Over 600 WW2 bombs on Norfolk seabed set to be exploded
It would be in preparation for the creation of three huge wind farm projects
More than 600 unexploded Second World War bombs lying on the seabed off the Norfolk coast could be exploded in preparation for the creation of three huge wind farm projects.
Energy firm RWE has applied for two licences to investigate a vast area stretching out into the North Sea from Sea Palling and Mundesley.
Before construction work can begin, it must make sure vessels and equipment will not be endangered by the potentially volatile objects lying at the bottom of the sea.
If approved, remotely operated vehicles will be used to scour about 40,000 metres of seabed in order to identify potential explosives, which are within a 50m buffer zone of the proposed wind turbines and cable routes.
Currently, 636 unexploded objects have been identified through a survey but more could be found during the investigation.
There are then a range of options, including detonating the bombs and mines, routing cables around them or relocating them, if deemed safe to do so.
The expedition is being carried out for the Norfolk Boreas, Norfolk Vanguard East and Norfolk Vanguard West offshore wind farm projects being developed by RWE – a German energy firm which acquired the schemes from Vattenfall earlier this year.
The investigation work is being carried out together as the wind farms will share a cable route.
Some of the hundreds of Second World War bombs are located in an area covered by a Sabelleria reef, which provides an important habitat to many marine creatures.
There is a risk that the reef could be disturbed due to the investigation work.
It may be decades since the conflict but these bombs and mines, scattered by German and Allied forces during the Second World War, continue to pose a risk to life.
In 2020, crew members on a crabbing boat off the coast of Cromer suffered injuries after a crab pot string disturbed a German bomb which had lain dormant for eight decades.
And last year, a bomb caused hold-ups to another infrastructure project nearer to home, when work on Great Yarmouth’s Herring Bridge was delayed by the discovery of a German Second World War device on the riverbed nearby.
If the licences are approved, engineers could begin hunting for the hundreds of bombs within months.
They could vary in weight from 50kg German bombs to 987kg German parachute mines.
Dangers in the deep
On the morning of December 15, 2020, the Galwad-Y-Mor was crabbing 20 nautical miles north of Cromer when a blast, caused by old munitions on the sea bed, threw the boat out of the water.
Five crew members were knocked to the deck, and the boat started to fill with water.
Captain Mulhearn, in the wheelhouse, took a strong blow to the head. He also suffered three broken vertebrae, a broken sternum, knee damage, a broken orbital bone and multiple face lacerations.
Despite this he found the emergency handheld VHF radio amid the debris and sent a distress message to both the coastguard and the boat’s sister vessel, Ingenuity.
Realising his crew was still in danger and with the help of a crew member, Mr Mulhearn launched the vessel’s life raft, before ordering the crew to change from their personal floatation devices into lifejackets and prepare to abandon ship.
All six crew members were eventually picked up by two boats operating from an offshore support vessel, the Esvagt Njord, which services Equinor’s Dudgeon wind farm north of Cromer.
RNLI Cromer’s all-weather Tamar class lifeboat was also called in to help.
The crew included two UK nationals and five Latvians – all of them were hurt in the blast, with one of the crewmen losing sight in one of their eyes.
Courageous Mr Mulhearn was presented with the Emile Robin Award by the Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society. Tragically, he died two years later.