Navy to dismantle sunken warship on Thames holding unstable explosives
theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/30/navy-to-d...
theguardian.comPosted Dec 30, 2021, 1:53 PM UTC
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theguardian.comThe SS Richard Montgomery ran aground in 1944 just off Sheerness with 4500 tonnes of ordinance. It was abandoned with 1400 tonnes still onboard and has been slowly deteriorating since.
There is an incredible amount of unexploded ordinance that was dumped in the seas around the UK after WW2 as well as from firing ranges, etc that specialist companies survey prior to offshore cables being laid, wind turbine farms being built as well as gas/oil exploration occurring. [img source]]
That's before evening mentioning Hurds Deep in the English Channel thats been used as a chemical and radioactive dumping ground!
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Don't forget the Beaufort channel they wanted to build the Irish bridge over is full of chemcial weapons too
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I feel like this is just waiting for some lunatic to steal a pedalo and go grenade fishing.... just so they can ride the rubber dinghy rapids to heaven literally.
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Someone once told me he'd seen a bunch of lads in a boat dropping breeze blocks over the side for a laugh.
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This is very easy to believe if you know people from Sheerness
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I feel like this is just waiting for some lunatic to steal a pedalo and go grenade fishing
Its been waiting 77 years and no-one has yet claimed their prize!
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Their just having the masts removed, been talked about for a while locally.
The wreck is a hot potato and its unlikely that it will ever be properly dealt with in our life time due to the cost/risks to infrastructure
I think whoever takes that job on must need a wheelbarrow for their enormous balls.
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They're only taking the masts off to avoid them collapsing onto the submerged amunition. If it goes off it'll send a plume of water 300 meter into the air and break every window for miles around, it'll be totally devastating. Remember too, this was where Boris proposed a new airport to replace Heathrow - but he's a fucking witless moron.
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this was where Boris proposed a new airport to replace Heathrow - but he's a fucking witless moron.
Yup - 'Grain Island'.
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The Richard Montgomery wasn't a warship, it was a cargo ship.
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You'll have to take that up with the Guardian. I just clicked 'use suggested title' when submitting.
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Hopefully they can recycle any material they salvage during the process.
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As childishly stupid as it may be. Part of me would love for them to just blow it up. Just so see the big ‘splosion.
It’s not a solution as you’d never be able to confirm whether all the explosives had detonated, and the collateral could be huge. But still.. big old bang would be dramatic!
Agreed. Big sploosh would be nice to see. Might not be very good for the surrounding area right enough so maybe not the best idea.
There's an oil facility quite near it, I'm guessing they'll go with 'carefully'.
Less fun but more sensible I can respect that.
Though slightly disappointed that there won't be a big sploosh that would be fun.
Sploosh
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Into another environment?
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Yeah, but from one environment to another environment.
There may well still be a Big Bang, unintentional one…
At least the sea wall in Sheppey is high enough to contain the predicted height of the wave (unless it happens during the high tide).
Apparently it would blow out a lot of windows all along the Thames estuary, and probably deafen a fair few animals
I'd prefer to keep my windows.