A controlled explosion has been carried out following the discovery of an unexploded German bomb from World War Two on the seabed of Portsmouth Harbour.

An unexploded bomb, which was dropped by the Germans in World War Two, has been destroyed by the Royal Navy.

The device was discovered by the crew of a dredging barge on 29 September 2016 on the seabed of Portsmouth Harbour.

It was carrying out the work as part of preparations for the arrival of the Royal Navy’s new Queen Elizabeth class carriers – the first is due to arrive in the spring.

The bomb, which is reported to weigh 500kg (1,100lb), was towed out to sea last night by disposal experts.

It was then detonated early this morning around 1.5 miles east of the Isle of Wight.

In a statement, a spokesman for the Royal Navy said: “A dive at 1130 today (30 September 2016) confirmed that the device was in fact detonated at 0700 this morning.”

“There was no plume at 0700 which led the RN bomb disposal team to believe that a second controlled explosion was necessary.”

“Therefore, no images are available,” concluded the spokesman.

Earlier, the Royal Navy had stated that the controlled explosion would take place between 10am-11am.

The discovery of the device led to the evacuation of shops and restaurants at Portsmouth’s Gunwharf Quays last night. Members of the public were told they had to leave the site by 11pm.

However, there was little disruption to harbour traffic.

The Ministry of Defence is spending £100 million to ready Portsmouth for the arrival of the new aircraft carriers.

New navigational lights are being installed as part of the infrastructure work.

The  280-metre HMS Queen Elizabeth, which will arrive in spring, will be the biggest and most powerful ship in the Royal Navy’s history.

The dredging of the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour is being carried out to Boskalis Westminster Ltd.