Explosion of an X-Craft charge found in Kåfjord

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José M. Rico
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Explosion of an X-Craft charge found in Kåfjord

Post by José M. Rico »

Antonio Bonomi posted this on Facebook:
Impressive explosion of an X-Craft charge found in KaaFjord after 65 years. This was one of the 6 charges (4 did explode) used to attack the Tirpitz on September 22nd, 1943. Now you can imagine what at least 4 of those made to the Tirpitz exploding under her hull and lifting up the German battleship.
Click on the following link to see video:

http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/trom ... /1.7653735
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RF
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Re: Explosion of an X-Craft charge found in Kåfjord

Post by RF »

Quite an explosion - at what depth?

With the passage of time would not the size of explosion be reduced by the degrading of the amatol?
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lwd
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Re: Explosion of an X-Craft charge found in Kåfjord

Post by lwd »

From what I've read the effect of aging on explosives can be rather unpredicatable. In some cases the same explosive may be rendered inert or actually more powerful and/or more sensative. Different ones react differently to time and conditions as well. I would hesitate to make any firm hypothesis on the effects of aging on that particular charge. I know I wouldn't want to handle it or have it handled anywhere near me however.
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Re: Explosion of an X-Craft charge found in Kåfjord

Post by Olaf »

After a couple of years in a German minesweeper squadron I can tell you that they simply blow the mine/charge into pieces. The explosion you see is from the charge set by the diver, not necessarily the old and possibly rotten mine/charge. It looks impressive, no doubt, but it just makes a neat headline in newspapers, nothing more.

Happy blasting ~ Olaf!
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paul.mercer
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Re: Explosion of an X-Craft charge found in Kåfjord

Post by paul.mercer »

Olaf wrote:After a couple of years in a German minesweeper squadron I can tell you that they simply blow the mine/charge into pieces. The explosion you see is from the charge set by the diver, not necessarily the old and possibly rotten mine/charge. It looks impressive, no doubt, but it just makes a neat headline in newspapers, nothing more.

Happy blasting ~ Olaf!
Gentlemen,
That last post is quite interesting, a pal of mine was in the RN mine disposal team at Plymouth and I asked him about the methods of disposal, particularly after a couple of televised magnetic mine disposals off Plymouth which showed a reletivley small expolosion followed by a mighty big one. he said the small explosion was the demolition charge and the big one was often the mine going up, even after 60+ years under water. he also said that some of the German fuzes that he had extracted were still in excellent condition with the clock still able to work which was a tribute to the thoroughness of the German engineering.
He added, no bomb or mine is ever considered to be safe, no matter how old it was.
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Re: Explosion of an X-Craft charge found in Kåfjord

Post by Olaf »

Thanks Paul for that, maybe our divers used larger demolition charges (thanks for the term!), maybe that's why we never saw two distinct explosions ... hmmm ... something to think about (and you never know what they really blew up. One problem was to clearly identify a mine (or whatever). It could be just an empty oil barrel (or whatever) but it was always considered as something dangerous, just in case...). Fuzes and clocks in excellent condition? Ever heard the line 'Made in Germany'? HA! (Sorry for that, couldn't resist ...)

Happy discussing ~ Olaf!
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Terje Langoy
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Post by Terje Langoy »

G´day all

I´ve been snoopin around in various norweigan sites, Robert, but unfortunately could not find any mention of the specific depth for this Amatol charge when being disarmed. I can however tell you the charge was not blown up in situ but actually transported further into the fjord, this to avoid damage to nearby fish farms, triggering rockslides from the mountainside etc.

That job alone required two days; examine the charge, removing parts of the bomb hull for better access, building a frame for transportation. Once the charge had been relocated work began on detaching parts of historical value for closer inspection, parts such as the detonator tubes. These tubes did not come off easy, they eventually had to use small blast charges to separate them from the motherload ... this while running the risk of setting off the main charge.

http://forsvaret.no/aktuelt/publisert/n ... gning.aspx

The video did not play but the slideshow below displayed some interesting images, such as the recovered detonator tubes.

The demolition charge deployed for the final explosion weighed in at some 25 kg, if someone should hold an interest in that particular detail. However as I stated initially the depth set for the final explosion is still not known thus the water column by itself tell very little other than the detonation likely taking place in fairly shallow water. I´ve seen such water columns several times during my service as I´m sure Olaf has too. In those cases we were clearing World War Two mines, (magnetic bottom mines, if my memory serves me correct) none of them a monster like this.


Kind regards
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Re: Explosion of an X-Craft charge found in Kåfjord

Post by RF »

Thanks Terje.
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