A massive bomb known as Tallboy that was dropped by British air forces has dramatically exploded after it was discovered to be lying at the bottom of a canal in Poland.

Known as an “earthquake” bomb, the 5.4-ton Tallboy packed a massive 2.4 tons of explosives – equivalent to roughly 3.6 tons of TNT – and was dropped by Royal Air Force pilots (RAF) in an attack on the Nazi German heavy cruiser Lützow during the final weeks of the war in April 1945.

The RAF deployed several Lancaster bombers from its “Dambusters” squadron to drop a dozen Tallboys on the Lützow, but one of the bombs failed to detonate.

The ship sank but managed to survive the attack in the final days of the war as a stationary gun battery versus advancing Soviet forces before it was finally captured and scrapped a few years after the war.

The bomb was discovered last year at a depth of 39 feet (12 meters) with its nose popping out when the area surrounding the port city of Swinoujscie, near the Baltic Sea, was being dredged.

#Tallboy, the largest unexploded #WWII bomb detonated