The Ministry of Defence is offering £5 million to have the masts removed from the wreck of the Richard Montgomery, an American liberty ship that broke her back and sank off Sheerness in August 1944, with 1400 tons (net explosive quantity of TNT) of explosives still on board. Tim Bell from Isle of Sheppey Sailing Club said, “I can see the sense in cutting the masts down because they are starting to collapse and rust and could fall onto the deck below where there are still 2,000 cases of cluster bombs.” More at KentOnline. Also see Tim Bell’s reply to this article. And the BBC website…
There are several errors in this post by my good friend John Nurden, the quantity inside the hull of this wreck is mis quoted time and time again, there is according to the table produced by the MCA, 3,632 US tons of bombs which are still left inside the hull, the figure expressed by the press of 1,400 tons is the NEQ ( net explosive quantity of TNT) calculated to be from 3,632 tons of these bombs.
Only the hull and superstructure have been surveyed over the years, the condition and state of its cargo of bombs is largely unknown.
Removing the masts will be like burying an old friend and will be sadly missed by many.
For more factual information, photos, videos, letters, etc can be found on my Facebook site, SS Richard Montgomery (the wreck)