45,000 to evacuate Koblenz, Germany, for defusing of WWII-era bomb

[MothBalls]

The bomb, packed with 3,000 pounds of explosives and believed to have been dropped by the British Royal Air Force, was discovered in the Rhine River after water levels dropped recently because of a lack of rain, Stars and Stripes reported.

The bomb, which officials said was one of the largest unexploded bombs ever found, was discovered along with other unexploded ordnance in the river.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-Ne...6461322754357/

I wouldn't want to be the EOD guy trying to diffuse this thing. I guess exploding it isn't an option because of the damage it would cause. The story said it would blow out windows in a 1/2 mile radius.

[Schroeder]

They find dud bombs in Germany pretty much every day, but I've never heard of such a large one before.

I wonder how much stuff is still buried in the ground.

[Platapus]

EOD could either burn it in place or render it safe with an explosive tool.

If it has not gone off after almost 70 years of being affected by currents and other factors, it is unlikely to go off.

From the crappy description (lack of) in the article, the bomb may be the AN-M56 light case bomb. It is the only one with an explosive load near 3,000 pounds (assuming the reporter knew what he or she was talking about. The only information in the various articles is the weight of the bomb. But the "weight" can mean different things.

If if is an AN-M56, it is actually an American bomb used by the RAF so the technical information will be available to EOD. It may be equipped with both a nose fuze (M-102) and a base fuze (M-103), neither of which would give EOD much problem.

Woot! Finally a reason I saved my EOD manuals. I knew they would come in handy one of these days!

The problem seems to be that it appears from the article that German civilian EOD will be working on this instead of military EOD.

City officials said Wednesday they were still planning how to defuse the bomb.
Explosive ordnance disposal troops from the 21st Theater Sustainment Command in Grafenwoehr and Mannheim will be available to provide support if necessary, a 21st TSC spokeswoman said.

Don't know if that will be a good idea. If they were smart, they would contract with British EOD to come over and render it safe. Brit EOD are pretty damn good


What the need to do is find the people of the British Ordnance Collectors Network www.bocn.co.uk They would know if anyone would

[Kongo Otto]

Originally Posted by Platapus

The problem seems to be that it appears from the article that German civilian EOD will be working on this instead of military EOD.

Thats because of the federal structure of Germany and the Allied Occupation both established after WW2.
All the EX-Wehrmacht EOD teams had to be put somewhere, as there was no german Army after WW2.
Every German State has them, its called Kampfmittelräumdienst (iirc its called Bomb disposal unit in english) so they belong to the German Police force, also there are private Companies (mostly Ex Military EOD) in Bavaria which are on the behalf of the Bavarian Government and in Hamburg the Bomb disposal unit is part of the Fire department.

[merc4ulfate]

I saw a photo of the bomb partially out of the water ... the drop in the river that day made it easy to see ... it looked like one of the old dma busting bombs the English used during WW2

http://bdnpull.bangorpublishing.netd...01-600x399.jpg

[Oberon]

It was a Blockbuster bomb.



The 4000lb variety to be precise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockbuster_bomb

No wonder they evacuated so many people, those things are meant to take out city blocks, hence the name.

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by Schroeder

They find dud bombs in Germany pretty much every day, but I've never heard of such a large one before.

I wonder how much stuff is still buried in the ground.

Germany finds about 2,000 tons of unexploded ordnance a year. A lot of the stuff found is being found in what was East Germany.

We dropped a lot of boomy things on Germany during our last disagreement.

[gimpy117]

Imagine the bricks being Shat by the poor guys who have to defuse it

[Cohaagen]

I doubt it's an American bomb. 3000lb is the explosive content of one of the RAF's own "Cookie" designs - the AN M56 is actually a copy of it. There's no guarantee it's safe either. Several bomb disposal techs were killed defusing a similar-sized weapon in Germany a year or two ago.

Also, I suspect British EOD are rather more familiar with making safe German bombs, for obvious reasons, and I hate to think how desperate the German army would have to be before they got in touch with a load of ordnance collectors!

[Platapus]

Be nice if the press would publish a picture of the bomb. That would clear it up. The key would be fins.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Schroeder

They find dud bombs in Germany pretty much every day, but I've never heard of such a large one before.

I wonder how much stuff is still buried in the ground.

Your forgetting the Tallboy (12,000 lbs)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallboy_(bomb)

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Your forgetting the Tallboy (12,000 lbs)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallboy_(bomb)

And let's also not forge the Grand Slam (22,000 lbs)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_bomb

[Oberon]

Yeah, but I think Schroeder means that it's the largest UXB he's heard of.

I think we've found most of the presents from the Luftwaffe here, but some stuff crop up from time to time, one got dredged up by a fishing boat a few years back just offshore from here. Made a rather hefty bang when they detonated it.
Half of the UXO around here though is British or American.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by CCIP

And let's also not forge the Grand Slam (22,000 lbs)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_bomb

I had actually

[Herr-Berbunch]

Originally Posted by Platapus

If they were smart, they would contract with British EOD to come over and render it safe. Brit EOD are pretty damn good.

Yep, but they still can't go through red lights with their blue lights flashing and sirens blaring.

Originally Posted by Cohaagen

Also, I suspect British EOD are rather more familiar with making safe German bombs, for obvious reasons, and I hate to think how desperate the German army would have to be before they got in touch with a load of ordnance collectors!

The current crop of EOD guys are experienced with both side's bombs, as they are often employed to visit disused bombing ranges in the UK. Nowadays only practice bombs are used on mainland ranges but this wasn't always the case...

Hang on... found it -

The vast majority of the RAF's EOC is conducted by 5131 (BD) Squadron (the rest by STC Non-Formed Unit EOD personnel) and the burden in terms of manpower and expense has been significant. Since the mid-1990s, the Squadron has been clearing five permanently manned sites located around the UK: Braidfell near Stranraer, Chilmark near Salisbury, Cowden near Hull, Goswick Sands near Berwick-upon-Tweed, and Theddlethorpe near the Humber Estuary. With the exception of RAF Chilmark (a former Explosive Storage Area) the sites are former Air Weapons Ranges, established during the Second World War and continued in use until shortly before clearance commenced. The sites have proved extremely costly to clear and are, on average, only around 30% complete.

(Source)