‘Doomsday shipwreck’ stuffed with explosives could unleash a Thames tsunami

A wreck packed with 1,400 tonnes of unexploded bombs is deteriorating faster than expected, a survey has found, heightening the hazard of a Thames tsunami.

The SS Richard Montgomery – nicknamed the ‘Doomsday Wreck’ – sank successful the Thames Estuary adjacent Sheerness successful Kent and Southend-on-Sea successful Essex successful 1944.

After 78 years underwater, the World War II Liberty Ship has go severely corroded, and determination person been concerns that the ship’s 3 masts – which tin inactive beryllium seen poking supra the water’s aboveground – could illness and autumn onto the dormant explosives, triggering a ‘catastrophic’ blast.

It comes arsenic a Russian vessel with 20,000 tonnes of explosive ammonium nitrate was spotted disconnected of the Kent seashore today.

The Department for Transport had already planned to region SS Richard Montgomery’s masts, but pursuing the results of a caller survey, which amusement the vessel is deteriorating astatine a much accelerated complaint than antecedently thought, the timetable for the removal has been brought forward.

In a statement, the section said the precedence was to ‘ensure the information of the nationalist and trim immoderate hazard posed by the SS Richard Montgomery’.

It continued: ‘Experts person carried retired captious surveying enactment to the wreckage and, based connected their findings, we are revising our archetypal timeframe for removing the masts successful the safest mode possible.

‘The purpose is to region the masts arsenic soon arsenic imaginable should it beryllium imaginable to found a harmless and effectual operational methodology for doing so.’

The connection did not marque wide however soon the removal could instrumentality place.

What did the survey find?

The caller report, which was released past week pursuing a survey successful 2023, warns that ‘the platform abstraction adjacent clasp 3 appears to person started to illness connected the larboard side. This appears to beryllium recent’.

Meanwhile, the ‘whole guardant conception of the wreck’, which lies successful 2 halves connected the bottom, ‘appears to person an summation successful lean’ of 10 to 15cm.

This increasing thin eastwards, the study says, raises ‘a imaginable concern’ astir the wreckage ‘being undercut arsenic supporting sediment is eroded away’.

The survey besides noted a ace on the 2nd cargo clasp had grown 5cm wider and 37cm longer successful a year, and was ‘significantly buckled’ further down.

This gives ‘the quality that the guardant portion of the wreck is splitting successful two’, the survey noted, causing the platform supra to illness up to 20cm successful a year.

Making matters worse, the backmost of the vessel is “like the guardant section… perchance breaking successful 2 astir halfway on its length”.

Here, the study said, a agelong of platform six metres agelong had collapsed implicit fractional a metre successful 1 year.

Rich Lehmann, who chairs the situation committee astatine Swale Borough Council, which covers Sheerness, said the section authorization was keeping a adjacent watch.

He said: ‘The deterioration of the wreck is concerning, and the assembly are monitoring the concern closely.

‘Officers are successful dialog with the Department for Transport, who negociate the wreck, and different applicable agencies to guarantee that each indispensable precautions are successful spot to mitigate immoderate imaginable risks.

‘The information of our assemblage and the extortion of our marine situation stay our apical priorities.’

What could hap if the bombs explode?

Previously a study from Medway Council said the explosive connected the vessel had the imaginable to trigger an tremendous tsunami that could devastate everything successful its path.

The study suggested the blast ‘would hurl a 1,000ft wide file of water, mud, metallic and munitions astir 10,000ft into the aerial – risking wildlife and the lives of galore people.’

Meanwhile, researchers astatine Defence Research and Development Canada told New Scientist successful 2022 that the Montgomery has the imaginable to beryllium ‘one of the world’s biggest non-nuclear explosions, causing wide demolition and death.’

Earlier this twelvemonth Southend Labour councillor Lydia Hyde said things had degraded to the constituent wherever it was present indispensable to enactment arsenic soon arsenic possible.

She said: ‘There was an appraisal successful the summer, and past determination was a much elaborate 1 successful November, to fundamentally spell and look astatine the information of the masts.

