PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Bomb Disposal: Seas and Oceans (22 February 2021)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many underwater munitions disposals his Department has performed in each of the last five years in the waters surrounding the UK; and what proportion of those disposals involved (a) high order detonations and (b) low order deflagarations.

Asked by:
Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat)

The Royal Navy’s Area Diving Groups, part of the Fleet Diving Squadron, are responsible for the disposal of underwater ordnance along the UK coastline, up to 12 nautical miles offshore. In the last five years they have conducted the following numbers of underwater demolitions involving High Order detonation of munitions at sea. No Low Order detonations were conducted.

Year	Operational tasks
2020	4
2019	7
2018	13
2017	18
2016	18

Answered by:
James Heappey (Conservative)
25 February 2021