An article in MyLondon describes about a ship loaded bombs not far from London, sitting and waiting to blow up at any point.
Real Boat Full of Bombs
It’s not the plot of a Pirates Of The Caribbean movie, it’s actually a real boat full of bombs in the mouth of the Thames.
The SS Montgomery was an American ship which split in two and sank just off the coast of Sheerness in Kent in 1944. But it wasn’t your average Titanic – it has 1440 tonnes of explosives on board.
Submerged for Over Years
The operative word here is has, not had, because the 2,000 cases of “‘used and non-fused fragmentation cluster bombs” and 208 cases of TNT are still live despite it being submerged for over 70 years.
The shipwreck is monitored 24/7 by port authorities, and is subject to a 500-metre exclusion zone.
Report
According to a report by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency there are holes in the ship big enough to to allow the explosives to escape.
Moreover, a man who has been studying the ship for over ten years has predicted that a “large-scale disaster is inevitable”.
Drone footage of the wreck today shows it looking undisturbed and relatively calm, but what lies beneath the surface is the problem.
Documentary on The Ship
Tom Edwarsy, BBC Transport correspondent, once noted: “At the time I remember someone saying if it exploded, the force would be so strong it would smash all the windows of homes on the shore in Essex and Kent.”
Not only that, but lives in London could be at risk too. Director Ken Knowles spent 10 years making a documentary on the ship, and he believes its condition is worsening.
“If the Montgomery went off it could cause a tsunami that would flood London,” he said.
Debris Would Cause Damage
He added that, should the corroding ship’s bombs explode, debris would cause damage to the area within a 20-mile radius.
If bomb experts tried to diffuse the bombs they would have to evacuate everywhere within a 25-mile radius for months at a time.
Consultants have been requested to remove the masts of the ship, which peek above the surface, as they’re seeming to cause undue stress to its structure.
Let’s just hope they don’t accidentally set the bombs off and flood the entirety of the Thames while they do it.
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Source: MyLondon
