Royal Navy crew will remove the masts and explosives from the sunken World War II ship that sank off Kent, carrying 1.400 tons.
The SS Richard Montgomery was a US Liberty Ship. It ran aground August 1944. Despite frantic efforts to remove the deadly cargo, the hull of the ship cracked and sank in Medway, Kent.
A new Ministry of Defence report states that it’s now possible for an explosion to cause a tsunami wave of 15ft height and to cause “mass damage or loss of life”
The Royal Navy is set to dismantle the masts from a sunken World War II wreck, SS Richard Montgomery, carrying 1,400 tons of unstable explosives, which sank off the coast of Kent in 1944
The SS Richard Montgomery ran aground on August 1944. Despite frantic efforts to get rid of its fatal cargo, its hull broke and sank off Medway (Kent).
A new Ministry of Defence report states that it’s possible for unexploded explosives to cause damage, loss of life and even a tsunami of 15 feet high.
The report also warned that the unexploded ordnance could cause damage to nearby oil and gas facilities in Sheerness.
A team of bomb disposal experts trained in specialist underwater demolitions will remove the ship’s masts during a two-month operation, according to the The Daily Telegraph.
This comes after fears that further decay to the sunken vessel could ‘trigger the unexploded ordnance’ and ‘throw a 300 metre-wide column of water and debris nearly 3,000 metres into the air and generate a wave 5 metres high’.
The 56ft wide vessel contains highly explosive Blockbuster bombs, which was the name given to several of the largest conventional bombs used in World War II by the Royal Air Force.
In the last survey by the Department of Transport, the ship’s three masts were found to be deteriorating and in a poor state.
According to reports, cracks within the vessel’s structure have increased. This could be a precursor to an explosion.
The wreck has a large exclusion zone around it and warning signs are attached to each of the three masts reading ‘Danger unexploded ammunition – do not approach or board this wreck’.
The Ministry of Defence had previously offered to pay £5million to any company that was able to safely remove the ship’s masts.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is responsible for monitoring the wreck and conducting regular surveys. It stated last year that the possibility of a major accident was’remote’.
According to the Ministry of Defence, an explosion could also cause serious damage to Sheerness’s nearby oil-and gas facilities.
Two-month operations will be conducted by a team consisting of specialists in underwater demolitions and bomb disposal. The crew will take down the masts.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency released a statement saying that masts could be putting undue strain upon the ship’s structure.
“In light of these facts, it was decided to try to reduce the heights of masts so that the integrity of the hull is maintained and the possibility of structural collapse.
“This is part the ongoing strategy to ensure the risk posed by the ship are adequately monitored, assessed, and managed.”
When the 1944 grounding and subsequent destruction of the cargo ship SS Richard Montgomery occurred, it was anchored in Sheerness, Kent.
According to section 2 of The Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 (the wreck has been designated), there is no entry zone around it.
A circle of buoys surround the vessel to alert shipping companies to avoid the wreck. The area is monitored 24 hours a day by radar from Medway Port.
What’s the SS Montgomery? Is it dangerous?
Built by the US Liberty Ships in 1943 for transporting cargo across Atlantic, The SS Richard Montgomery is a US Liberty Ship.
Convoy HX301 was a safe crossing of the Atlantic by the 7,200-ton vessel. The ship was then ordered to anchor at Sheerness.
The ship was loaded with approximately 71,000 tonnes of munitions. It was to be taken onboard to Cherbourg, where it would unload its cargo.
On August 20, 1944 the Montgomery pulled her anchor, and she ran aground at a sandbank about 250 meters from the Medway Approach Channel.
The SS Richard Montgomery (pictured) sank off Kent’s coast in 1944 with 7,000 tonnes of munitions. They were supposed to be transported to Cherbourg, France, for the invasion of Europe.
On August 20, 1944, the SS Richard Montgomery dragged her anchor and ran aground in a sandbank. Her hull was cracked and she started flooding.
Although a large salvage operation was initiated to remove the ship’s dangerous cargo, cracks quickly began to develop on the vessel’s hull. The forward area also began flooding within 24 hours.
The salvage operation was abandoned by September 25, after the whole vessel had been flooded.
Richard Montgomery was one among the 2,700 Liberty Ships built during World War II.