‘The interest is that corrosion means they catastrophically fail, their structural integrity goes, the mast falls down and past lands connected the wreck, and past that could acceptable disconnected an explosion.

‘Following the dive, they’ve assessed it and they’ve gone “actually, no, we request to bring this guardant due to the fact that the corrosion was much than expected”.

‘So they’ve got to beryllium taken down.’

How did the SS Montgomery sink?

The vessel was named for the celebrated American General Richard Montgomery, who performed a large work to his state during the Revolutionary War.

President Franklin D Roosevelt claimed the ship, built to transportation captious supplies to the Allies during WW2, would assistance reconstruct ‘liberty’ to Europe.

During the summertime of 1944, the Montgomery sailed to the UK from America carrying astir 7,000 tonnes of explosives.

But erstwhile it yet arrived astatine the Thames Estuary, a unit 8 gale caused the ship’s anchor to resistance into shallow waters, wherever it drifted into a bank.

A weakness successful the ship’s plan past caused the hull to drawback successful two, and it sunk to the bottommost of the river, wherever it inactive resides contiguous with its masts disposable to onlookers.

A ‘catastrophic’ threat

Following the archetypal crash, specializer teams managed to region implicit 5,000 tonnes of munitions which were stored onboard the ship.

But the salvage effort stopped erstwhile the vessel became flooded, leaving astir 1,400 tonnes inactive onboard.

There are 3 types of bombs inactive thought to beryllium connected the ship: unfused TNT bombs, astir 800 fused clump bombs and a ample fig of fume bombs.

While a March 2000 study connected the wreck suggested that ‘TNT does not respond with h2o and is highly stable, peculiarly if stored astatine a steady, debased temperature,’ the existent information is to beryllium thought the achromatic phosphorus filling of the fume bombs, which is unchangeable underwater and is susceptible of spontaneous ignition if exposed to the air.

Councillor Hyde said: ‘It’s evidently been determination for a fig of decades now, but implicit clip the metallic is going to rust.

‘Even though it’s been good up until now, implicit clip it is degrading and it’s conscionable tipped done that threshold present wherever the harmless happening to bash is region the masts.’

During a House of Lords statement successful 2019, Lord Harris of Haringey gave an appraisal of what would hap if the full remaining cargo were to explode.

Citing a 1970 appraisal by the Royal Military College of Science, helium said the wreck could trigger ‘a 3,000 metre-high file of h2o and debris and a 5 metre-high tsunami’. 

‘This would overwhelm Sheerness, and the h2o wave, perchance carrying burning phosphorus, would scope the petrochemical installation connected the Isle of Grain.’

But Hyde believes the interaction would beryllium existent capable successful Southend, implicit 5 miles away.

She said: ‘If that blast was to spell disconnected past we’re talking astir the windows blowing retired connected the seafront.

‘I don’t cognize what the hazard to beingness is astatine that region – it mightiness beryllium rather tiny straight from it.

‘But if it’s capable to blast retired your windows, sound radical over, and sound radical into things, past things could autumn connected them, truthful it could beryllium rather unsafe for pedestrians.’

She estimated it would beryllium ‘more severe’ connected the Isle of Sheppey which is conscionable 2 miles distant from the wreck.

Plans to region the masts were archetypal made successful 2020.

At the time, the liable ministry – the Department for Transport – said the masts could beryllium ‘placing undue strain connected the remainder of the vessel’.

But the enactment has been delayed for years and the masts inactive stand.

‘The masts should beryllium brought Sheerness’

Mr Lehman said the vessel is an integral portion of Sheerness’s past and holds a peculiar spot successful the hearts of our residents.

It’s truthful important, helium added, that erstwhile the masts are yet removed they are brought to Sheerness to beryllium preserved arsenic ‘a important section of (the) island’s history’.

‘The wreck is not lone a humanities landmark but besides a beloved awesome of our community’s resilience and heritage.’

This nonfiction was primitively published connected July 27, 2024.

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