A large torpedo found on the Scapa Flow seabed has been destroyed after a daring three day mission by Royal Navy divers. The device was initially discovered during a routine survey in the waters off Orkney last week with a 100 metre exclusion zone immediately put in place.
A five-strong Explosive Ordnance Disposal team travelled 400-miles north from their base at Faslane to reach the scene on Friday. Charlie Squadron’s Chief Petty Officer (Diver) Roy Edwards told how the mission was made more difficult due to the explosive lying perilously close to an oil pipeline.
He said: “It was a challenging task. The suspected ordnance was located 210 metres from an oil pipeline and the weather was also an issue with a sea state 2-3 and wind gusting at 20 knots. The torpedo was very degraded, and we needed to move it to a safe location, away from the pipeline, before it could be safely disposed of.
