When I talked to Guldin in December, after the first phase of the pilot was finished, he sketched a rough vision of what this work could look like in the non-far future. Robotic crawlers equipped with cameras, powerful lights, sonar and upgraded grab systems may be used to pick up ammunitions more efficiently than the platform -based cranes now used, and can work through all the time. With remote vehicles, shower places can also be tackled from various sides at the same time, something impossible to do from a fixed platform on the surface. And ordinance -specialists – skilled workers who do not deficit – may oversee most of the work remotely from offices in Hamburg, instead of spending days at sea.

Reality can still be a short distance from the way, but despite some problems – such as poor visibility under water and sometimes inadequate lighting, which is remotely made difficult through live images – most of the technology in the first tests worked approximately as planned. “There is definitely room for improvement, but fundamentally the concept and the idea that you can identify underwater and store it immediately in the transport gear,” said Wolfgang Sichermann, a fleet architect whose company, Seascape, oversaw the project On behalf of Germany’s environment ministry. The hope is to start designing the floating disposal facility in the coming months and then burning the first explosives at one time or another in 2026, Sichermann says.

Hands down?

When I visited the Seafra Barge in a cool but clear day last October, I talked to veteran-municipal-spread expert Michael Scheffler, who has been on board the platform in the nearby haffe back for a month. Coast, spent and carefully open heavy wood cracked crates in mud and mucus and packed with 20 mm canon rounds chased by Nazi Germany. In the morning, they had already examined about 5.8 tonnes of 20 mm rounds, grabbed the muck by mechanical grabs and underwater robots and then dragged aboard the platform.

Scheffler worked for decades as an expert on ammunition distribution, work he started while serving in the German army. But he has never fully understood the extent of the problem with the dumping of the ammunition – or previously thought to address the problem directly in a systematic way.

“I’ve been in work for 42 years now, and I’ve never had the opportunity to work on a project like this,” he told me. “What is being developed and investigated here in the pilot project is worth weight of gold for the future.”

Although Guldin, although it is also optimistic about the results of the pilot, warns that there are still boundaries to renounce how much technology can be renounced. The difficult, dangerous and sensitive work will sometimes still need practical expertise, at least for the foreseeable future. ‘There are restrictions to do a complete remote work on the seabed. Definitely, divers and eod [explosive ordnance disposal] Specialists on the seabed and on -site specialists, they will never go away, no way. ‘

If the initial cleanup effort is successful, there is hope that the technology can find ready buyers elsewhere-and not just around the Baltic ocean. Until the 1970s, military countries around the world pointed to the oceans as landfills for old ammunition.

But since there is no money to be earned in the burning of old air bombs, any boom in the disposal of underwater ammunition will depend on large investment in environmental recovery, which only rarely happens. “We can speed up the process and definitely be more effective,” says Guldin. “The only thing is that if you bring more resources to the field, it also means that someone has to pay for it. Do we have a government in the future that is willing to pay for it? I have my doubts, to be honest. “

“Two weeks ago I spoke to the Bahamas ambassador,” says Sichermann. “He said,” You are more than welcome to clean up everything the British sank in the 70s shortly before the Bahamas became independent. “But they expect you to bring in the money, not just the technology. For this reason, always see who is willing to finance it. However, seek the right financial supporters, and there will be a lot of potential work around the world, says Sichermann. “There is certainly no shortage of ammunition.”