Liberty Ship ready to blow off English coast?

Tiki Tom · Nov 2, 2015

The S.S. Richard Montgomery (aka "the Mighty Monty") is wrecked just 1.5 miles from the town of Sheerness. She is carrying 1,400 tons of explosives. She could blow at anytime, "potentially causing one of the most devastating non-nuclear peace-time explosions ever seen." Officials long ago decided that it is safer not to mess with her than to attempt a salvage.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151027-the-ticking-time-bomb-of-the-thames

What a frightening legacy for the town to have to live with. As William Faulkner said "The past is never dead. It's not even past."

galopede · Nov 2, 2015

Glad I live on the opposite side of the country!

Stanley Doble · Nov 2, 2015

If you want to know what happens when a munitions ship explodes in a harbor-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion

The Halifax explosion of 1917, largest man made non nuclear explosion ever.

I knew a survivor. A baby at the time, he lived while his parents were killed. He was taken to live with relatives in Boston.

Stearmen · Nov 3, 2015

Stanley Doble said:
If you want to know what happens when a munitions ship explodes in a harbor-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion

The Halifax explosion of 1917, largest man made non nuclear explosion ever.

I knew a survivor. A baby at the time, he lived while his parents were killed. He was taken to live with relatives in Boston.

Actually, it was surpassed several times since then! Halifax was estimated at 2.9 kilotons, the Texas City blast was between 2.7-3.2 KT, The Royal Navy did a test 18 April 1947 that was 3,2 kt, Minor Scale and Misty Picture test at White Sands Missile range 27 June 1985; 14 May 1987, was 4.8 kt each. The worst, hands down was [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N1_%28rocket%29']N1 launch explosion, [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikonur_Cosmodrome_Site_110']Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 1103 July 1969, 7 kt. [/URL][/URL]

Otter · Nov 3, 2015

My understanding is that the Structure of the RM is slowly becoming more and more unstable, as most of the wrecks of a similar age. Eventually she will collapse inwards leaving a stack of decks with a cargo sandwich. The conditions where she lies are pretty bad, Thames pea soup vis. and proximity to a busy shipping channel, coupled with the nature and type of cargo storage would make a clearance operation problematic to say the least. Bombs were loaded by cargo net and crane, then stacked in heaps in the holds and 'tween decks, wedged in position with dunnage. (For further information Google the Port Chicago Disaster).

MisterCairo · Nov 3, 2015

"The Halifax Explosion was one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions. An extensive comparison of 130 major explosions by Halifax historian Jay White in 1994 concluded that "Halifax Harbour remains unchallenged in overall magnitude as long as five criteria are considered together: number of casualties, force of blast, radius of devastation, quantity of explosive material, and total value of property destroyed."[141]

Stearmen · Nov 4, 2015

MisterCairo said:
"The Halifax Explosion was one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions. An extensive comparison of 130 major explosions by Halifax historian Jay White in 1994 concluded that "Halifax Harbour remains unchallenged in overall magnitude as long as five criteria are considered together: number of casualties, force of blast, radius of devastation, quantity of explosive material, and total value of property destroyed."[141]

Casualties would put it at number one! But, for sheer size, the N1 at 7 kilotons is hard to beat! Nothing will ever beat the Tsar Bomb, 57 kilotons.

MisterCairo · Nov 4, 2015

^^^ Doesn't count - that was a nuclear device.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba

In any event, the citation refers to five criteria, an overall "score" of non-nuclear devestation. This was a tragic accident that destroyed a city. I'm not sure how one "beats" that.

Stanley Doble · Nov 4, 2015

The point is that if the explosives on the Richard Montgomery all went off at the same time it would destroy the surrounding area including the town of Sheerness. And if it blows up there will be NO warning.

It MIGHT be possible to remove the explosives by building a caisson around the ship to create an area without currents and let the sediment settle. Then go in with some kind of remote control, robotic submersible devices and carefully remove the bombs one by one. But this could take weeks or months and a large area would have to be evacuated.

MisterCairo · Nov 4, 2015

I suspect after all this time the explosives have decayed somewhat.

I can't imagine this is much of a real threat. I wouldn't go diving near it, mind you...

Otter · Nov 4, 2015

Been there, done that ! Bombs, torpedoes and battleship shells in Chukk Lagoon. More military junk than I could shake a lifetime worth of sticks at.

Stanley Doble · Nov 4, 2015

No doubt they are decayed more than somewhat. It may be this has rendered some harmless, while it made others less stable but still explosive. Oh well so far so good. I wouldn't want to buy a house in Sheerness but it might be a good place to be in the insurance business. If she blows I wonder if the insurance companies would call it an act of war?

Otter · Nov 4, 2015

Some of the bombs the US Navy used in Vietnam were WWII vintage, they had serious problems with over sensitivity due to degradation of the explosive filers.

The IJN / IJA used picrite as a filler in a lot of munitions, this degrades to picric acid which is quite shock sensitive. Not nigtroglycerin levels, but still up there.

Stearmen · Nov 5, 2015

MisterCairo said:
^^^ Doesn't count - that was a nuclear device.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba

In any event, the citation refers to five criteria, an overall "score" of non-nuclear devestation. This was a tragic accident that destroyed a city. I'm not sure how one "beats" that.

If you have to use five criteria to make it the biggest, that is plane ridicules. Halifax was 2.9 kt, Baikonur was over 7kt, so it was twice as big! Halifax was the largest loss of life in a conventional explosion. Not to say that the family's of the 100 men that lost their lives on October 24, 1960 did not grieve just as much as the people of Halifax on December 6, 1917, or for decades after the respective events.

MisterCairo · Nov 5, 2015

Re-read, or more likely, read the excerpt from wikipedia. "OVERALL MAGNITUDE". Worst effects. Not biggest.

Alternately, you win.

And it is spelled "plain".

And "ridiculous".

And the plural of family is "families".

And while each individual family in Halifax may not have grieved more than the other families you note, there were, as you note, far more families affected.

Have yourself a great day!

Otter · Nov 5, 2015

Consider also the Texas City Disaster, the first ship to go up was about 2kt, but triggered secondaries with another ship and oil refineries. Due to transient population, the true extent if the casualties is probably much higher than stated.

Stearmen · Nov 6, 2015

MisterCairo said:
Re-read, or more likely, read the excerpt from wikipedia. "OVERALL MAGNITUDE". Worst effects. Not biggest.

Alternately, you win.

And it is spelled "plain".

And "ridiculous".

And the plural of family is "families".

And while each individual family in Halifax may not have grieved more than the other families you note, there were, as you note, far more families affected.

Have yourself a great day!

grammar-police-demotivational-posters-1392522675_zpsf6icgnrw.jpg

rocketeer · Nov 28, 2015

When I was a boy in the 1960s, you could go on a one hr cruise from Southend on Sea beach. The Robert Montgomery was top of the sights list

MisterCairo · Dec 6, 2015

As the 100th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion draws near, there's renewed interest in the disaster.

Here's a link to the very human dimension of the tragedy:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/great-halifax-explosion-photos-letters-1.3351398

Stanley Doble · Dec 6, 2015

The point is that 1400 tons of explosives can make a hell of a bang. I put in the Halifax explosion as an illustration of what it means when a ship load of munitions blows up near a populated area. If the Monty went up it would be a lesser explosion but still powerful enough to do a great deal of damage. So, Sheerness and surrounding areas have a serious problem, or potential problem. I hope it never blows up but how can you ever be sure?

Liberty Ship ready to blow off English coast?

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