A Royal Navy Merlin helicopter from RNAS Culdrose was called into action yesterday evening after a suspected World War II grenade was discovered on the Isles of Scilly.

Police and coastguards were alerted at around 7.15pm on Tuesday on the island of St Martin’s after the object was discovered on the beach.

They in turn requested the assistance of the Royal Navy’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal experts from Plymouth.

A RNAS Culdrose spokesperson said: “RNAS Culdrose’s Merlin Helicopter Force was asked to transport the team to the islands as soon as possible.

“All three Merlin squadrons were taking part in night-flying training sorties yesterday evening and so a crew from 820 Naval Air Squadron was asked to transport the team.”

Before landing, the coastguard cleared a landing area in a St Martin field, and the Culdrose aviators quickly dropped off the bomb disposal team before continuing with their training flight.

The bomb which the coastguards believed was from the 1940s was destroyed in a controlled explosion.

The helicopter returned to St Martin, around an hour and a half later, to bring the team back to RNAS Culdrose.

This isn’t the first time this year that the Royal Navy has been called to detonate explosives found from WW2.

In February, Royal Navy divers were tasked to detonate a WW2 bomb in the Plymouth Sea.

The 500kg device which was found in a Plymouth resident's back garden was submerged under water before being detonated.