Sheerness sunken wreck

[filicapri]

Was looking on the Discovery channel,and it was over the SS Richard Montgomery.

The say there is still 3000 tons of munition on board

 

I hope they gonna clean up that mess

[Smudger105e]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery

[V8ian]

No, I dont think it will ever be cleared up, its been there for 60 years now, was deemed to dangerous to clear up after the war, and even more so now with years of degridation, its surveyed by the MOD on a regular basis, but, if it ever went up, it would swamp the medway towns and possibly flood the london flood plains, whish is most of london, certainly flood a good percentage of the underground system, and cripple london for years, I think its a percentage job, If they try and clear it up and it blows, they have fooked the SE, leave it and let it rot, most explosives will degrade over time, but saying that, I have an old workmate who was a sport diver who would bring up live WW1 munitions from wrecks, pull the shells apart on deck, throw the Cordite back and keep the shells for trophies

[bortaf]

No, I dont think it will ever be cleared up, its been there for 60 years now, was deemed to dangerous to clear up after the war, and even more so now with years of degridation, its surveyed by the MOD on a regular basis, but, if it ever went up, it would swamp the medway towns and possibly flood the london flood plains, whish is most of london, certainly flood a good percentage of the underground system, and cripple london for years, I think its a percentage job, If they try and clear it up and it blows, they have fooked the SE, leave it and let it rot, most explosives will degrade over time, but saying that, I have an old workmate who was a sport diver who would bring up live WW1 munitions from wrecks, pull the shells apart on deck, throw the Cordite back and keep the shells for trophies

 

My mates a sport diver and he bought a shell up from a WWII wreck in scapa flow, it had sticks in it like big sparklers, they still went off after 80 years boy did they go off, shot off though the garage like a mini rocket and dissapeared up the allyway with us chasing it with a fire hose

Thing is, the exposives wont degrad till the shell has and let water in and from what i saw the brass shell last a frikken long time, wellys on standy

[V8ian]

No, I dont think it will ever be cleared up, its been there for 60 years now, was deemed to dangerous to clear up after the war, and even more so now with years of degridation, its surveyed by the MOD on a regular basis, but, if it ever went up, it would swamp the medway towns and possibly flood the london flood plains, whish is most of london, certainly flood a good percentage of the underground system, and cripple london for years, I think its a percentage job, If they try and clear it up and it blows, they have fooked the SE, leave it and let it rot, most explosives will degrade over time, but saying that, I have an old workmate who was a sport diver who would bring up live WW1 munitions from wrecks, pull the shells apart on deck, throw the Cordite back and keep the shells for trophies

 

My mates a sport diver and he bought a shell up from a WWII wreck in scapa flow, it had sticks in it like big sparklers, they still went off after 80 years boy did they go off, shot off though the garage like a mini rocket and dissapeared up the allyway with us chasing it with a fire hose

Thing is, the exposives wont degrad till the shell has and let water in and from what i saw the brass shell last a frikken long time, wellys on standy

 

Those sticks of Cordite are fun aint they!!!!!

[filicapri]

In 2004 we explode 300-400 kg,you can see and hear the fragments

 

[bortaf]

No, I dont think it will ever be cleared up, its been there for 60 years now, was deemed to dangerous to clear up after the war, and even more so now with years of degridation, its surveyed by the MOD on a regular basis, but, if it ever went up, it would swamp the medway towns and possibly flood the london flood plains, whish is most of london, certainly flood a good percentage of the underground system, and cripple london for years, I think its a percentage job, If they try and clear it up and it blows, they have fooked the SE, leave it and let it rot, most explosives will degrade over time, but saying that, I have an old workmate who was a sport diver who would bring up live WW1 munitions from wrecks, pull the shells apart on deck, throw the Cordite back and keep the shells for trophies

 

My mates a sport diver and he bought a shell up from a WWII wreck in scapa flow, it had sticks in it like big sparklers, they still went off after 80 years boy did they go off, shot off though the garage like a mini rocket and dissapeared up the allyway with us chasing it with a fire hose

Thing is, the exposives wont degrad till the shell has and let water in and from what i saw the brass shell last a frikken long time, wellys on standy

 

Those sticks of Cordite are fun aint they!!!!!

 

dam roght they are but i wouldnt wanna hold one like a sparkler

 

cordite i allways forget the name

[Mr Sam]

saw it on coast, its a no sail zone is it not? and they just hope it never blows

[over_head_cam]

 

 

Cool and spooky at the same time

[Nik3100]

I live fairly near and local reports say that a couple of people have clouted the masts over the years

 

now thats a brown pants moment if there ever was one

[zac.gfc]

I live fairly near and local reports say that a couple of people have clouted the masts over the years

 

now thats a brown pants moment if there ever was one

 

i can't see how people could do such a thing, it's a buoyed off area. i sail past it every year when i'm out sailing with my grandad, theres a couple of dozen warning buoys around it

[Nik3100]

I guess theres always some people who cant help but get that but closer to a ship with 1400 tons of explosives on it.

 

If they set it off the'y be history before their trousers were even stained LOL

[petrolhead]

That is comparable to tactical nuke size. The best and safest thing is to leave it. You could spend 100's of millions £'s trying to safely clear it up and it would still be risky. I'd prefer to let it slowly rot and spend that money on hospitals.

[Billy_smith]

i live fairly close to that, i've heard that the resaon it sunk was due to it breaking its bak on a sand bank due to being so overloaded with ammunition. i've also heard that its gona be a big fookin bang if it goes off!

[Billy_smith]

3,173 tons of munitions containing 1,400 tons of TNT remain on the wreck[citation needed]. According to a 2000 survey by the United Kingdom Maritime and Coastguard Agency survey [2], the wreck still contains:

 

286 × 2,000 lb (910 kg) bombs

4,439 × 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs of various types

1,925 × 500 lb (230 kg) bombs

2,815 fragmentation bombs and bomb clusters

Smoke bombs, including white phosphorus smoke bombs

Pyrotechnic signals

Booster charges

According to the same survey, the total explosive weight on board is 1,400 tons.

 

One of the reasons why the explosives have not been removed was the unfortunate outcome of a similar operation in July 1967 to neutralize the contents of the Kielce, a ship of Polish origin, sunk in 1946 off Folkestone in the English Channel. During preliminary work the Kielce, containing a comparable amount of ordnance, exploded with force equivalent to an earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale, digging a 20-foot (6 m) deep crater in the seabed and bringing "panic and chaos" to Folkestone, although no injuries.

 

According to a BBC news report,[4] in 1970 it was determined that if the wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery exploded, it would throw a 1,000-foot (300 m) wide column of water and debris nearly 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in the air and generate a wave 16 feet (5 m) high. Almost every window in Sheerness (pop. c20,000) would be broken and buildings would be damaged by the blast.

bit more information here i find this interestin bit also bit worryin as i live medway

http://www.sheernessheritagecentre.com/ ... gomery.htm

have a look

[Nik3100]

From what Ive read it drifted onto the sand bank. It was modifed to take more cargo than when it was originally built so it sat lower in the water

 

It gets inspected regularly and they seem to think it will be best left alone

[moredoorAsh]

I live in medway and i've never heard it before tonight

[Nik3100]

lots of people havent but its been a major concern for port authorities since the war

[Twinkle]

i live nearby and was put on standby when i was in the coastguard a couple of times when it was hit