The World War Two Ship that Could Destory My Home

One slight shift or nudge

Twenty-one miles from my house, just off the coast, lies a shipwreck. It's not unusual, you might think, as I live near the beach, but what is uncommon about this wreck is that it could destroy the area I live in in a matter of moments. This is because the SS Richard Montgomery, Monty for short, contains 1400 tonnes of explosives.

One tremor or slight knock could cause a catastrophic explosion in a plot that sounds like a film. Incidentally, Sky’s Cobra series dealt with this very issue. Many people thought the story was fiction. So how did this ticking time bomb end up twenty miles from my house?

The SS Richard Montgomery

Monty was a liberty ship built during World War Two. Her first voyage was on 29 July 1943, when it sailed out of Philadelphia towards England. Once it arrived in England, it was told it would have to wait for the boats returning from the Normandy landing. These boats would form a convoy to go back to France.

Monty was told to go and berth off the North edge of Sheerness and wait for the convoy.

On 28 August 1944, it dragged anchor and ran aground on the Nore Sandbanks, two kilometres from Sheerness. As the tide went out, the ship did not have enough clearance and became stranded. In its hold was a massive amount of explosives.

Knowing that the ship could not be saved, a rescue mission was mounted to retrieve the cargo. Finally, the operation had to be abandoned on 25 September as the ship broke into two parts due to the weather and tides, still contained onboard were over 1400 tonnes of explosives. There, the ship stayed.

The Monty of Today

The ship is still in the same position today. The masts can be seen above the waterline; the explosives remain in the hold. An exclusion zone is set up around the ship, monitored visually and via radar. It is the most observed and monitored wreck in England. For a good reason, five thousand boats a year pass close by and could easily crash into it. Two very near misses occurred recently that could have detonated the explosive.

It is widely known that a collision, terrorist attack or simple movement of the cargo on the tide could cause spontaneous detonation.

A survey of the ship in 2008 discovered that it had started to lean to the starboard and was becoming increasingly more dangerous. The masts that are still attached are considered to be making the hull unstable.

The wreckage of the SS Richard Montgomery may only have a few years remaining before it disintegrates completely — Lord Harris

Area of the explosion

The worst-case scenario

If Monty was to explode, it is considered that it would send a thousand-foot column of water up and scatter debris ten thousand feet away. The force of the explosion would shatter all the house windows for a considerable distance. He would also create a five mile-wide tidal wave that would wipe out most of the area I live. Places such as the Isle of Sheppey and other coastal towns would be underwater. The damage would reach as far as Central London. Twenty-five thousand people will lose their homes.

Situated close to Monty is the Isle of Grain which has a large store of liquid gas canisters. They in themselves would cause a ring of damage.

So with all this potential carnage, people will ask why has the hold not been emptied and the ship removed? The answer is simple; it would cost too much money. No government since 1944 has felt the need to spend such a large sum of money to keep safe over thirty thousand people. We can only hope that Monty never comes apart enough to wreak his revenge.

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