V2 was a liquid-propellant rocket that packed close to 2,000 lbs of explosives. The V2s were notoriously inaccurate but when they did hit their intended target, they created massive destruction. Historians estimate that more than 3,000 V2 rockets were launched by the Germans mainly against targets in London and Antwerp.

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EOD Sweeps Coastline After Numerous UXO Finds

Sheppy, England In less than two weeks time, 26 munition items have reportedly washed ashore along the shoreline in Leysdown. The first of the 26 munitions was discovered by local resident who took a picture of the item with his cell phone (see below) which also provided the GPS coordinates of the munition. The resident provided this information to the police who responded along with the Coastguard.

TEEX-1

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