Britain's underwater Timebombs

Why aren't we getting worried about the unknown tonnes of explosives dumped in our local waters?

Lying in the shallow water, its rusting masts home to resting gulls and warning signs, the USS Richard Montgomery paints a forlorn picture. But don’t let this sleeping giant fool you: this is a ship that still has the power to blow up the Thames estuary with the force of a small atomic missile. Still stuffed with a cargo of high explosives, the wreck of the Montgomery has been slowly disintegrating since it beached, its back broken, in 1944.

Salvage crews only removed half of the 6000-ton cargo before fleeing the unstable wreck, and while the detonators and explosives were kept on different decks for safety, the upper deck broke. Now both are in within the hull, and it seems nobody knows just what to do about it.

What should be done with it?

Since the Montgomery lies in one of our busiest shipping lanes, responsibility for its safety lies with the Ministry of Transport, and more specifically the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). Sitting on a sandbar at the crossroads between the Thames Estuary and Medway, and just a few hundred metres from passing traffic, what is being done about the boat? Should it be left to rot in peace, taken apart and moved, or just blown up in a controlled explosion to limit any unnecessary damage?

According to the MCA’s own Wreck Amnesty (2001) report: “ordnance from a maritime context would almost certainly have long passed its safe life and far from becoming inert in the water, many years spent under the sea might only serve to make them less stable and more unpredictable.” This statement suggests that removal of explosives such as those on the Montgomery is long overdue.

More bombs are discovered

The last report on the Montgomery was back in 2006. They found that the boat was still disintegrating, but no faster than was to be expected, and no recommendations were made to remove the explosives.

Perhaps more worryingly, they found even more bombs. The forward section of the ship, despite the claims of the 1944 salvage effort, was still full.

As the report told, “salvage of the forward section....

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