Efforts to remove and detonate unexploded ordnance from four sunken iron ore carriers torpedoed by German U-Boats off Bell Island during WWII have wrapped up, with 50 per cent of the potentially explosive ammo removed.

Work by the Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces has officially ended, as originally planned.

Of the four ships, the ordinance on the S.S. Rose Castle and S.S. Saganaga have all been cleared and disposed of, for a total of 82 rounds and two boxes of .303 bullets.

Due to several days of poor weather and sea conditions that delayed diving operations, and unforeseen difficulty in accessing some of the undetonated ordnance on the wrecks, not all four sites could be cleared this year.

The clearance on the other two will have to continue at a later date.