Polish divers to begin operation to defuse WWII 'earthquake bomb'
The location of the WWII bomb has been marked off with a buoy
Polish military divers on Monday will begin an operation to defuse a massive World War II bomb at the bottom of a channel near the Baltic Sea.
The five-tonne device has been nicknamed "Tallboy" and is also known as an "earthquake bomb". Tallboys were designed to explode underground next to a target, triggering shock waves that would cause destruction.
The bomb is six metres (19 feet) long and has 2.4 tonnes of explosives -- equivalent to around 3.6 tons of TNT.
Dropped by the Royal Air Force in an attack on a Nazi warship in 1945, it was discovered last year during dredging close to the port city of Swinoujscie -- formerly Swinemunde, a part of Germany -- in the far northwest of Poland.
Maritime traffic on the navigation channel and surrounding waterways will be suspended in an area of 16 kilometres around the bomb disposal operation.
Around 750 local residents are being evacuated from an area of 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) around the bomb and the operation is expected to last up to five days.
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The navy divers will instead use a technique known as deflagration to burn the explosive charge without causing a detonation, using a remotely controlled device to pierce through the shell to begin combustion.
HOW IT ENDED UP IN THE BALTIC
During World War II, the area was home to one of the German navy's most important Baltic bases and the area was subjected to massive bombardments. The ship's cannons were being used to hold back the advance of the Red Army in the dying days of the war.
On April 16, 1945, the RAF sent 18 Lancaster bombers from the 617th Squadron -- known as the "Dambusters". The bombers released 12 Tallboys on the Lutzow but one failed to explode and one of the planes crashed on the island of Karsibor, killing all seven crew on board.
The ship survived the raid but was eventually seized by the Soviet army and used for target practice after the war. It eventually sank in the Baltic in September 1947.