Britain’s doomsday ship is a sitting duck – 1,400 tonnes of explosives just off Kent coast as fresh warnings emerge
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/exclusive/ss-richard-montgomery-wreck-security-risk/
Posted by BestButtons
Britain’s doomsday ship is a sitting duck – 1,400 tonnes of explosives just off Kent coast as fresh warnings emerge
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/exclusive/ss-richard-montgomery-wreck-security-risk/
Posted by BestButtons
20 Comments
> The growing fear, Alexander said, is not just of accidental detonation, but of deliberate exploitation. “We’re entering a new age of conflict. Russia has been linked to attacks on undersea cables and pipelines in the Baltic. The Montgomery is a perfect hybrid warfare target: high impact, low cost, and plausibly deniable.”
> Despite multiple studies and reports, no government has acted. Dutch firm Smit has previously offered to remove the explosives safely, but was never invited to formally tender. “It would be expensive and disruptive,” Alexander said. “But it can be done – and doing nothing is more dangerous.”
They were supposed to remove the masts to reduce the stress on the hull, but even that has been “postponed “ several times.
Again ?, I grew up with this as we lived nearby and every few years we get a doomsday news post. It’ll do some windows but not the catastrophic explosion that the media make out.
Huh; never considered it in the context of grey zone warfare but that’s probably quite a reasonable concern.
> The growing fear, Alexander said, is not just of accidental detonation, but of deliberate exploitation. “We’re entering a new age of conflict. Russia has been linked to attacks on undersea cables and pipelines in the Baltic. The Montgomery is a perfect hybrid warfare target: high impact, low cost, and plausibly deniable.”
Don’t give them ideas…
I can’t help but think of that time half of Beirut was flattened because bureaucratic inertia left megatons of fertilizer sat in storage.
We shouldn’t panic. The predictions of what will happen when it explodes means we may lose part of Sheppy. I’m not seeing an issue.
Would it be impossible for the UK authorities to formulate a plan that results in a controlled detonation of the ship, in a legal and safe way, taking all precautions necessary to ensure public safety?
Why don’t they just build a dam around it, sink metal sides in and pump the water out then cover it in concrete would stop stuff accidentally banging into it, and it’s also a very easy target for a “out of control” ship that just happens to have a russian captain on board
There’s literally millions of tons of water sat around it. It’ll make a giant fucking boom and all that energy could either go through millions of tons of water, or pop straight up into the clouds.
It’ll knock out some windows on sheppy and curl their webed toes. Then it’ll be over.
Lebanon the explosives were above ground in a warehouse right in the city. Completely different.
Realistically how bad would it be if it goes boom, and how likely is it that it’s all still in a good enough condition to all explode?
There’s ‘fresh’ warnings about this every year. What do people want them to do about it? Trying to move it all would probably result in a detonation
I remember reading that another liberty ship exploded in Texas and whilst it was part of a wider explosion the blast knocked 2 planes out of the sky killing both pilots.
Additionally cargo from the Montgomery has been leaking for decades. My dad worked on the Medway as a skipper of a tug – multiple times he has seen ships dragged up unexploded munitions with their anchors.
We should hold a massive Glastonbury size beach festival and then detonate the ship as the main event. Would be a moment of national healing remembered for a lifetime.
This story pops up every five years. It’s not a doomsday ship. It’s a wreck that is monitored and has an exclusion zone around it. This may be interesting background — [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-ss-richard-montgomery-information-and-survey-reports/ss-richard-montgomery-background-information](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-ss-richard-montgomery-information-and-survey-reports/ss-richard-montgomery-background-information)
Can we not give it to Ukraine, so they can drop it of at a port in Kalingrad, for reasons?
I love nearby. We’ve been waiting for this to blow up for ages.. give us some excitement.
The Halifax disaster was a similar sized ship that exploded, but I think the SS Montgomery one is further from built up areas.
Here’s an idea. Instead of wasting millions at the end of the year on New year’s fireworks, just light the fuse on the flipping ship! 🤯 Well get a grand show and the UK gets rid of a long standing problem.
<yawn> this comes up at least once a year since the 1940s when it happened.
Solution is clear.
Kent needs to manufacture it own Clark Kent, so he can become superman, carry the wreck out of the sea and throw it into space.