On 20 August 1944 , an American cargo ship named SS Richard Montgomery carrying huge amount of explosives , meant for purpose inwards the ongoing Second World War , ran aground on a sandbank inwards the Thames Estuary , nigh the town of Sheerness , inwards England. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 salve functioning was launched , but earlier the ship’s cargo could endure recovered inwards its entirety , the ship broke inwards one-half together with sank.
To this twenty-four hr catamenia , the wreck of SS Richard Montgomery rest inwards house , lying inwards the shallow waters of the estuary most 2.5 km from Sheerness. The masts of the ship tin hand the sack nevertheless endure seen to a higher house water. Buoys float nigh her carrying warning signs that state: “Danger – Unexploded ammunition. Do non approach or board this wreck.”
The wreck of SS Richard Montgomery poking out of the H2O nigh Sheerness , inwards England.
SS Richard Montgomery was a Liberty ship—a type of low-cost , cargo ship that was mass-produced inwards the USA during World War II. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 Liberty ship could carry troops equally good equally cargo , together with could endure constructed inwards equally few equally 42 days. Altogether , unopen to 2 ,710 Liberty ships were built for the state of war sweat , constituting the largest pose out of ships always produced of a unmarried design.
Named later on an Irish Gaelic soldier who was killed during the American Revolution , SS Richard Montgomery set sheet from Hog Island , Philadelphia , loaded amongst to a greater extent than than vi ,000 tons of munitions. She travelled from the Delaware River to the Thames Estuary , together with then anchored piece awaiting the formation of a convoy which would together with then move to France.
It was piece waiting inwards the Thames Estuary for the convoy to brand it , SS Richard Montgomery started to drift towards the sandbank , unknown to the ship’s captain who was reportedly asleep at the time. For reasons unknown , the ship's principal officeholder on duty failed to warning the captain together with the ship ran aground. Once the tide went out , the weight of the ship’s cargo became besides much for her hull to behave together with the ship broke her back. She settled on the sand banks nigh the Isle of Sheppey , 2.5 km from the coast of Sheerness.
According to unopen to guess , the ship nevertheless contains to a greater extent than than nine ,000 bombs including 286 giant two-thousand pound ‘blockbuster’ bombs , 4 ,439 one-thousand pound bombs of diverse types , 1 ,925 five-hundred pound bombs together with 2 ,815 cluster bombs. The terminal especial is the most worrying of all because , equally reported past times BBC , these bombs are unremarkably transported amongst their fuses inwards house , leaving them to a greater extent than prone to detonation. All inwards all , in that place are to a greater extent than than 1 ,400 tons worth of TNT inwards the ship.
One analysis advise that spontaneous detonation of the entire cargo would hurl a column of H2O together with debris three km into the air , together with post a seismic sea wave upwards the Thames. The shockwave from the boom would harm buildings for miles around.
Although the likelihood of the ship exploding , unopen to experts believe , is depression equally long equally no other ship collide amongst the wreck , recent surveys confirm that the wreck is gradually disintegrating which could Pb to a precipitous collapse triggering detonation of unopen to , if non all of the explosives.
The hazardous wreck which lies inwards the amount of 1 of the UK’s busiest transportation lanes is surrounded past times an 800 meter exclusion zone together with monitored 24 hours a twenty-four hr catamenia past times the Medway Ports authorization , but in that place are concerns that it’s non equally good protected equally the government claim. Over the in conclusion few decades , in that place accept been at to the lowest degree 22 near-misses amongst ships. More of late , a paddle-boarder rowed out to the site of the wreck together with uploaded a photograph of himself on Facebook leaning against 1 of the vessel’s masts creating an uproar inwards social media.
According to unopen to experts , the careful removal of the munitions is the alone serious pick , but government are afraid to behave upon the wreck. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 similar functioning was attempted inwards 1967 to neutralize the contents of a Polish ship named Kielce sunk inwards the English linguistic communication Channel. The resulting explosion created a 20-foot-deep crater inwards the seabed , together with rocked the percentage amongst a forcefulness that was equivalent to an earthquake criterion 4.5 on the Richter scale. Kielce was located much farther out inwards the body of body of water than SS Richard Montgomery is together with contained simply a fraction of the charge of explosives SS Richard Montgomery contains. While SS Richard Montgomery is nevertheless far plenty away to crusade whatever at nowadays harm to the local population , the explosion would generate a four-foot tall rogue moving ridge that could inundation together with wreck nearby communities.
Photo credit: Clem Rutter/Wikimedia
The wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery , pictured inwards 1966. Photo credit: Colin Harvey
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A navy diver is pictured at the shipwreck during a previous survey of the site.
Sources: BBC / Wikipedia / Popular Mechanics