Masts Cut From Sunken WWII Ship Loaded With 1400 Tonnes Of Munitions Off London To Avert Tsunami Risk

British Authorities ordered the removal of the three masts of the sunken World War II ship, the SS Richard Montgomery amidst safety concerns. The masts could be seen above the waters near the coastal town of Sheerness, which lies 80 kilometres east of London on the Thames Estuary.

The American Liberty Ship is viewed as a time bomb by many, as its wreck still contains around 1400 tonnes of ammunition onboard. According to sources, the ship nicknamed Monty has more than 2000 cluster bombs, 300 blockbuster bombs weighing 900 kilograms and white phosphorus smoke artillery.

If these were to explode, the impact of the blast could be catastrophic. A 2004 report mentioned that it would bring a small tsunami, throwing debris as far as three kilometres and shattering almost every window in Sheerness and destroying the town.

However, an Emergency Planning Expert at the University College London, David Alexander, wrote a paper in 2019 in which he stated that the true impact of a potential blast and its aftermath cannot be ascertained with certainty.

Even today, the wreck poses considerable safety risks to the local communities; however, removing it entirely could be even more dangerous. This is why the authorities decided to at least take down the masts. If they collapsed on the deck one day, they could trigger a blast.

Nolan, an architect working with the marine salvage company Resolve Marine Group, said that the ship was beginning to lean because of the masts, and some of the structures around it were looking as if they could come down any day, so they decided to remove the masts.

The team prepared extensively for the operation, carrying out detailed surveys of the site to understand it using radars, sonar and magnetometers.

Specialised equipment was then used to carry out the mission, and extra care was taken to avoid any vibration while approaching the ship, as it could set off an explosion.

Divers took turns to cut off the masts and work through the deck whose surrounding steel had become ‘paper-thin’, according to the diving team. The detached masts were taken to the Dockyard Chatham, a maritime museum in Kent, due to their historical importance.

Maritime Minister of the U.K, Keir Mather, welcomed the operation and said the masts had put considerable load on the wreck, and their removal has somewhat reduced the risk of an explosion and is in sync with the safe management of the site.

Apart from this, the government has kept the waters around the ship as a shipping exclusion zone and since 2025, a no-fly zone has been declared over the wreck, with the restrictions to remain in place for ensuring the safety of the public, the government mentioned in an official statement.

SS Richard Montgomery was constructed in 1943 at Jacksonville, Florida. It was named after an Irish officer who fought in the British Army during the French War, the Indian War and Pontiac’s War, joining the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

The cargo ship was loaded with 7000 tonnes of ammunition for Britain. It had to anchor close to Sheerness after crossing the Thames Estuary, but it ran aground on a sandbank.

The crew members unloaded almost half of the cargo, but a crack in its hull caused it to sink with almost 1400 tonnes of explosives onboard.