An unexploded German World War II 500 kg bomb was found on the seabed in Portsmouth Harbor yesterday.
The device was located by a barge carrying out dredging works ahead of the arrival of the Navy’s new 65,000 tonne aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, next spring.
Royal Navy bomb disposal experts have towed the device into open waters 1.5 miles east of the Isle of Wight to dispose of the device in a controlled explosion.
The controlled explosion is likely to be carried out today, according to the Royal Navy.
The shell was found by Boskalis Westminster, which has been contracted by the Defense Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) to carry out the £31 million dredging program.
This project, in the Portsmouth Naval Base, includes capital dredging of the approaches, harbor entrance, turning basin and berth pocket.
The works are being undertaken using a combination of backhoe dredgers, trailing suction hopper dredgers and crane barges from the Boskalis fleet.
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