Recognizing a possible bomb is separate from handling it safely. A delayed or apparently failed detonation does not justify allowing senior officers to tour the suspect vessel. Bomb-disposal practice assumes that a weapon is live until specialists have made and declared it safe. A shipwright and disposal team might not have found and defeated the concealed charge in time, but they could have restricted access, investigated the internal structure, and tried to tow the wreck away from the gate.
Notable Point · 2:01:08-2:02:32
Bomb disposal treats an unexploded weapon as live
An unexploded charge remains dangerous until specialists make it safe, so Campbeltown should have been isolated even if its fuse appeared to have failed.