Masts of ‘doomsday wreck’ packed with explosives to be cut down in weeks

Work to dismantle the masts of a sunken shipwreck packed with explosives will begin in September, according to the Government.

The three masts, in the Thames Estuary just 1.5 miles off the Kent coast, are part of the SS Richard Montgomery, which sank in 1944.

Around 1,400 tonnes of wartime explosives are on board the ship, which has been nicknamed the ‘doomsday wreck’.

Experts believe reducing the masts’ height to below sea level will ease pressure on the wreck’s structure and reduce the risk of heavy objects falling onto the munitions below.

The masts will be taken to Chatham’s Historic Dockyard in Kent for preservation and display.

Speaking near the wreck site, maritime minister Keir Mather said: ‘They’ve been part of the maritime history of places like Sheerness for decades.

‘And we want to make sure that that continues to happen for decades to come.’

After preservation work, teams working on the masts will ‘be able to make a decision about where they are best placed, so that local communities can access them’, Mr Mather said.

Robin Rickard, who is providing strategic explosive ordnance advice to the Department for Transport (DfT), said work to remove the masts would require a jackup barge – a floating platform on long legs firmly anchored into the seabed, so it won’t move.

He added: ‘We’re going to put a jackup barge alongside it, both the stern section and the forward section, and then we’re going to use a diamond wire saw to chop the masts and recover them.’

SS Richard Montgomery – or ‘Monty’ – was carrying ‘safe-to-transport munitions’ during its doomed voyage from the USA to Great Britain, Mr Rickard said.

The munitions weren’t armed or fused during transport, which is ‘good news’, Mr Rickard said.

He added: ‘The reason we’re doing something about it now is that the masts are in a window where they’re likely to fail and the Department for Transport is taking every step reasonable to reduce the hazard of a falling mast onto an explosive cargo.’

Paul Barnard, the deputy chief executive at Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, said the masts, which have towered above the water’s surface, ‘are a really, really important part of the ship and they’re an important part of the story’.

To keep the ship’s masts in the UK, teams from the DfT have had to speak with their counterparts in Washington.

U.S. Ambassador to the UK Warren Stephens last month wrote to Kevin McKenna, the Labour MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, telling him he backed efforts to display the masts.

Mr Mather said an exclusion zone will remain in place for as long as it needs to around the vessel, but the wreck itself is stable.

Nolan Conway, project manager at Resolve Marine, which has been contracted to reduce the masts’ height, said: ‘Drawing on our extensive experience in complex marine operations, we are committed to executing this work safely, efficiently and in close collaboration with all stakeholders.

‘This historic project represents a significant milestone in the ongoing management of one of the United Kingdom’s most closely monitored wreck sites.’

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