Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
Zr. Ms. Zierikzee
Zr. Ms. Zierikzee - Credit: Photo: Defensie/Wikimedia Commons
Crime
Zr. Ms. Zierikzee
sea mine
North Sea
Borssele Windfarm
offshore wind farm
Vlissingen
WWI
WWII
Ministry of Defense
Wednesday, August 28, 2019 - 15:10
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Naval mines found at off-shore windmill site

Dutch Navy ship Zr. Ms. Zierikzee cleared away five naval mines from the North Sea this week. The explosives were found during preparatory work for new offshore wind farm Borssele Windfarm, which will be located 25 miles from Vlissingen, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

Construction on the wind farm will start early in October. Survey ships found the explosives while preparing the site for construction to begin.

The cleared away explosives included so-called LMB sea mines, which are German mines that were dropped from planes. According to the Ministry of Defense, these mines work acoustically, their explosion triggered by vibration. The crew also cleared away a British MK14, a large sea mine of around 500 pounds. Belgian naval ships BNS Bellis and BNS Narcis also cleared away a sea mine each. 

The Dutch and Belgian navies regularly still encounter sea mines and aircraft bombs from the First and Second World Wars in the North Sea. Due to the changing seabed, these explosives regularly reappear. As they still contain explosive material, they pose a danger to shipping traffic and infrastructure.

Since 2005 the Dutch Navy, working with the Ministry of Defense's explosive disposal department, cleared away over 1,300 explosives at sea. 

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • Youth care organizations struggle to send youth protectors to children on time
  • Almere residents fear they will pay for Floriade disappointment
  • Many Ukrainians must leave host families for shelters as summer vacation approaches
  • Criminal ring attempted to ship over 400,000 MDMA pills from Netherlands to Chile
  • Minister favors changing approach to life sentence pardon requests
  • Long lines at Eindhoven Airport, partly due to early arrivals

Top stories

  • Hundreds of passengers evacuated from stranded train; some NS delays on Sunday
  • Suspect apprehended after getting stolen camper stuck in Maas river
  • German police arrest Dutch man who mailed envelopes of drugs
  • Regional bus drivers strike in Groningen, Almere, Waalwijk
  • Extra Covid-19 measures not yet necessary: Van Dissel
  • Farmers demonstrate in many places, dump straw bale at minister's house

© 2012-2022, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content