Did you know that a World War II torpedo was fished out of the sea this summer?

A German torpedo being loaded onboard a submarine in World War II
(Photo: one35th.com)

Even now, 80 years after World War II, it’s not uncommon in Europe to find unexploded ordnance from the conflict. This summer, it was a Danish fishing crew who pulled up a scary catch from the sea: an unexploded German torpedo.

Danish fisherman René Kloster, captain of the St. Anthony, caught the torpedo a few miles off the Jutland peninsula on July 1. His Facebook post that day said: "It's not entirely harmless to be a fisherman. This morning we caught this torpedo about eight meters long (26 feet) and approximately 2,500 kg (2.7 tons). It will be detonated 5km (3.1 miles) off the channel tonight." The torpedo was handed over to Danish military and detonated 65 ft (20 m) underwater by a remote device.

The unexploded torpedo being hauled aboard the St. Anthony
(Photo: René Kloster)

There is no news on the exact type of the torpedo, but it was either from the G7a or G7e series, both used by Germany in the war. G7a torpedoes were a steam-powered design: they had good speed and endurance, but, like all similar torpedoes, were very noisy and left a long wake of bubbles that made it easy to spot during daytime. It was eventually replaced by the G7e family of electrical torpedoes. These were simple and cheap to manufacture, and made no noise or bubbles. On the downside, they were slower, less reliable and had a shorter range.