One of the Tallboy bombs dropped during the raid which sank the Lutzow on 16th April 1945 in the canal between the Baltic and a lagoon near Świnoujście (formerly Swinemunde) Poland, exploded during defusing operations producing a spectacular waterspout.
617 Squadron, the famous Dambuster squadron, made several attempts to get at the ship which was bombarding advancing Russian forces, but were frustrated by cloud. On the day, the sky was perfectly clear and only Lutzow's accurate flak affected the bombing run at 14-16,000ft by 18 Lancasters. Only one aircraft was shot down and all the crew killed, though some others were damaged. Koope and Schmolke say two 1000lb direct hits failed to explode, but 12 of 18 aircraft were dropping 12,000lb Tallbuoys, the weapon which had sunk the Tirpitz. A near miss with one of these "earthquake" weapons tore open 30m of the ship's side, causing an initial extreme list. The ship seems to have settled on the bottom with decks above the water surface, subsequent salvage work righted her sufficiently for A turret to be reactivated.
As this very site records: http://www.kbismarck.com/deutschland-lutzow.html
A few days later, after expending the last of her ammunition the vessel was blown up. There seems to be mystery as to the ultimate fate of the wreck which was salvaged, and seems to have been used as a target by the Soviet navy in the Baltic.16 April 1945: Attacked by 18 Lancaster bombers in Swinemünde. The ship is heavily damaged by the near-miss of a Tallboy bomb and sinks in shallow water, but the hull comes to rest on an even keel with all superstructure above water.
28 April 1945: Turret "A" is put back in service and still fires over 300 x 28cm shells on the Soviets.
The Tallbuoy remained unsuspected in the mud of the former "Kaiserfart" canal (German is good for jokes!) within a few metres of a busy car ferry route until discovered, buried deep in the mud. A Polish team were attempting to defuse it by burning away the explosive using an ROV, after evacuating the area, but it exploded. Luckily no one was hurt.
For those, like me, unaware that burning away explosive was an accepted technique the team leader gave the following explanation:
All the bestBut in the end "the deflagration process turned into a detonation," Lewandowski said, adding that "there had been no risk to the individuals directly involved."
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