Plymouth: Royal Navy Experts Detonate Unexploded Second World War Bomb

Royal Navy divers from the Project DELTA team safely detonated a 250kg unexploded Second World War bomb at sea on Friday. The device, believed to be a German SC-250 general-purpose bomb, was discovered in a garden on St Michael Avenue, Keyham, Plymouth.

The operation involved transporting the ordnance by military convoy through a residential area, requiring the temporary evacuation of over 10,000 residents from approximately 4,000 properties within a 300-metre cordon. The convoy proceeded to a slipway at HM Naval Base Devonport, where the bomb was then towed out into Plymouth Sound for its controlled explosion.

Local authorities described the two-day effort as one of the largest peacetime evacuation operations in the UK since the Second World War. The Ministry of Defence confirmed the successful disposal, acknowledging the significant public cooperation throughout the complex procedure.