Operation 'Highball' in Loch Striven

‘Highball’ was the military codename for bouncing bombs developed by Sir Barnes Wallis to be used against ships.

Bouncing bombs would skip across the water like a skimming stone and then sink alongside the target before exploding at a set depth. Highballs were a naval version of the 'Upkeep' bouncing bombs successfully used in Operation Chastise against German hydro-electric dams in WW2. The lighter highballs could be dropped further from the target allowing the bomber to turn away from the target more rapidly.

More than 200 of the spherical bombs were tested at Loch Striven. Three Mosquito planes flying from RAF Turnberry used a former French battleship, the Courbet as practice for their intended target, the Tirpitz battleship moored in a Norwegian fjord.

The Tirpitz was eventually sank by midget submarines and the highballs were expected to be used against Japanese warships when the war came to an end. Never used operationally, the prototype bombs did not contain any explosives, making them easier to salvage. It nevertheless took seven year of planning for the members of the East Cheshire Sub-Aqua Club and the Royal Navy to finally lift two of them, now on show in two English war museums.

More information on visiting the area can be found here.