Masts removed from bomb-laden WWII ship in Thames in bid to avoid explosion

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Engineers removed the masts from the SS Richard Montgomery, a US ship that sank in the Thames estuary in 1944 carrying about 1,400 tonnes of munitions. The work was intended to reduce the risk of an accidental explosion, and officials said it was completed without incident.

American warship sank in 1944 with approximately 1,400 tonnes of munitions onboard A sunken US wartime ship in the Thames estuary holding enough unexploded bombs to devastate a Kent coastal town and send a tidal wave through London has been made slightly safer, ministers have announced. Engineers have removed the masts of the SS Richard Montgomery – a second world war cargo ship that sank in 1944 with approximately 1,400 tonnes of munitions onboard – without triggering the kind of feared explosion that has kept the wreck under constant guard for decades. Continue reading...