Hundreds of homes in Falmouth, Cornwall, were evacuated in September after a suspected 250-pound American bomb from the Second World War was found in the water near Falmouth Docks. A diver discovered the unexploded device on 21st September, and the exclusion zone was widened two days later. More than 300 homes were cleared by 23rd September, and residents returned that afternoon after the bomb was safely removed from the docks. Final disposal in deep water well out at sea was planned for several days later, once divers could return.
The BBC reported that emergency services were called to Falmouth Docks at a quarter past nine in the morning on Monday 21st September. A suspected air-dropped bomb of about 250 pounds, or 115 kilograms, had been found in the water. Tom Bolt of Falmouth Coastguard told the BBC that a diver came across the device and alerted the coastguard. The Ministry of Defence was called in, and experts assessed the situation and confirmed what it was. South West News Service reporter Filipa Gaspar wrote that police clarified the unexploded device found in the water near the docks was believed to be a 250-pound, or 113-kilogram, American air-dropped bomb from the Second World War. She added that authorities had earlier reported its weight as 250 kilograms rather than pounds.
The BBC said a 300-metre exclusion zone was put in place on Tuesday and expanded to 755 metres on Wednesday. Residents of more than 300 homes were asked to leave before nine o’clock in the morning, ahead of the bomb being moved. The broadcaster said the evacuation involved about 2,000 people. South West News Service reported that the zone took effect at nine o’clock on Wednesday morning and covered multiple postcodes. It said the estimate of 339 homes was about 1,000 fewer than the 1,300 first estimated, when the cordon was set at 1.4 kilometres. The cordon had been reduced at seven o’clock the previous evening. Emergency services, council staff and volunteers knocked on doors to help residents leave. Superintendent Ian Thompson, policing commander for West Cornwall, put the figure at some 336 households. Both outlets reported that the operation involved 81 police officers and staff, along with 113 volunteers and colleagues from partner agencies.
Lieutenant Commander Ben Brown, commanding officer of the Bravo Diving Squadron, told the BBC that the bomb was an American device with a 144-hour delay chemical fuse. He said contact with the device could have set that fuse off. It lay on the seabed in about 20 metres of water, with a 500-metre exclusion zone around it. Brown said: “This device is unusual, and we must now wait for a further six days.” After the wait, divers would attach a small charge to complete the disposal. South West News Service reported that the bomb was first moved to a safer location within the docks before being removed for disposal. Cornwall Council confirmed before four o’clock in the afternoon on Wednesday that the device had been safely removed from Falmouth Docks. The cordon was lifted, and residents were allowed home. The council said the bomb would be disposed of in deep water well out at sea, with nothing to see or hear from the shore. The reports reviewed for this article did not confirm that the final disposal had been completed.
The BBC reported that All Saints’ Church in Falmouth served as a help centre, where displaced residents were given tea, coffee and somewhere to sit. Folk singer Will Keating, one of those asked to leave home, sang and played guitar to lift spirits. Jean Elsie, aged 92, said she had lived through the war in south London and did not mind much. Maureen Gill, aged 89, had assumed the closed road was for roadworks until she heard the news on the radio. Thalia Marrington, the Cornwall councillor responsible for public safety, called the removal of the device “the news everyone wanted to hear”, according to South West News Service. She thanked military specialists, emergency services, council teams and volunteers, as well as residents and businesses for their patience during a worrying and disruptive time. Superintendent Thompson confirmed that all cordons had been lifted and that the multi-agency operation had concluded. He thanked the Falmouth community for its patience and praised the skill and bravery of the military bomb disposal experts.
It is not known for certain why the bomb ended up there. Catriona Pennell, a professor of modern history and memory studies at the University of Exeter, told the BBC that an American aircraft might have jettisoned it, either because of a technical fault or an abandoned mission. Another possibility is that it rolled off a ship unloading at the docks. She noted that large aircraft such as the Liberator were designed to hunt German submarines in the Atlantic, and that a bomb like this was built to destroy them.
