The discovery of what is thought to be a torpedo has prompted a warning to vessels on the Solent this morning (Friday).
It was late last night that a fishing vessel based out of Portsmouth dragged up the unexploded ordnance in its nets. The vessel had been going up and down the Solent between East Cowes and Ryde.
The authorities were alerted to the shocking find and it’s understood that Royal Navy Bomb Disposals experts were deployed to the vessel overnight.
Warnings have been given that a large, unexploded piece of ordnance is now laying on the seabed close to Ryde Pier.
UPDATE @ 08:28 – It’s understood that a detonation was witnessed off Ryde Sands at first light this morning. Confirmation is being sought.
UPDATE @ 08:56 – It has now been confirmed that the ordnance was a SC500 bomb, dropped by the Germans during World War II. Due to its size, it was initially feared to be a torpedo.
It had been laying in the Solent for over 75 years but has been destroyed by means of a controlled explosion. The explosion took place at 07:10.
In a statement, a spokesperson for HM Coastguard has said:
“We received a call from a fishing vessel 1.5 nautical miles off Ryde, at 19:23 yesterday evening (23 September) after it hauled a suspected a piece of ordnance (approx. 2-4ft long) onto its deck.
“The Royal Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal team were called and on arrival confirmed that the item was an air dropped ordnance.
“An exclusion zone was put in place, the ordnance was lowered back onto the sea bed and a controlled detonation was carried out at 7:10 this morning”.
https://twitter.com/FleetDivingSqn/status/1441437040772534276
What! no picci of the big bang! Someone must have one.
We were swimming In Seaview just after 7, we saw the biggest fountain of water ever, followed by a loud boom. It’s good to know what it was l: