# Just How destructive is a WWII German bomb? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 5, 2003, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-destructive-is-a-wwii-german-bomb/217156 "2003-12-05T15:02:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-destructive-is-a-wwii-german-bomb/217156/21 "2003-12-10T12:37:25Z")
There is supposed to a be sunken WW2 American amunition ship lying in the Thames estuary. Because of the dangerous state of the cargo no attempt has been made to recover the ship or contents. Ships just have to sail round it. I have only found one passing reference to this ship on Google but I think that it is a true story. It is estimated that if this ship ever explodes it will take out most windows in Southend on Sea and probably wreck some buildings.Mind you it couldn’t happen to a nicer place. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-destructive-is-a-wwii-german-bomb/217156/22 "2003-12-10T12:43:12Z")
That would cause POUNDS worth of damage! I remember being told (by a bloke in a pub - the best source there is) that if Canvey Island ever blew up it would be not dissimilar to a nuke going off. This could of course be total 'nads. ---
**Author:** ![Spiny\_Norman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-destructive-is-a-wwii-german-bomb/217156/23 "2003-12-10T14:02:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Paul in Saudi \* > \*\*You have to wonder what Berlin must be like, it was bombed more heavily than London. \*\* Not exactly Berlin, but I used to work in a part of Hamburg that was targeted heavily during “Operation Gomorra” (says it all, doesn’t it ?) - near the docks. The area was undergoing a lot of construction - the 1950s somewhat quick-and-dirty postwar construction being replaced by modern office buildings. Lots of foundations going deeper than those of the previous buildings… Finding WWII ordnance was enough of a routine event that it hardly merited a news story, except if it was an exceptional heavy bomb or if the evacuation blocked traffic for longer than usual. The UXO disposal crews, charmingly known as the “Himmelfahrtskommando” - lit., “Ascension Command” (as in, one mistake and you’re sky- as well as heaven-bound) are extremely competent, though. But even so, on average two WWII pieces of ordnance per year detonate within the city limits. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-destructive-is-a-wwii-german-bomb/217156/24 "2003-12-10T14:14:45Z")
A bit of a sideways leap here:- I have read that the Tirpitz which is sjunk in a fjord in Njorway, is now a threat as it is leaking oil. Now if a pocket battleship were to blow up… ---
**Author:** ![Barks\_dog\_food](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@Barks\_dog\_food](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barks_dog_food)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-destructive-is-a-wwii-german-bomb/217156/25 "2003-12-10T16:42:38Z")
Tirpitz was cut up for scrap after it was sunk in shallow waters. You’re probarbly thinking about the heavy cruiser Blücher which was sunk in the Oslofjord. I think an amunition ship had much more explosives aboard then a battleship so the explosion would be smaller. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-destructive-is-a-wwii-german-bomb/217156/26 "2003-12-10T17:03:11Z")
Another big bang waiting to happen is located on the French/ Belgium border , near the town of Ypres. This is one of a series of underground tunnels which were dug under German lines and packed with explosives , to be detonated at the start of a battle. Two of these ‘mines’ were not set off and the records about them were lost. In 1955 , after the ground was struck by lightning , one exploded but there is another one out there waiting to go off. If you are thinking of buying land in that area , be very careful !. This link gives more details :- [http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-battles/ww1/france/messines.htm](http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-battles/ww1/france/messines.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Mad\_Matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Mad\_Matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mad_Matt)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-destructive-is-a-wwii-german-bomb/217156/27 "2003-12-10T17:08:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rayne Man \* > \*\*There is supposed to a be sunken WW2 American amunition ship lying in the Thames estuary. Because of the dangerous state of the cargo no attempt has been made to recover the ship or contents. Ships just have to sail round it. I have only found one passing reference to this ship on Google but I think that it is a true story. It is estimated that if this ship ever explodes it will take out most windows in Southend on Sea and probably wreck some buildings.Mind you it couldn’t happen to a nicer place. 😉 \*\* I’ve heard of this. I’m trying to get the name of the ship at the moment - it has involved several phone calls, including a transatlantic call, so far. I live in Southend-on-Sea, within 100 yards of the seafront. Even so I have to agree that a bomb blast could only improve the place 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-destructive-is-a-wwii-german-bomb/217156/28 "2003-12-10T17:46:29Z")
Wow. You’re not talking about the [SS Richard Montgomery](http://www.ronangel.demon.co.uk/images/THE%20RICHARD%20MONTGOMERY.htm), are you? > [@](#): > > Estimates vary as to the exact amount of explosives left on board and scattered across the sea bed. No exact records were kept during the war time salvage operation. It is thought that around half her cargo still remains, perhaps from 1,200 tons to 3,000 tons of munitions containing TNT which does not deteriorate in sea water. I found a picture of it about halfway down [this page](http://www.armed-guard.com/ag24.html). There are numerous other articles out there. One states that the munitions were stored on one deck of the ship and the explosives were stored beneath them. When a storm caused the ship to break apart, the detonators fell amongst the munitions, making it too dangerous to continue the recovery. There’s a significant difference between this shipwreck and UXBs you find in cities which were the target of aerial bombardment. UXBs are presumed to be _armed_ munitions, with detonators, while the _Montomery_’s cargo was not primed for combat use. That makes the probability of an explosion somewhat smaller for the _Montgomery_, but it is still a non-zero probability. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-destructive-is-a-wwii-german-bomb/217156/29 "2003-12-10T17:48:30Z")
My bad. The _detonators_ were kept on one deck, and the _munitions_ were stowed beneath. ---
**Author:** ![Mad\_Matt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Mad\_Matt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mad_Matt)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-destructive-is-a-wwii-german-bomb/217156/30 "2003-12-10T18:19:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sofa King \* > **Wow. You’re not talking about the [SS Richard Montgomery](http://www.ronangel.demon.co.uk/images/THE%20RICHARD%20MONTGOMERY.htm), are you?** That’s the one! Thanks, **Sofa King**. Looks at location: _Playground of the Damned_… Hey, you aren’t from Southend too, are you? 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-destructive-is-a-wwii-german-bomb/217156.md?page=1)